Yes, ALL three of these foods
have a high ratio saturated fats, but studies are showing that they
actually improve your heart health and fight aging. Read on...
by Mike Geary - Certified Nutrition Specialist & Catherine Ebeling - RN, BSN
Authors of the best seller: The Top 101 Foods that FIGHT Aging
The majority of the population these days still seem to "fear" fats
in the diet because of all of the fat-free and low-fat propaganda of the
80's and 90's that falsely made people think that all fats are bad for
us. Nothing could be further from the truth!
As a health author, blogger, and Nutritionist, I observe people's
eating habits all the time... and I still constantly see
well-intentioned, but misinformed people choosing egg whites instead of
whole eggs, even though studies show that the "fatty" yolks contain almost all of the anti-aging benefits, heart-health benefits, and 90% of the valuable antioxidants and vitamins/minerals
in an egg, whereas the whites contain very little nutrition at all.
Not only that, but egg yolks have been proven to raise your GOOD
cholesterol, and improve the good to bad ratios.
I also still observe people constantly choosing "low-fat" and
"fat-free" options of various foods at the grocery store despite the
fact that most of these options contain a LOT more carbs and sugars to
replace the fats that are taken out, which actually leads to FASTER
AGING by increasing the amount of Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) that your body produces. These nasty little compounds called AGEs speed up the aging process in your body including damage over time to your organs, your joints, and of course, wrinkled skin.
Plus, it's high blood sugar from all of those extra
sugars and carbs in "low-fat" and "fat-free" choices that increase AGEs
in your body on a daily basis leading to faster aging. On the other
hand, all of those FATS that people have been avoiding for years can
actually SLOW the aging process by keeping your blood sugar lower and
more stable, hormones balanced, and for other reasons too.
In fact, it's absolutely imperative to get enough healthy fats in
your diet to keep your hormones balanced, blood sugar under control,
prevent cravings, and to SLOW the aging process in your organs, skin,
and joints.
And I'm NOT just talking about the obvious healthy fats that you hear
about in the news all the time, such as almonds, walnuts, avocados,
fish oil, and our beloved olive oil... all of those examples ARE
definitely healthy and contain loads of beneficial nutrients that can
help you to live longer, healthier, and leaner...
BUT...
Here are THREE more examples of "fatty" foods that most people falsely think are "unhealthy" simply
because they do contain certain ratios of saturated fat... But in
reality, these foods are shown in studies to protect our bodies from the
ravages of aging and even help us to stay lean...
1. Grass-fed (pasture-raised) butter & cream
Yes, delicious smooth and rich BUTTER (real butter, NOT deadly
margarine!)... It's delicious, contains loads of healthy nutritional
factors, and does NOT have to be avoided in order to stay healthy and
get lean. In fact, I personally eat a couple pats of grass-fed butter
several times daily (and a Tbsp of heavy cream in my coffee daily) and
maintain very lean body fat most times of the year.
There's a lot of confusion about this topic... in fact, I just saw a
TV show today that was talking about unhealthy foods and one of the
first things they showed was butter. It just shows that the majority of
the population still doesn't fully understand that butter (grass-fed
only!) can actually be a healthy part of your diet.
In fact, there's even ample evidence that REAL butter can even fight
aging and help you to lose body fat for a couple of main reasons:
a. Grass-fed butter is known to have high levels
of a healthy fat called CLA, which has been shown in numerous studies
to have anti-cancer properties, and also has been shown to help burn
abdominal fat and build lean muscle.
b. Grass-fed butter also has an ideal balance of
omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids (unlike conventional grain-fed
butter) which helps fight inflammation in your body, and can help
balance hormones, thereby helping to slow the aging process, and keep
your body lean.
c. The healthy fats in grass-fed butter also
contain MCTs (similar to the MCTs in coconut oil), which help to boost
your immune system and are readily burned by the body for energy. The
healthy fats in grass-fed butter also help to satisfy your appetite and
control blood sugar levels, both of which help you to stay lean!
If you have a hard time finding a grass-fed butter at your grocery store, Kerrygold Irish butter is
one of my favorites, and the cows are 100% grass-fed on lush green
pastures in Ireland. It's one of the richest butters in color that I've
seen, which indicates high levels of carotenoids, powerful antioxidants
that help fight aging. Another great brand is Organic Valley which has
many options for pasture-raised butter and cream.
Note for people who are dairy sensitive or think they might be:
People that are dairy sensitive or intolerant are generally NOT
sensitive to butter or cream. This is something that's highly
misunderstood in the nutrition industry, even by most authors and
doctors. The truth is that it's almost always either the lactose or the
casein that people are sensitive to, and butter or cream has nothing
more than traces of either since butter and cream is solely the fat
portion of dairy while the lactose and casein have mostly been removed
when the fat is skimmed off the milk. The amount of casein in butter or
cream is negligible compared to milk.
