#1 Absolute Biggest Lie You've Been Told About Fats

Hello, Health Champions. I really hope you  haven't bought into all the lies about fat. I  

was speechless when I came across this list about  the types of fat that a lot of people believe are  

either very or somewhat healthy. So, Omega-3s: 86%  of people thought they were healthy. Soybean oil:  

81% of people thought they were healthy.  Polyunsaturated fats: 43%. Monounsaturated fats:  

42%. 32% of people thought hydrogenated fats  were healthy. Trans fats: 22%. And saturated fat:  

21%. For some of these, it's pretty clear-cut;  they're just plain bad. But for a lot of them,  

it's going to depend. It's going to depend on the  quality. It's going to depend on the circumstance,  

and what type. What is actually an omega-3?  Soybean oil: there's nothing really good about  

it. Polyunsaturated: it depends. Monounsaturated:  it depends. With hydrogenated oils and trans fats,  

there's nothing good about it. And with  saturated fat, it's going to depend.

The first lie I want to set straight is the  belief that fat makes you fat, and the belief  

that you're fat because your intake exceeds your  expenditure. You eat more than you burn. Now,  

this part is actually true. The part where people  get off track is when they start counting calories  

and thinking that is the same thing, that if you  eat more calories than you burn, then you will  

get fat. And the reason they think fat makes you  fat is that fat has more calories. It has nine  

calories per gram versus four calories for protein  or carbohydrates. But if you believe it's all  

about calories in and calories out, I just have  one question for you: Are you a bomb calorimeter?  

And what's that, you ask? Well, here's a bomb  calorimeter: that is a closed system that they  

use to burn things and then measure heat as a  result of that burning, of that combustion. So,  

they put a little thing in here, they set fire  to it, and they measure how much warmer does the  

water get. So, it's kind of like in your car if  you have a gasoline car, then you're exploding,  

you're combusting gasoline inside a closed  environment, and you get heat and energy in  

exchange. So, if you looked yourself in the mirror  recently, when you woke up, and you saw this, then  

you could be a bomb calorimeter, and then it's  probably a good idea for you to worry only about  

calories. That's probably the only variable that  would concern you. However, if you didn't look  

like this, if you looked more like a human, then  you have completely different variables because  

you make energy differently. You make them with  enzymes and receptors and co-actors and hormones,  

and you don't have enzymes and co-actors and  hormones that process calories. You have them to  

process molecules with certain shapes and certain  fits, and that's how you break down food and turn  

it into energy, not as heat. You make something  called ATP. And whenever you eat a little more  

than you need, right in this moment, which we  always do because you eat for this moment and for  

a few hours after, then there is a hormone called  insulin that is responsible for taking the extra  

and storing it away. And some of it, it stores  as carbohydrate, but whatever it can't store as  

carbohydrate because we have very limited room to  store carbohydrate, the rest gets turned into fat,  

and that's called lipogenesis. And insulin is a  hormone that promotes turning carbohydrate into  

fat and storing it. So, it promotes lipogenesis,  but it also works the other way, in that it  

prevents breaking down. So when we have high  levels of insulin, then the fat that we stored  

previously, we have less access to it. It's not  as readily available to us to make energy. Now,  

if we're metabolically healthy, then insulin  rises to store it and insulin falls so that we  

can retrieve it. But if we are insulin-resistant,  if we have made a lot of insulin for a long time,  

now insulin is high to store it, but then it stays  high, so we can't retrieve it. And therefore,  

chronically high levels of insulin and insulin  resistance promote hunger; it increases hunger.  

So therefore, insulin and insulin resistance  promotes overeating. So it is absolutely true  

that if you are overweight, you overeat, but the  question is, why did that happen? It's not because  

you were gluttonous and slothful and had poor  character. It's because you ate the wrong thing  

that unbalanced your system and created insulin  resistance, and now that insulin causes you to  

continue overeating. So, the trick is to bring  this insulin down. And how do we do that? Well,  

first of all, we have to understand what types of  food promote insulin. And just as a very simple  

explanation, we could say that carbs would create  this much insulin. If we put a number on it,  

it would be like a 100. If we have protein,  then it would create this much, and we could  

say that it would be like teens. And when we  eat fat, that fat does not raise blood sugar,  

so we're talking an arrow that much, and  we're talking single digits, like one to four,  

basically. So, the fallacy that fat makes you fat  completely ignores the mechanism that humans use  

to break down and store energy. So, carbohydrate  is by far the greatest contributor to insulin  

and insulin resistance, and that's what we need  to cut back on if we want to lose that weight.

