A few days ago, NC dem had a diary about the balance of diets and what proportions people eat of the macronutrients. A couple of months ago I would have had no idea, but now I'm using Lose It!, an iPod/Phone app that lets you tally what you eat and how much you exercise. So I checked, and it turned out to be
45-50% calories from fat (!!)
So high, it wasn't even a choice in his poll - oopsie!
So as you can imagine, it was with some mild curiosity that I opened the envelop that had the lab result from my annual exam. What was the bad news?
Total cholesterol | 173 mg/dl |
HDL | 63 mg/dl |
LDL | 93 mg/dl |
Triglycerides | 83 mg/dl |
But! But! I thought a high fat diet was bad for you? That eating fat makes you fat, and makes your blood fat? How can this be?
I think the answer may be of fairly general application, so I hope you'll join me over the fold ---
But first, some housekeeping:
WHEE (Weight, Health, Eating and Exercise) is a community support diary for Kossacks who are currently or planning to start losing, gaining or maintaining their weight through diet and exercise or fitness. Any supportive comments, suggestions or positive distractions are appreciated. If you are working on your weight or fitness, please -- join us! You can also click the WHEE tag to view all diary posts.
Actually, I was not all that surprised to find out how high my diet is in fat. I'm the child of a diabetic and have the trait that could give me type II diabetes. For quite a while now, I've eaten a low glycemic diet, with about 100 grams a day of carbohydrates, so the rest of the calories had to come from somewhere. But still - those lab values are very welcome to see, and it's on a high fat diet. What gives?
Several things play a role. One major one is that we often forget that insulin is not the hormone that regulates sugar; it is the hormone (together with its sidekick glucagon) that regulates energy. Insulin is every bit as much a regulator of fat synthesis and fat uptake as it is of sugar metabolism. So if insulin levels are kept, well, level, there are fewer signals to take up fat onto my sufficiently rounded hips or to turn the (low levels of) sugar into fat molecules.
Another player is which fats I eat. The correlations people talk about with fat and serum lipids are mostly to saturated fat. But I eat red meat about once a week (Friday night. Taco Bell. Sue me.). The rest of those calories of fat are coming from salmon, chicken, walnuts, soy milk, almond milk, olive oil and walnut oil - in other words, "good" fats, rich in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, including omega 3s.
It can't hurt that I get fairly regular exercise. Nothing very dramatic - I walk to work a mile most days, and back. I take six mile walks on the weekend with my husband (half to get out to the co-op for coffee or lunch, half coming back). Some gardening. Some weight work when we can't garden. But all of it helps.
I do eat eggs - two for breakfast, Monday through Thursday, scrambled eggs for Sunday breakfast, a hard boiled on a salad Nicoise fairly often, one or two for lunch some days. But fortunately eggs aren't bad for you.
It pays to read reports of the damage from high fat diets carefully. A claim that high fat diets can damage children's livers actually follows a high saturated fat diet. A claim that high fat diets threw off the body clock used mice and a high calory/high fat diet. An enjoyable look back at the utility of low carb diets is here. Low carb (or if you like, high fat) diets may also play a role in fighting cancer and controlling type II diabetes. If you've thought about trying this approach but were worried about your lipid profile, it's probably fine as long as you keep the whole picture in mind, eat good fats and get some exercise.
It's the wonderful diversity of Wheebles that makes WHEE special - we'd like to hear from everyone! Here's the overall WHEE schedule...do sign up -- please! -- by replying to tip jar.
October 16
Fri AM - ???
Fri PM - louisev - Be Your Own Geneticist, Chapter 1 Obesity vs. Overweight
October 17
Sat AM - ???
Sat PM - Edward Spurlock (Kessler, Ch. 15)
October 18
Sun AM - louisev (Turtle Diary)
Sun PM - jiffykeen
October 19
Mon AM - NC Dem
Mon PM - ???
October 20
Tues AM - ??
Tues PM - Clio2 (Kessler, Ch. 16)
October 21
Weds AM - ???
Weds PM - Edward Spurlock
October 22
Thurs AM - A DC Wonk
Thurs PM - ???
October 23
Fri AM
Fri PM