Sugar is the new Fat

3o years ago the public was told that heart attacks and cardiovascular disease were caused by fats. Fats, the thinking went, caused our cholesterol to go up, clogging our arteries and becoming the major driver of heart attacks, stroke and cardiovascular disease. Medical experts also told us not to worry, they had a fabulous pill to solve the problem: Statins.

Statins were prescribed by the boat load, bringing in billions of dollars for the pharmaceutical companies. The food industry leaped on to the bandwagon with their low-fat, fat-free food train. Patients believed they were protecting themselves from heart disease with their low-fat diet and medication.

Heart attack continued to be the number one killer of men in American.

15 years ago, researchers realized maybe it was not just the fats, but also sugars and calories, too. So, the food industry jumped on that with diet this, diet that, no sugar, low sugar, etc. Even more statins were prescribed, with some even suggesting that “everyone” should take a statin and there is no “too low” level of cholesterol.

Heart attack continued to be the number one killer of men and now of women in America.

In 2014, the experts that be announced that saturated fats were in fact not the issue in clogging arteries or the major culprit in heart disease. Yet statins remain in the top 5 most prescribed pharmaceutical sold in America (6 billion a year).

While some politically correct magazines report this is new science, it in fact is not. There have been several researchers / scientists pointing out the flaw in the science of all this saturated fat nonsense since 1977. Yet they were quickly ignored and hushed while billions were being made on unneeded drugs.

Even after proof of the flawed science behind the saturated fat theory has come to light, and even after the USDA has mildly changed their dietary recommendations, don’t expect big pharma to back off on the cholesterol lowering drug campaign.

Let’s go over a few studies on statins (Premedi, Dart trial, GISSI trial). These all came to the conclusion that statins were good for those with very high LDL levels.

The studies show that within 2 to 3 years of starting a statin, the risk of type II diabetes is high. Women reported fatigue and sore muscles within a few months of taking statins and their risk of type II diabetes went up 40%!

They also showed that, if the person had a low risk of heart disease (i.e. they were not overweight, had no diabetes, had normal blood pressure), taking a statin would provide no “mortality benefit.” After menopause, women actually had no benefit at all from statins.

66% of the people who had a heart attack while in the hospital had normal cholesterol and LDL levels. What they did have in common was high triglyceride levels and low HDL.

There is a place and a person for statins, but when having this conversation with your doctor, you need to be armed with the data. Educate them! The life you save could be your own.

So where is the heart risk issue coming from? Sugar. It is really the foods we consider difficult to give up — the “fun foods” like donuts and sugary carbs. It is the combination of sugar and salty carb that is the culprit. This happens by way of raising our insulin levels. This is called metabolic syndrome or syndrome X, which is the step before full on diabetes. Metabolic syndrome produces visceral fat (apple shape), which causes inflammation throughout the body. Inflammation is the root of most diseases: autoimmune, arthritis, diabetes, dementia … the list goes on.

Sugar/carbs is the new fat. Unlike the previous culprit, this designation is based on good science and long-term studies.

So, eat your grass-fed butters, your olive oils and flaxseed oils. Eat your nuts and avocados; don’t be shy, eat up. Fat is the most macronutrient dense food. It will provide your body and brain with longer burning energy and weight loss.

Keep your fats clean and organic. The fats that cause health risks are the ones that have gone through some kind of processing.

I encourage you to purchase Eat Fat, Get Thin, by Dr. Mark Hyman, which offers a very complete discussion and research on the new guidelines.

I hope this at least gets you started on thinking differently about your foods, and fats.