Who is the Enemy?

For years, my exceptionally wise friend (and fitness and nutrition guru) Carol has told us all, "Fat is NOT the enemy. SUGAR is the enemy!". And recently a slew of recent research is bearing this out. If you Google "skim milk makes you fat" you can see what I mean about this.

Now, we all know that carrying extra weight increases your odds of a plethora of serious health problems. These include heart disease, diabetes, and even a few cancers. But it's how we acquire that fat in our own bodies that you have to think about...

The thing is, if you think back to the most basic stuff they taught you in biology, you will remember that as we digest food, our bodies turn sugars into energy. The energy we don't use, turns into stored fat. This of course was supposed to be there for us in "lean" times, to be available as extra energy when we don't have enough to eat. But in the Western World, that really isn't something useful anymore, and we just carry that fat around, making problems for most of our vital organs.

Let me repeat myself: OUR BODIES CONVERT SUGAR INTO FAT. Our bodies do not actually convert ingested FAT into fat. In fact, if you grab a package of butter or vegetable shortening, and look at the nutritional information on the side, you will see that naturally fatty foods contain little sugar. Ergo, eating fat does not give your body something to turn into fat! Fat in your diet is NOT fat on your body!!!!

Additionally, having fat in your diet actually slows down your absorption of sugars. They sort of counteract the sugar you are eating, and thus some of the sugars you eat will pass by your blood stream and be eliminated from your body. Why did the Atkins diet work? It was full of fat, but had almost no carbs (a.k.a. sugars) in it!

What we all know already is, sometimes we just crave something nice and fatty to eat. Fat-filled foods are filling, and may help you to eat less. This is the trifecta! Fat in your food will not be turned into fat on your body; fat will slow your digestion of sugars; and fat will help you eat less.

OK, so what am I saying, eat ALL fats? Is this the beginning of an all-butter diet? No, it isn't, for several reasons. You need fiber in your diet, and fatty foods are notoriously low in fiber. They are also rather low in many vitamins, so you need your fruits and veggies. And fatty foods high in cholesterol are certainly not the way to go.

One thing we love in our house is avocados. And these have been called a "super-food" by many sources. They have natural, healthy fat in them, low sugar, and plenty of vitamins. When I want something sweet, I reach for some no-sugar-added ice cream, and NOT the low-fat kind! And we cook with olive oil almost daily here. We get our Omega-3s from salmon and nuts. And when I look online at a list of foods high in trans-fats, there is pretty much nothing there that you will see in our house!

Generally, you still want to stay away from highly processed foods -- because they always contain a ton of SUGAR!!! I have a downfall though, which is ketchup. So, kudos to Heintz, who makes a low-sugar ketchup that tastes just like the original. Be careful with your prepared tomato products, because those tend to be a source of hidden sugars.

And as a side note, I have said for years that eating "too much salt" was a bunch of baloney!!! Why is that? Well, salt, NaCl or sodium chloride, is extremely soluble in water. And our bodies are 80% water. If you consider that NaCl dissolves even better as the temperature of the water rises (say, 98.6 degrees F?) then the salt we eat is going to be almost completely dissolved in our bodies -- which means that in a healthy person, any excess salt can easily be ELIMINATED from our bodies! (Those who suffer from edema, swelling, or conditions similar, would of course want to limit salt intake.)

As a last note, it really is essential to get exercise. For those of you, like me, who have lapsed here and there, you KNOW it makes you feel better, sleep better, be trimmer and have more energy. For those of you who have never made it part of your daily routine... it makes you feel better, sleep better, be trimmer and have more energy!!! It doesn't take as much time or effort as you might think. Skip one half-hour TV program a few times a week, and go walk around the block instead. Even this little tiny bit of movement will show you results.

I will close by saying that I am now down ALMOST 20 of the 30 pound I wanted to lose. And I have done this not really by dieting, but by being a little more active and making a few smarter food choices. This actually includes MORE ICE CREAM (low sugar of course)! Can you beat that? But I have also included more fresh veggies, a new vitamin B complex, and less sitting around.

So do the research, and limit your sugar but savor your healthy fats!