One of the most popular oils recently  is monounsaturated fatty acids,  

and 42% of people thought that that was a  good idea. It is very prevalent in olive oil,  

and olive oil has a lot of monounsaturated, but  it also has a lot of saturated, or some saturated,  

and some polyunsaturated. So, if we look at  the monounsaturated, 74%, so about 34 would  

be monounsaturated, 15% though is still saturated,  and about 10% is polyunsaturated. But we're going  

to compare this olive oil to two other things, and  this is going to be a shock to a lot of people.  

Beef actually has 42% M unsaturated fat in it, and  it has 50% saturated and 4% polyunsaturated. Now,  

we hear all the time that we should eat  plant-based oils like olive oil as if they  

were all the same. Well, soybean oil, which is by  far the most consumed oil in the United States,  

only has 23% monounsaturated fats. It has 15%  saturated and 57% polyunsaturated fats. So,  

if we look at this now, we see that beef is  actually much closer in character to olive oil,  

with a relatively high monounsaturated and very  low polyunsaturated, than what soybean oil is  

to olive oil. Now, think about this for a second.  One of the reasons the olive oil is so popular is  

that people around the Mediterranean, like CED and  Greece and Italy, eat tons and tons of olive oil,  

and they have very little heart disease. In the  US, however, we eat almost all soybean oil. So,  

in the US, we eat about 35 to 40 liters of soybean  oil per person and about half to one liter of  

olive oil, and we have tons of heart disease  and metabolic disease. In Greece, they do the  

opposite. They have about 30 to 35 liters of olive  oil and virtually no soybean oil. And yet, we keep  

hearing that polyunsaturated fats are so good for  us, that we should limit fat, but the fat that  

we do eat should be polyunsaturated, that it's  so much better for us. Don't believe that lie.

Have you ever wondered why fats are solid or  liquid? Well, we're going to talk about that,  

and I'm going to give you a little bit of detail,  but no more than what you need to really get this,  

and it's super interesting because it's  all about the shape that gives the fat  

their different properties. So, a saturated  fatty acid starts off with a chain of carbons,  

and most fats are going to have 16 to 18 carbons  in the chain. I'm only drawing five here to save  

space and give you better detail. At the end, we  have a molecule that makes it a fatty acid, and we  

just call that X because it's not important. And  then, for each carbon, we attach two hydrogens.  

And when we have hydrogens all the way around,  now this makes it saturated. The carbon chain  

is saturated with hydrogens. There is no more room  to add any more, because the carbon can bind four  

different molecules. It can bind four ways, and  now we have four things bound to each carbon.  

It's saturated. So, this makes it straight,  because these hydrogens, they take up space,  

but because they take equal space symmetrically,  then they're going to push each other apart,  

and we end up with a straight molecule. Straight  molecules are going to pack much tighter. They're  

going to move less, and that makes the fat  solid, but also, it's going to make it stable  

because it's full of hydrogen. It doesn't  have much of a tendency, very low tendency,  

to react with anything else. It can't change  much. It can't take on any more molecules, and  

that makes saturated fats very nonreactive. That  means that they're going to last for a long time.  

They don't oxidize very easily, and you can keep  them in room temperature for quite a long time.

And then we have monounsaturated fatty  acids, like olive oil. And again,  

we start with a portion of a straight chain,  and in real life, it's going to be a total of  

16 to 18 carbons. On the straight part, we're  going to have hydrogens attached on both sides,  

but then there's a place that's different.  And this is where, on between two carbons,  

we're going to have a double bond instead  of a single bond. So, there's two links,  

and carbon can only bind four ways, and now it's  using up two in one place, so that means we only  

have room for one more hydrogen on each carbon.  And because these carbons take up space and  

they're unopposed by anything on the other side,  they're going to push each other apart. They're  

going to be allowed to take more room, and we get  a bent chain. We get a kink in the molecule. And  

because of this kink, it's going to not pack as  tight as a saturated fat. So, that's why olive  

oil is liquid at room temperature. But if you  get into refrigerated or very cool temperatures,  

you can see that olive oil starting to harden  a little bit. And even though it doesn't pack,  

this molecule doesn't pack as tightly together  as saturated fat, it's still considered stable  

because you can keep it on the counter for  months, and it doesn't need any refrigeration.