Also, fermented dairy generally doesn't give people any problems
either (kefir or plain yogurt) because the lactose has been digested by
the microbes, making kefir 99% lactose free usually. Plus, even the
casein in kefir and yogurt is MUCH more highly digestible because the
microbes have already performed a little pre-digestion on it.
2. Super Dark Chocolate (at least 72% cacao content or higher)
It might not be a secret anymore, but yes, dark chocolate (NOT milk
chocolate) can be a very healthy food, even though it is technically
calorie dense.
However, I would contend that dark chocolate can actually HELP you to
burn off more body fat if you're the type of person that has a sweet
tooth and likes to eat a lot of desserts. In this case, just 1 or 2
small squares of dark chocolate can many times satisfy your sweet tooth
for only 30 or 40 calories as opposed to 500 calories for a piece of
chocolate cake or a piece of pie.
Also some brands of dark chocolate that are in the mid 70's in %
cacao content or higher, can have a fairly high ratio of fiber content
(I've seen some brands have 5-7 grams of fiber out of 15 grams of total
carbs per serving), and relatively low sugar content compared to the
amount of healthy fats. In fact, that's one of the "tricks" I use to
select a good quality chocolate... I look for more total fat than total
carbs (or about the same number of grams of each).
The importance of that fact is that it means many dark chocolates
will not greatly affect your blood sugar and will have a fairly blunted
blood sugar response compared to other "sweets".
In addition, dark chocolate is also very rich in healthful antioxidants, including a powerful compound called theobromine which has been shown to help lower your blood pressure and have other health benefits.
Dark chocolate also contains antioxidants called flavanols with dozens of health benefits... One study found that eating as little as 6.7 grams of chocolate per day has a protective effect on your heart. Other studies show benefits to your digestive system by improving the ratios of good to bad bacteria in your gut, possibly due to the catechins and polyphenols in cocoa.
The reason I say to choose dark chocolates with at least 72% cacao
content is that the higher the % of cacao, the lower the % of sugar.
However, this does mean that any chocolate over 80% cacao content will
generally start to get a more bitter taste and have very little
sweetness. If you like this type of taste, then the higher % cocao, the
better. Otherwise, a good 75% dark chocolate is in my opinion an almost
perfect combination of lightly sweet with a rich velvety chocolate
taste.
You can also reap the benefits of the antioxidants and fiber without all of the calories by using organic unsweetened cocoa powder in your smoothies or other recipes.
The bottom line is that you can enjoy small to moderate amounts of
dark chocolate and also cocoa powder daily, and it only helps you to
stay lean and fight the aging process in your body.
3. Coconut oil, coconut meat, coconut flour, and coconut milk
Coconut milk and oil are great sources of a super healthy type of saturated fat called medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), including a component called lauric acid, which is a powerful nutrient for your immune system,
and is lacking in most western diets. In addition, MCTs are readily
used for energy by the body and less likely to be stored as body fat
compared to other types of fats.
Eating coconut oil can help improve the health of your skin from the
inside out... But in addition to being healthy internally, coconut oil
is also known to be great for the health of your skin externally as a
skin moisturizer that's healthier for you than most lotions since
natural coconut oil allows you to avoid the harmful chemicals found in
many lotions.
Coconut oil is even shown to help improve your thyroid function as well as helping to protect your brain from Alzheimers.
There are even direct studies that show that coconut oil can help you burn off abdominal fat more efficiently.
Along with coconut milk and coconut oil as healthy fat choices, we've
also got coconut flour as a healthier flour option for baking. Coconut
flour is an extremely high fiber flour alternative (almost ALL of the
carbs in this flour are fiber and not starch!). Coconut flour is also
VERY high in protein compared to most flours and is also gluten free!
Just beware that if you're going to use coconut flour for baking, it
absolutely NEEDS to be mixed with other flours as it sucks up moisture
like crazy... I've made delicious baked goods by mixing coconut flour
with almond flour and quinoa flour in equal parts, and adding slightly
more liquid ingredients than the recipe calls for.
Let's look at more shocking anti-aging foods, spices, teas, and nutrients...
We'll show you MORE delicious foods, spices, herbs, and nutrients
that PROTECT your body from the ravages of aging on the
next page!
These specific foods you'll discover on the next page will:
- Naturally boost your energy,
- Help KILL your joint pain,
- Lower your blood pressure,
- Fight diabetes & control blood sugar,
- Boost your brain health,
- HEAL your digestion problems,
- and raise your metabolism
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