Cavewomen Don't Get Fat (12 page)

10. Healthy Fats Relieve Depression.
Brain tissue is composed of 60 percent fat, so feeding the correct fats to the brain on a daily basis boosts serotonin naturally. Omega-3s also fight inflammation in the gut, which is the primary place of serotonin and other neurotransmitter production. Treating the gut and the brain simultaneously can help nip depression in the bud.

In the Paleolithic era, our ancestors ate saturated fats because they were available in meats critical to their vitality. Today the public runs screaming from them, fearing that they'll kill us. (When was the last time a doctor encouraged you to have more butter? I thought so.) Saturated fats stay solid at room temperature and can be found in all sorts of delicious places, such as marbled cuts of meat, butter, and coconut oil. And contrary to popular belief, which is not based on any science, there is
no
conclusive evidence that saturated fat increases the risk of heart disease—especially if you eat fat from grass-fed animals.

The real head-scratcher in all of this is that plasma-saturated fat (saturated fat found in the blood)—the presumed cause for our concern with fat—is actually a product of the
carbohydrates
you take in, not the dietary saturated fats you eat. The polyunsaturated fats that are found in isolated oils such as corn, vegetable, cottonseed, canola, soybean, safflower, and sunflower are not—I repeat, are not—healthy saturated fats; they are disruptive to our bodies.

Today we get 20 percent or more of our calories from
polyunsaturated fatty acids, which gum up the metabolism when they replace quality fats in our cell membranes. The problem with polyunsaturated fats is that they're extremely fragile and lack the chemical stability of saturated fats, so when we remove them from their whole-food sources and use them as isolated oils, they produce free radicals in the body. And when they're used in cooking, they break down further and become even more loaded with free radicals. Saturated fats—the safest oils for cooking—don't harm us in this way. Saturated fats are stable at room temperature and when heated. In fact, coconut oil kept at room temperature for a year will show no signs of rancidity or degradation at all.

Saturated fats are necessary for optimal health. They comprise at least 50 percent of cell membranes and contain huge amounts of the essential fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. They protect the liver from toxins, enhance immunity, are necessary for proper function of the kidneys and lungs, and help us utilize essential fatty acids. The short-chain saturated fatty acids (found in butter and coconut oil) are antimicrobial—they help fight against bacteria, yeast, and parasites and support the immune system. Some cultures selectively hunted animals with the most fat, because animal fat was highly prized for its medicinal benefits.

Aside from being good for you, saturated fat is also good for your workouts, where it can be used for immediate energy. We've unlearned the art of trusting our bodies where fat is concerned, and as a result, we've missed out on saturated fat as a fantastic source of energy. In fact, excess carbohydrates get stored as
saturated body fat
, so all of the so-called experts pointing fingers at saturated fat as dangerous are misguided. Saturated fats do not increase triglycerides; carbohydrates do. The ratio of HDL to triglycerides and the size of our cholesterol particles are far more predictive of cardiovascular disease. We must take a look at the real culprits of heart disease and stop vilifying natural, whole foods we've been eating for millions of years and should still be eating today.

I have not found any credible peer-reviewed, controlled studies
that link saturated fat intake to cancer; only questionnaires asking cancer patients what they have eaten over the past five years can shed any light at all on this presumed connection. The studies suggest that a diet high in unsaturated fats, processed grains, sugar, margarine, vegetable oils, starches, and grain-fed meats aren't good for us. Comprehensive breast cancer studies also show no correlation between eating a low-fat diet and a reduced risk of breast cancer.

If you were going to a red carpet event, you wouldn't buy just any old frock off the rack; you'd want to look and feel your best in a designer gown, right? Well, think of saturated fats as the ultimate couture dress for your body; they will keep your body gorgeously balanced and healthy from the inside out. From the beginning of our lives, we drink mother's milk, which contains 54 percent saturated fat and is essential for brain development. Our hearts naturally prefer to be fed saturated fats instead of carbohydrates for energy. Our bones need saturated fats to assimilate calcium properly. Our hormone production is dictated by our saturated fat intake. Saturated fats also help to enhance the body's defense against disease. Viruses and fungi such as candida don't stand a chance with the presence of lauric acid in coconut oil and myristic acid in butter! Our livers need saturated fats to protect against toxins, medications, and booze. Our lungs need saturated fats to prevent asthma and other breathing disorders. Our bodies need saturated fats to feel fuller and stay lean. Greater satiety means that you'll eat fewer carbohydrates and less junk and poor-quality fats.