And the next one is going to be polyunsaturated.  Poly means more than one. So, again, a portion  

of it's going to be straight, but now we have  more than one double bond. So, now we're going  

to have more places that have room for hydrogen.  We're going to have more places where the hydrogen  

is on one side of the molecule only. And again, in  real life, this is going to have 16 to 18 carbons,  

so there's going to be more hydrogens.  There's going to be some straight portions,  

but I'm just showing you this to keep it  simple, that we have more kinks, more bends,  

and the molecule is going to pack less tightly.  So, the more of these double bonds we have,  

the more unsaturated it is, the more liquid it  is. And now, because it is so bent, it's going to  

be liquid in the refrigerator, and some of these,  when you have three or four or five double bonds,  

they're going to be liquid even in the freezer.  And what we really need to understand about these  

fats, the polyunsaturated, is that now, they are  unstable and highly reactive. Because there's  

so many places that are unsaturated, so many  places that have room for something to react,  

then they're going to be very prone to react  and get oxidized. And that's why these oils  

need refrigeration, especially if there's some  quality. We'll talk about the highly processed  

ones. And if you have something like cod liver  oil, then you absolutely want to store it in the  

fridge or even in the freezer because it's  going to be liquid even in the freezer. So,  

you could open it, keep it in the freezer,  and take a little sip now and then.

And then there's something called trans fat that  most people today realize are really, really bad,  

even though we had 30% of people thought it was  a good idea in that survey. But we start with a  

liquid oil. We start with a carbon chain, 16 to  18 carbons, but the whole point of the process  

that creates trans fats is to turn a liquid into a  solid. So, what they do is now they bombard this.  

This chain is already going to have some hydrogens  on it, but now they have a cannon that they  

bombard this. They shoot additional hydrogen on  it under heat and pressure, and now some of these  

hydrogens are going to end up on opposite sides.  And we're going to have some of these double bonds  

remain. That's called partially hydrogenated.  That's why you want to look at the label. If it  

says partially hydrogenated, then you know you're  going to have some of these molecules. And when  

the hydrogens end up on opposite sides, that's  called a trans fat. Again, in nature, these would  

be on the same side, and it would be like OIC acid  and olive oil, and you would have a bent molecule.  

But here, the whole purpose was to take a liquid  and basically straighten the molecule, hydrogenate  

it, so it turns straight. And now, we have a plant  fat that used to be liquid, but now it's straight.  

And these pack together, and we have made  margarine. We start with a liquid, and now that  

it's solid, we have made it more shelf-stable.  And that's why these fats are so popular in  

processed foods because they're dirt cheap,  and they can sit on the shelf forever, almost.

And the main thing to understand about this  molecule is that it's unnatural. It never existed  

on the planet until humans started making it. That  exact configuration is man-made, and therefore,  

it doesn't fit inside living beings. And I  don't care what anybody says, we don't need  

50 years of research to figure that out. If it's a  man-made molecule that never existed before, then  

chances are overwhelmingly high that it will cause  trouble, that it will not have a natural place in  

our bodies. And sure enough, this oil, turned into  margarine, was promoted as super healthy plant  

fats everyone should use it, of course, until  they turned out that it promoted non-alcoholic  

fat liver, that it caused increased inflammation,  that it is very strongly linked to heart disease.

But then, there is one type of trans fat that's  natural. It's called CLA or conjugated linoleic  

acid. Now, the thing is, though, that it doesn't  look exactly like this because if the hydrogens  

are on different number carbons, if it's on number  nine instead of 11, 11, then it's a different fat.  

And those fats are actually super healthy. So,  the CLAs are produced primarily naturally in cows,  

and they have done studies where when they use  the natural trans fat in the form of a CLA,  

it does the opposite of the man-made trans  fat. Then it actually reverses fatty liver,  

it promotes fat burning, it reduces inflammation.  So, that's why I'm going through these details,  

so that you understand that it makes all the  difference if the hydrogen is on a different  

number carbon. If we move it from 11 to  12, it becomes a different molecule, and  

it has a different function. And it, like a puzzle  piece, that fits differently in our biochemistry.

And now that you have those basics, I need to  show you what Omega-3s and Omega-6s are. So,  

here are the fatty acids that we talked  about, and if they have one double bond,  

it's monounsaturated. If it has more than one, at  least two, then it's called polyunsaturated. So,  

we have the X, the fatty acid, and the terminal  group on one end, and then we have 16 to 18  

carbons, and we start counting from the other end.  So, we start 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and up. In OIC acid,  

in olive oil, now we have the double bond on the  ninth carbon. If we have an Omega-6, it is on the  

sixth carbon. And you guessed it, if we have an  omega-3, now it's going to be on the third carbon.

