Which is worse?
In the fat vs sugar wars, this is a false choice. Neither is a health food. However we do need a little, and I mean very little, fat in our diet. The exception to this is very young children (under the age of 4) who need more fat for normal development. Saturated fat, fat from animal sources, dairy products, palm or coconut oil, is not recommended for anyone. We can live with very little fat, but this is exceptionally hard to do. You can be healthy by eating as little as 10% of your calories from unsaturated fats. Those found in olives, vegetable oil, avocados, nuts and seeds. Any other type of fat is not necessary, or healthy, no matter what anyone tries to sell you.
The latest diet craze, ketogenic, is almost all fat and protein. Animal protein is high fat too, so it really is a high-fat diet. It is popular, but not healthy.
High-fat meals change your red blood cells.
Within hours of eating a high-fat meal, your red blood cells have been changed. This is probably temporary, but it is also cumulative.
Four hours after eating high-fat foods your red blood cells change their shape and release poison into your blood vessels. Normally, red blood cells carry oxygen throughout the body and they are incredibly flexible. They flow through blood vessels easily. After a high-fat meal, they grow spikes and lose their flexibility.
Research recently published in Laboratory Investigation looked at the changes in red blood cells in healthy, young men after a single high fat meal and after a high sugar meal. They found that one high-fat meal produced unexpected changes. The good news, for your blood vessel health, the high sugar meal did not change their red blood cells or affect their blood vessels.
The high-fat meal produced rapid changes in the environmentally sensitive red blood cells.
MPO impairs blood vessel dilation and oxidation of HDL cholesterol. It takes this good cholesterol (HDL) and turns it into a contributor to heart disease that increases the chances of a heart attack or stroke. Dr Neal L. Weintraub, cardiologist and one of the researcher’s states,
“Myeloperoxidase levels in the blood are directly implicated in heart attack. This is a really powerful finding.”
The changes aren’t only to red blood cells, white blood cells and plasma also changed. White blood cells got fatter by trying to remove the fat in the blood vessels, this, in turn, promoted inflammation and resulted in artherosclerotic plaque formation. Plasma became thicker and there was a visible presence of lipids, or fat, in the blood samples.
Researchers found that blood vessels were returning to normal after 8 hours in mice, but when they continued to feed them high-fat meals these changes were permanent. They did not continue to feed the healthy adults high-fat meals saying this would be too risky.
Eating one high-fat meal after another changes your blood vessels.
People do this to themselves regularly. Consume high-fat meals regularly and the damage is probably too much. Eating processed foods, the ketogenic diet, a diet high in protein, these are high-fat foods will produce permanent blood vessel damage.
Dr Weintraub also says that prevention is critical. Choose to eat a diet that includes healthy, low-fat, whole foods, exercise regularly, know your cholesterol and blood pressure levels. Even people with a genetic risk of cardiovascular disease can prevent cardiovascular disease with a healthy lifestyle.
If you are going to eat a high-fat meal, make sure the next meal is a healthy one.
Change your mind, change your health,
Shayla
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