I hope you love your fat—even if you want to shed it. But that's not the fat I'm talking about. We Paleo girls love, love, love our healthy dietary fats. They make us the lean, mean fighting machines we need to be to rock our incredibly rich and vibrant lives. Here are my all-time favorite Paleo Chic fats:

Avocado

Beef tallow and fat (found on grass-fed meats)

Butter (from the milk of grass-fed cows)

Chia seeds

Chicken fat

Coconut (raw) and coconut oil (see sidebar)

Duck and goose fat

Flaxseeds (ground)

Grapeseed Oil

Lard

Olives and olive oil

Nuts and seeds (raw and butters, especially sunflower, pumpkin, and sesame seeds, almonds, walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, pecans, cashews, and macadamia nuts)

Sesame oil (toasted)

I want you to march to the grocery store and buy these fats. Purge your pantry of these bad fats: canola, corn, vegetable, sunflower, safflower, soybean, peanut and/or cottonseed oils. (Phew!) Anything fried. All margarines or butter-substitute spreads. Partially hydrogenated oils. Vegetable shortenings. There—don't you feel lighter already?

Now that you're back on track with fat, it's time for us to get down to the nitty-gritty: the Paleo Chic diet. When you turn the page, there will be no turning back, and you'll be on your way to rocking a seriously healthy, seriously hot body before you know it.

A
lthough
detox
is a hot buzzword these days, it's something that you need to do on a daily basis to lighten your body's toxic load. During the two-week Paleo Detox, you will take a step back from carbohydrates to resensitize your body to insulin and rebalance your hunger-fullness hormones. This will also give your brain the chance to change the way you think about food, and your body the chance to adjust to your new way of eating. Lastly, the Paleo Detox will also give your body time to deplete some of your glycogen stores from muscle tissue and ultimately make your cheat day more effective. (See chapter 9 for more info on the cheat meal.)

Staying within the Paleo Detox parameters for the first two weeks of the entire plan is key. You can come back to this phase at different times throughout the year. Also, use—and stick to—this program two weeks before a big event, like a wedding or a college reunion, to make sure that sexy dress you bought still fits.

During these two weeks, you can lose five to eight pounds of puffiness and bloating. Your body will start releasing toxins stored in fat cells and shed excess water weight while building lean muscle
mass. This phase also gives your gut a break from most allergenic foods and quenches your body with antioxidants and trace minerals.

Do you know that many people find that it's easier to do their taxes than figure out what to eat? Food companies have done such a successful job at sending us confusing messages that no one knows what to put in her mouth anymore. Most people believe that a low-fat muffin is healthier than two eggs fried in butter, even though the muffin is made with 100 percent processed ingredients, while the eggs are completely natural. Knowing what foods to eat has become way too complicated! So I'm going to make it easy for you. I've researched every ingredient and nutritional recommendation in this book and made sure they contain no processed foods.

1. Eat Only Real Foods.
Annemarie Colbin, the founder and CEO who runs the culinary school the Natural Gourmet Institute, in New York City, says, “If it doesn't run, fly, swim, or grow from the ground, it's not food!” Kudos, Annemarie, I'm right there with you. We need to eat foods that are in their original state. Once we start mucking up our foods with processed gunk, they are no longer nutritious or real.

If you read a food label with fifteen ingredients, and you can't even pronounce half of them, put it back on the shelf. If a packaged food has more than five ingredients, don't buy it. And if the food packaging or the ingredients inside are in colors not found in nature, you can bet that a major food conglomerate manufactures it. If it's produced by a major food conglomerate, you need to be
particularly careful that it contains only ingredients that help your cause in feeling good or getting lean.

2. Restock Your Produce Often.
Fresh foods are just that: fresh. Hunter-gatherers had no storage facilities, so they immediately ate what they caught and killed or picked from trees and bushes. We now have the luxury to buy many kinds of foods and cook, refrigerate and freeze, and reheat them. At farmers' markets, we can purchase foods that were picked that morning, as compared to grocery store produce that was picked ten days prior and warehoused until put on the shelves. Wherever you buy your produce, eat it as quickly as possible to obtain its best nutritional value. Fresh food spoils quickly, so plan your week of eating accordingly. If you find that your produce is reaching the end of its shelf life and you just can't get to preparing it in time, freeze what you can or cook it and then freeze it. Wasting food and hard-earned money would be a shame. If you have time, consider smaller and more frequent trips to the produce aisle for the freshest options available.