And now, it gets really interesting when we  talk about polyunsaturated fatty acids and  

Omega-3s. So, 42% of people thought that  polyunsaturated fatty acids were healthy,  

and 86% thought omega-3s were very  healthy. And they're often talked  

about in the same context as if they  were the same thing. Even in research,  

I found this on PubMed, and they say that omega-3  polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as EPA and DHA,  

are essential... and they went on to talk about  how DHA has been very promising in treating and  

helping people with depression and anxiety, and  for brain health, general. But the point here is  

that they say Omega-3s, polyunsaturated, such  as... and then people think that Omega-3s and  

polyunsaturated are the same thing, and we're  told to eat polyunsaturated vegetable oils.

So let's clarify this with an example, and we'll  look at soybean oil, which 81% of people think  

is healthy. It's the most sold and consumed oil  in the United States. It has 57% polyunsaturated  

fatty acids, and there are two kinds of  those. There's an Omega-6 called linoleic  

acid that's 50% of that oil, and then there is  an omega-3 called alpha-linolenic acid, or ALA,  

which is 7%. But in the quote we just talked  about, they talked about EPA and DHA as kind of  

the active components; that's like the end result  that the body is looking for, and that's where  

86% of people believe that's healthy. And they  have good reason for that because they're very,  

very good. They're very beneficial for the body  in so many ways. But how much of those precious  

essential fatty acids are in soybean oil?  Well, exactly 0.00%; there is none in there.

Now, even though there is exactly zero of these  EPA and DHA in soybean oil, the alpha-linolenic  

acid can theoretically be turned into EPA and  DHA. The problem is that the conversion is very  

poor to start with; it's only a few percent  of this that can become the EPA and DHA,  

and the conversion is further reduced by  things like sugar, insulin resistance,  

inflammation, and stress, and so forth. So, in  most people, there is virtually no conversion,  

and the percentage that can turn into EPA is  a much smaller percentage that becomes DHA.

So, now we go back to this statement that  we started with, and it kind of sort of  

looks like the PUFA, the polyunsaturated fatty  acids, would be the same thing as EPA and DHA,  

but now we see that they create an association,  and people are confused. We're told to eat  

polyunsaturated fatty acids because EPA and  DHA are supposed to be good, but there's really  

none in there. Instead, what we're getting  with these plant oils is we're getting way  

too much. Even though this Omega-6 is actually  essential, that we have to have a little bit,  

we need tiny, tiny, tiny amounts, and this ratio  should ideally be about one to one. That's how  

the body best balances inflammation, and it's  not that one is bad and the other is good;  

it's just that when they're way out of balance,  then we shift the inflammatory ratio in the body,  

and we tend to promote more inflammation. And with  modern diets, this ratio could be as high as 20 to  

1, whereas if you eat things like grass-fed beef  and grass-fed butter, it is more of a one to one.

So, polyunsaturated just means more than  one. The linoleic acid has two double bonds;  

the ALA has three; the EPA has five. So, EPA  again is eicosapentaenoic acid, and the "penta"  

means five, and DHA, docosahexaenoic,  means six. So, the longer these get,  

the more convoluted, the more bent they  are, the less flat they pack together,  

and this is why cod liver oil and fish oil will  stay liquid even in the freezer. And I'm sure  

the fish were pretty clever to figure that out  because when they swim around in freezing water,  

they don't want to stiffen up just because they  have monounsaturated fats in their body. They want  

to have the very, very liquid fats, and that's  where we get most of these from cold-water fish.

So, what's so great about EPA and DHA? Well,  and this is just a very short list of benefits.  

Both EPA and DHA are very prevalent in our  cell membranes. You have 37 trillion cells  

in your body, and the cell membrane is called a  bilipid cell membrane; it has two layers of fats,  

and EPA and DHA make up a good component, and  they give these cell membranes some of their  

properties, especially in the nervous system. EPA  has been shown to support cardiovascular health,  

acts as precursors for signaling molecules, has  anti-inflammatory properties. They've done studies  

where they measure something called C-reactive  protein, which is a general inflammation marker  

in the body, and by taking EPA, you can lower this  inflammation marker. And in some studies, they  

found that EPA works better than DHA for this,  and this is why EPA is generally associated with  

cardiovascular health and general inflammation,  whereas DHA has some other properties.

