I just saw the Fat Head movie on Hulu. It is a pretty good follow-up to and rebuttal of Super Size Me (also on Hulu). What I learned watching Fat Head was that my brain is made out of saturated fat and thus, needs saturated fat. Saturated fat is actually necessary and good for me!
“Fat Head” explained why my HDL level was still low, even though I’ve been exercising regularly (3 times a week) and avoiding all saturated fats. I needed to eat saturated fats to increase my HDL. And it explained why my LDL level was high. I was eating a lot of white rice which increased my LDL.
Surprisingly, the solution is to eat more saturated fats and less white rice. For those who love white rice, switching to brown rice should do the trick, I think.
Some useful Fat Head facts:
- Diets based on calories in/out is myth.
- Fat storage is determined by insulin (high insulin means more fat storage in fat cell).
- Carbohydrates (sugar and starch) raises insulin!
- Saturated fat does not increase cholesterol!
- Cholesterol does not cause heart disease; inflammation (due to stress, high blood sugar, smoking) is the cause! Inflammation asks for more cholesterol to repair artery walls and oxidation damages cholesterol to create plaque on walls.
- Saturated fat increases HDL.
- Carbohydrates increase LDL. (Not all LDL is bad; type B LDL is bad.)
- Saturated fat increases testosterone!
- Increasing saturated fat intake can cure attention deficit disorder because the brain, especial for kids, needs fat!
After watching Super Size Me, I had a great urge to buy a Big Mac from McDonald’s (something I hadn’t eaten for years). After watching Fat Head, I got an urge to just eat, well, a lot fat; especially the layers of fat on top of a stewed piece of pork… hmm, bacon-like. Base on this, I would say Fat Head is the more evil of the two movies because it gives me license to stuff myself with saturated fat.
Because I don’t want to take the time to examine the scientific validity of the information above, I’m gonna just say, don’t worry about it. I’ll just eat whatever I want in moderation. As my Russian coworker would say, “I’ve been eating everything I want and I’m still alive, aren’t I?” Reason enough for me.