The F-Word

"All you ever wanted to know about fats
by John M Berardi"

Despite years of anti-fat sentiment, it's becoming clear that the right kinds of fats can make you healthier, smarter, more muscular, and leaner.

Back in the 80's, the US Surgeon General's office, the American Heart Association, and the US Department of Agriculture joined forces and took up arms against what they considered to be the great nutritional scourge — dietary fat. That's right, they attempted to eradicate dietary fat from our nutritional lexicon with extreme prejudice.

If you're too young to remember this phenomenon, it might seem downright foolhardy to attack an entire macronutrient category. In fact, waging war against one-third of the macronutrient triumvirate may even seem unthinkable. But to those nutrition conscious individuals living through the war on fat, it's hard to forget the sensationalistic demonization of dietary fat and the faddish low fat diets that followed.

So how did this all come about? Well, back in the 80s, doctors and researchers, alarmed by the rising incidence of heart disease and obesity, needed a strategic target. As lipid researcher Lonnie Lowery has put it, they needed a perfect enemy. So after finding out that the plaques building up in our arteries (arteriosclerotic plaques) were made up of fats and then discovering that certain countries with diets high in animal fat also had a higher incidence of heart disease, 20 subsequent years of scientific investigation were spent attempting to prove that dietary fat (specifically saturated fat and cholesterol) was leading the heart disease brigade. read more

Interview with Ori Hofmekler about The Anti-Estrogenic Diet

YouTube - Interview with Ori Hofmekler The Anti-Estrogenic Diet

Testosterone Nation - Experimental Biology 2007

Testosterone Nation - Experimental Biology 2007: "Prolific low-carb researcher Dr. Jeff Volek's group had a couple posters at EB as well. Here's what they had to say:

• After 12 weeks, obese women on a very low carbohydrate ketogenic-diet had much less systemic inflammation compared to those that followed a low fat diet. For those that are interested, the inflammatory markers that decreased were: TNF-a, IL-8, MCP-1, E-selectin, I-CAM, and PAI-1.

• People on low-carb diets that ate 3 whole eggs each day also had decreased inflammation compared to those low carbers that ate egg substitutes (Note: Eat your eggs! They're also loaded with leucine).

• People on a low-carb diet who ate more saturated fat had a higher utilization of saturated fat and their livers produced less saturated fat. Low-carb diets seem to allow for increased use of saturated fats by the body as well as increased clearance."

Kinds of Fat and Fat Resistance

I have been pretty busy the past few months on my invention and company. I have also been giving a lot of talks around the country. So, I have not been posting much. I thought I would end this year with a bit on fat resistance and with some encouragement for the New Year.

It is true that my diet is somewhat higher in fat than either the ADA or AHA recommends. But, my sources of fat are primarily in the Omega 3 and unsaturated fats such as salmon, tuna, nuts, and olive oil. PaleoGal may have a point in observing that by eating low fat meats or trimming the meat to reduce fat content, that there is a bit of an inconsistency in my diet. This is only an apparent inconsistency though.

I am altering my cell membrane fatty acid profile by choosing to eat this way. Membrane cholesterol content is important and my diet leads to flexible, permeable membranes with low cholesterol content. This has many benefits for cell plasticity and function, but it does make the membrane more susceptible to oxidative damage. Hence, the high antioxidant content of my diet.

Altering the membrane fatty acid profile alters its insulin sensitivity. Excess cholesterol content diminishes insulin sensitivity. This is one of the reasons the ADA recommends a high carb diet, though paradoxically, this induces insulin resistance too. A cholesterol laden membrane impairs insulin sensitivity and reduces the stimulation of GLUT4. Thus, we might call this lipid (fat) resistance. Trivalent chromium reduces membrane cholesterol content, which may be the pathway through which chromium improves insulin sensitivity. See the Abstract below for more details (it is almost unreadable unless you are a specialist, but I want you to know there is research that clearly supports what I am saying).

