Dr. Mary Enig - Eat fat, lose fat : the healthy alternative to trans fats

No one deserves more credit for making this book happen than Alison Rose Levyit was her vision, her conviction, and her organizational and writing skills that set this project in motion and then wove our input together in a creative and timely fashion.

Stephanie Golden then worked ceaselessly to give us a structural and finished manuscript, always with an eye to clarity and consistency.

Janis Vallely of Janis Vallely Authors Group kept the project moving smoothly; her advice and suggestions have been invaluable.

And Laureen Rowland of Hudson Street Press created a remarkable alchemypreserving our vision of what this book should be while molding it into a form that the public can embrace.

Many others contributed: Brian Shilhavy, with his coconut-info e-mail discussion board, provided important testimonials and feedback; members of the Weston A. Price Foundation, who were happy to provide their weight-loss and recovery stories; several creative cooks, who shared their recipes; and our own families, with their encouragement and support.

Finally, we must gratefully acknowledge Weston A. Price and many other scientists of integrity, willing to engage in the honest research that, although often unheralded, has provided guidelines to the use of coconut oil for weight loss, and whole foods for vibrant health.

Facts Versus Fears About Fats

Fats, the Real Deal

Know Your Fatsand Your Nutrients

Our Nutritional Approach to Weight Loss

Real Food, the World Over

Quick and Easy Weight Loss

Health Recovery

Everyday Gourmet

Coconut Recipes

Traditional Recipes

Resources

Americas Anti-Fat Obsession

As the French maintain their trim physiques while consuming triple cream brie, steak au poivre, and barnaise sauce, most American adults would barely dare to drink a glass of whole-fat milk. For the last 25 years, government recommendations, medical doctrine, food advertising, and so-called health experts have stressed low-fat and non-fat foods, cautioning people to avoid fats in general, particularly saturated fats from animal products and tropical fats, like coconut.

Are you eating lots of foods high in fat (especially saturated fat) ? worries the American Heart Association website. Choose a diet that is low in saturated fat and cholesterol, echo the current (2000) United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) food guidelines. A scant two to three daily servings of dairy or other animal foodsspecified to be low-fat or fat-freeare recommended in the Food Pyramid (developed by the USDA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute website offers heart healthy recipes with reduced fat content, such as Stuffed Potatoes made with soft margarine, low-fat cottage cheese, and low-fat milk.

Yet America, not France, is the nation with galloping rates of obesity, leading many people, and now many researchers, to wonder:

• Are the vegetable oils and trans fats contained in processed foods really healthier than the fats in natural foods, like butter and cream?
• Is coconut oil, a staple in countries with lower rates of chronic disease than ours, really so deadly?

How effective have the recommended low-fat diets and low-and non-fat foods really been, given that 97 million Americans (thats 64 percent, an 8.6 percent jump from 1994 to 1999) are overweight, according to a study published in the October 2002 Journal of the American Medical Association.

And weight gain is not just a question of appearance. Obesity was number two on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention list of preventable causes of death in 2004 (after smoking). According to government statistics, being overweight substantially increases the risk of hypertension, type II diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, and respiratory problems, as well as endometrial, breast, prostate, and colon cancers. Higher body weight increases mortality for all causes.

If you are among the overweight and want to avoid these diseases, youre caught in a vicious cycle. Once the pounds pack on, your energy plummets, making it harder to exercise. Even if you only need to lose a few pounds, or are not overweight at all, you may find that you suffer from low energy, chronic fatigue, food cravings, and depression. Why?