Why fats are good for you.

Here’s one of the tips I’ve learned whilst looking into my health and it’s that fats are good for you.

Yes we have all heard of the no fat diet and probably most of us have tried them. I did in my body building days when I stripped out fats to get my self to look lean and mean for the show case on the stage. It felt good at the time and as a woman it did have a major affect on my menstrual cycle, I became even more mean and moody by temperament too!

Butter versus margarine!

Well there is no contest on the taste!
Nor on the protein content and for people with ME, getting sufficient protein is really important to us. In fact a cow fed solely on grass, produces meat and butter with 20% higher protein levels than a cow fed on grain.
It might mean we have to spend more on the quality of food we buy, but the good news is we get away with smaller portions, so balancing out the cost.

I’ve moved off subject, sorry. Back on track now with butter versus margarine

Margarine is chemically extracted, refined vegetable oil.  Its extracted at high temperature, which damages the oil and destroys the vitamin E in the oil.
Then it must be hardened and they do this by pumping hydrogen through it again at high temperature.  It attaches to the carbon bonds and this is now a saturated fat, so margarine contains some saturated fat.  It may say it contains ‘polyunsaturated oil’ and added vitamins now that sounds more healthy but the process is still the same and it destroys the nutrients.
Finally it usually contains some trans-fatty acids, no matter what the label says. These are man-made fatty acids.

Trans- fatty acids are getting bad press as they could worsen illnesses such as colitis and arthritis and possibly ME.  They cause inflammation in the body and raise bad cholesterol levels.
Fatty acids cannot be dealt with by the body, your body actually has to wrap them in fat to try to protest itself – so by eating them and they are not just in your margarine, you could be making yourself get fatter!
People with ME have a hard time dealing with any toxins in their bodies so using a product that has trans fatty acids in it, as well as nickel, cadmium and often other very toxic contaminants then it makes our road to health even more difficult.
For those without ME then adding toxins means your body reacts to them and tries to oxidise them. This process could be a pre-cursor to cancer.

Butter          

Ahhhh, butter, a natural product, made in a natural way.

It has lots of nutrients in it that are vital to your health such as natural fatty acids that our bodies love. Fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamin A, D, E and K.  These are not found to any degree in margarine.  Choosing the butter from animals fed on grass gives you the best health benefits.
It does not contain trans-fatty acids or toxic metals, hopefully. Butter contains some milk solids, giving it a whitish color.

Some people, like me, are sensitive to cow’s milk and things like yoghurt, yet I am fine with butter. My body seems to accept it as it apparently contains none  of the allergens found in other milk products.  For me that’s the milk sugar (lactose).

I’m sticking to the solid goodness of Anchor butter.

By the way I’m sticking with Anchor butter as they claim to be the only one made from cows who enjoy grass all their lives. I won’t touch the spreadable kind from them, why mess with perfection!

So now I’ve gone on about butter versus margarine, it’s because of the health benefits that good fats give us and using those are the easiest example for most people.

 

We need approx 33% of our daily intake to be good fats. These fats help us to absorb Vitamins A, E, D and K.
These vitamins are essential for our central nervous system.

This is the system that sends messages from one cell to another, it could be chemical or electrical. It also controls the body so that we have the correct response to any situation. Be it blinking an eye to defending ourselves.
It’s really complex and in ME patients it’s often gone wrong.
By correcting  fat intake, using good fats such as nuts, oily fish, olive oil and omega 3 we are allowing the myelin sheath that protects are nerves to be in good health so that they can conduct electricity around our body and keep the nervous system working.

Basically, eat good fats, not manufactured ones for your health.