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Tag: Unsaturated fats

  • Skip the keto diet, go Mediterranean

    Skip the keto diet, go Mediterranean

    As you get older, it’s especially important to maintain a healthy weight. But, there are better and worse ways to do so. If you’re looking to lose weight, the Mediterranean diet is likely a better way to go than the ketogenic or “keto” diet. The keto diet comes with several risks.

    Harvard Health recommends that you not try the keto diet because it’s not clear that it’s safe. The idea behind the keto diet is that you will get your energy from fat rather than carbohydrates, which leads to a state of “ketosis.”

    The keto diet has you eating three-quarters of your calories from fat, including a lot of saturated fat. It does not distinguish between lean proteins and fatty ones from bacon, beef and pork. You can eat protein from meat as well as saturated fat from palm and coconut oils and butter. You can also eat unsaturated fats such as almonds, walnuts, seeds, tofu, olive oil and avocados.

    Eating too much saturated fat is linked to heart disease and high LDL cholesterol. It also reduces your fiber intake which can lead to constipation. With the keto diet, you could end up with low blood pressure and kidney stones. 

    The keto diet deprives your brain of healthy carbohydrates, such as whole grains, vegetables, and fruits, which are rich in a wide range of nutrients. Your body needs healthy carbohydrates to operate well, regulate your mood and keep you clear-headed.

    You can eat Swiss chard, spinach and other leafy vegetables. You can also eat bell peppers, mushrooms, cauliflower, garlic, onions, celery, Brussels sprouts and cucumber. But, you are not getting key micronutrients from these vegetables, such as vitamins B and C, phosphorus, selenium, and magnesium.

    The keto diet is fundamentally different from the Paleo, South Beach and Atkins diets. Eating a balanced diet is all about not having too many saturated fats and proteins in your diet or too few carbohydrates. You want to strike a healthy balance.

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  • Butter may be better for you than you think

    Butter may be better for you than you think

    Butter may be better for you than you think. According to a June 2016 article in PLOS ONE, a meta-analysis of nine databases reporting on 636,151 people show that consuming butter has little or no association with risk of death, cardiovascular disease or diabetes. Additional research published in the April 2016  BMJ suggests that we may be giving too much value to the benefits of consuming vegetable oils over butter or saturated fats.

    The evidence for the PLOS ONE butter study is based on observational studies not randomized trials. Specifically, the researchers found a small link between better consumption and risk of death, no link between butter consumption and cardiovascular disease or stroke, and a negative link between butter consumption and diabetes.

    Given their findings, the authors see a need to shift focus from “isolated macronutrients,” such as saturated fats, when recommending healthy diets toward “food-based paradigms.” Put differently, different foods with saturated fats may create different levels of risk of heart disease. Dairy fat from yogurt and even cheese, for example, may decrease the risk of type 2 diabetes, according to a growing body of evidence.

    Whether butter, rich in dairy fat, decreases the risk of type 2 diabetes is still unclear. But, understanding whether consuming butter benefits or harms long-term health is important, especially given that we consumed more butter in 2014 than in any year in the last 40 years.

    Of note, dairy fats like butter have been found to raise LDL cholesterol levels. The PLOS ONE meta-analysis suggests that dairy fats offer benefits as well, such as improving insulin sensitivity, that may serve as a positive counterbalance to negative effects. In contrast, consuming refined grains, starches and sugars increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

    The BMJ researchers looked at five randomized controlled trials in which people consumed vegetable oils instead of saturated fats. They saw no reduction in risk of death from heart disease or otherwise. Lowering cholesterol levels did not improve survival. And, surprisingly, lowering cholesterol levels a lot led to a higher risk of death.

    What to make of these new findings? It’s hard to say. We need more evidence. For a healthy diet, there’s still plenty of evidence that we should eat lots of fruits and vegetables. nuts, seafood and olive oil.

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