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Books and papers by Barry A Groves exposing dietary and medical misinformation

Books and papers by Barry A Groves exposing dietary and medical misinformation: "The Soft Science of Dietary Fat
Gary Taubes


When the U.S. Surgeon General's Office set off in 1988 to write the definitive report on the dangers of dietary fat, the scientific task appeared straightforward. Four years earlier, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) had begun advising every American old enough to walk to restrict fat intake, and the president of the American Heart Association (AHA) had told Time magazine that if everyone went along, 'we will have [atherosclerosis] conquered' by the year 2000. The Surgeon General's Office itself had just published its 700-page landmark 'Report on Nutrition and Health,' declaring fat the single most unwholesome component of the American diet."

Testosterone Nation - Twenty Things I Know

Testosterone Nation - Twenty Things I Know: "the only thing high-carb/ low fat ever did was make us change the name of adult onset diabetes to type 2 diabetes. That's quite an accomplishment for all the nutritionists out there — really something to be proud of. Think about it. We gave an adult disease to kids and our reaction was simple — change the name."

Doktor Dahlqvists blogg

Doktor Dahlqvists blogg: "Det Goda M�ttade Fettet
13 mars kl. 14:03

I 30-40 �rs tid har det, fr�n etablissemanget, allt intensivare propagerats att vi ska �ta fettsn�l kost och framf�r allt litet m�ttat animaliskt fett.

Orsaken till det s�gs vara att m�ttat fett orsakar hj�rtsjukdom, diabetes, och �vervikt, bland annat.



Ursprunget till denna uppfattning �r en 'uppenbarelse' som Ancel Keyes hade p�50-talet, att orsaken till hj�rtsjukdom stod att finna hos fettet. Han preciserade senare till m�ttat fett. Flerom�ttat fett ans�g han vara mindre skadligt.

Han tillverkade statistik p�detta, som dock inte har h�llit f�r n�rmare granskning i efterskott.

Det var dels 'Seven Countries-studien', d�r han valde ut l�mpliga l�nder som gav en snygg kurva mellan fettintag och hj�rtsjukdom. Vid senare granskning fann man, att om han hade tagit med flera l�nder, hade prickarna sett ut som en stj�rnhimmel, och ingen s�rskild trend kunde l�ngre ses.

Man gjorde ocks� 'Framinghamstudien', som tycktes visa att m�ttat fett gav mera hj�rtsjukdom �n flerom�ttat fett, d�r var inte totala fettm�ngden av betydelse l�ngre. Inte heller denna studie har visat sig h�lla f�r senare granskning."

frontline: diet wars: interview: gary taubes | PBS

Interview Gary Taubes: "Science journalist Gary Taubes wrote the controversial July 7, 2002 New York Times Magazine article, 'What If It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?' which turned the spotlight onto high-fat, low carbohydrate diets. In this interview, Taubes explains his motivation for writing his piece, the science behind the low-carbohydrate diet, and the contention he faced when he published his findings. 'I got crucified in a variety of publications,' he says '... It was fascinating. They go after the messenger as much as the message.' He is currently writing a book that is a historical and scientific exploration of the hypothesis that weight gain and chronic disease are caused by excess consumption of easily digestible and refined carbohydrates. This interview was conducted Dec. 10, 2003."


Read the Interview

Dr. Rosedale: Insulin and Its Metabolic Effects - presented by Dr. Bass

Dr. Rosedale: Insulin and Its Metabolic Effects - presented by Dr. Bass: "Insulin and Its Metabolic Effects
By Ron Rosedale, M.D.

Let's talk about a couple of case histories. These are actual patients that I've seen; let's start with patient A. This patient who we will just call patient A saw me one afternoon and said that he had literally just signed himself out of the hospital 'AMA,' or against medical advice. Like in the movies, he had ripped out his IV's.

The next day he was scheduled to have his second by-pass surgery. He had been told that if he did not follow through with this by-pass surgery, within two weeks he would be dead.

........ To make a long story short, this gentleman right now is on no insulin. I first saw him three and a half years ago. He plays golf four or five times a week. He is on no medications whatsoever, he has no chest pain, and he has not had any surgery. He started an organization called 'Heart Support of America' to educated people that there are alternatives to by-pass surgery that have nothing to do with surgery or medication. 'They have known since the fifties that if you restrict calories but maintain nutrition ...... animals can live between thirty and two-hundred percent longer.'"

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In Depth Look At Ketogenic Diets And Ketosis.

Bodybuilding.com - Jonathan Deprospo - In Depth Look At Ketogenic Diets And Ketosis.: "What exactly is Ketosis? The metabolic state of ketosis simply means that the quantity of ketone bodies in the blood have reached higher than normal levels. When the body is in a ketogenic state this means that lipid energy metabolism is intact. This means that the body will start breaking down your own body fat to fuel the body's normal, every day functions."

Atkins Vs. Pritikin: The Debate Rages On!

Bodybuilding.com - ISSA - Atkins Vs. Pritikin: The Debate Rages On!: "battle lines have been drawn and everyone has taken sides. This vicious battle has pitted brother against brother and husband against wife. It is by far the most heated subject in nutrition, and self-proclaimed gurus have crawled out of the woodwork to weigh in with their opinions on the high carb diet vs. low carb diet debate.

As a fitness enthusiast, you no doubt have been in a few discussions, some of them probably a little heated, about how much of your daily calories should consist of carbohydrates. Both sides have compelling arguments, so who's right? They both are, to a point."

Dr. Rosedale

Dr. Rosedale's speech at the Designs for Health Institute's BoulderFest
August 1999 Seminar

By: Ron Rosedale, M.D.

Presented at Designs for Health Institute's BoulderFest, August 1999 Seminar

Case Histories

By-Pass Surgery

First, let's talk about a couple of case histories. These are actual patients that I've seen; let's start with patient A. This patient saw me one afternoon and said that he had literally just signed himself out of the hospital "AMA," or against medical advice. Like in the movies, he had ripped out his IVs. The next day he was scheduled to have his second by-pass surgery. He had been told that if he did not follow through with this surgery, within two weeks he would be dead. He couldn't even walk from the car to the office without severe chest pain.

He was on 102 units of insulin and his blood sugars were 300 plus. He was on eight different medications for various things. But his first by-pass surgery was such a miserable experience that he said he would rather die than go through the second one. He came to me because he had heard that I might be able to prevent this.

To make a long story short, this gentleman right now is on no insulin. I first saw him three and a half years ago. He plays golf four or five times a week. He is on no medications whatsoever, he has no chest pain, and he has not had any surgery. He started an organization called "Heart Support of America" to educate people about the alternatives to by-pass surgery that have nothing to do with surgery or medication. That organization, as he last told me, had a mailing list of over a million people.

High Triglycerides/Cholesterol

Patient B is a 42-year-old man who was referred by patient A. He had a triglyceride level of 2200, a cholesterol level of 950 and was on maximum doses of all his medications. He was not fat at all; he was fairly thin.

This man was told that he had familial hyperlipidema and that he had better get his affairs in order, because if that was what his lipids were despite the best medications with the highest doses, he was in trouble.

Whenever I see a patient on any of those medications, they're off the very first visit. They have no place in medicine. He was taken off the medications and in six weeks his lipid levels, both his triglycerides and his cholesterol, were hovering around 220. After six more weeks, they were both under 200, off of the medications. As I said earlier, they have no place in medicine.

I should mention that this patient had a CPK that was quite elevated. It was circled on the lab report that he had brought in initially with a question mark by it because they didn't know why. The reason why was because he was eating off his muscles--if you take (gemfibrozole) and any of the HMG co-enzyme reductase inhibitors together, this is a common side effect, which is in the PDR; they shouldn't be given together.

So, he was chewing up his muscles, including his heart, which they were trying to treat. If indeed he were going to die, it would be that treatment that would kill him.

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