And EPA has also been shown to help the immune  system balance out with immune modulation. And  

if you have some of these things and you'd like  to try to maybe supplement with some fish oil,  

cod liver oil is great, another one would  be Super Omega that we use a lot in our  

office. It's a pretty concentrated version  where you get about a 3 to 2 of EPA to DHA,  

and I'll put a link down below if you like.

Then there's DHA, docosahexaenoic, that's  the longest chain with the most double bonds,  

and it is critical for brain development. Your  brain cannot mature and develop without sufficient  

quantities. So, keep in mind the brain is  actually 60% fat, and out of all that fat,  

one quarter is DHA only. That little thing, this  very, very specific fatty acid that we need,  

just some milligrams, a couple of hundred,  500 milligrams a day or so, makes up so  

much of the brain. And there's an even higher  percentage in the retina, in the back of the eye,  

those photo-sensing molecules, receptor sensors,  that help you see; 50% of that retina is DHA.

So, this is why they talk so much about DHA  during pregnancy because if the mother doesn't  

have enough DHA, then the nervous system and  the retina of that baby will not have enough  

raw materials to develop properly. And DHA  has been very promising in mood regulations,  

so for people with anxiety, depression, panic  attacks, and most of those develop because  

the brain isn't working properly. The brain  isn't strong enough; it's like a light bulb  

that's gone a little dim. And if you provide the  most important building material in the brain,  

then it's going to work better and be able to  balance those factors better. It's also been shown  

to reduce cognitive decline, so dementia, people  stay sharper longer with the right types of fats.  

And for this particular application, the DHA has  been shown to work better, more so than the EPA.

So, that's where EPA is considered the  general inflammation, and DHA is kind  

of considered the brain support. DHA is  also important for skin hydration. So,  

the skin has cell membranes just like every  other cell in the body, and these molecules,  

EPA and DHA, are very prevalent there. So, if  you have some anxiety or some mood disorders,  

or if you have a kid with hyperactivity, then  one of the first things to try before you went  

to any other medication or pills or anything like  that would simply be a good, solid dose of DHA.

And the one that I use the most in the clinic,  because it's very inexpensive for what you get,  

is called Tuna Omega. I'll put a link down  below, and it has a 5:1 ratio of DHA to EPA.  

Most fish oil is the other way around,  to some ratio, but this one is most DHA.

So, EPA and DHA are very specific examples of  polyunsaturated fatty acids, but what's true  

for all polyunsaturated acids is that they  are highly sensitive. They're very reactive;  

they're just waiting to interact with something  like oxygen, so they oxidize very easily. And  

when they do, they produce free radicals that  create inflammation and damage in the body. So,  

when you have a rancid polyunsaturated  fatty acid like ALA or EPA or DHA,  

because they're so reactive, they go rancid very  quickly. If you leave them in room temperature,  

they're going to start stinking really, really  bad, really quickly. So, if you have fresh fish,  

and you don't get it on ice right away, it's  going to start stinking within hours to days,  

and it's because these polyunsaturated fatty acids  are so sensitive to oxygen, they react so easy.

But then you might wonder, if they smell  bad, if they stink, then why do other  

polyunsaturated fatty acids, like soybean  oil and all these other vegetable oils,  

why don't they stink? And it's because they  have changed them; they have manipulated  

them. And after they heat them under pressure  and they extract them, and they have chemical  

solvents to extract every little bit of fat out of  there, now they get filtered, they get bleached,  

they get degummed, and deodorized. So, these  oils that they're promoting that they're  

telling us to eat, the soybean, the corn,  the canola, have been so harshly processed,  

so they have basically nothing in common  with the food that they originally came from.

So, even though EPA and DHA are very beneficial  and a very specific type of polyunsaturated fatty  

acid, it does not mean that other polyunsaturated  are automatically good that we should consume and  

turn into energy because they've gone through  all of this, and they're not good anymore.

But how much do we then need of the good stuff,  the specific ones that we're looking for? Well,  

the general recommendation is that if you  eat alpha-linolenic acid, like flax oil,  

you need about 1,100 to 1,600 milligrams  per day, typically it's 1,100 for women  

and 1,600 for men. And then they say that we  also need about 500 milligrams a day, combined,  

of EPA and DHA. So, that really means that we  need to take some fish oil because, like I said,  

the conversion is so poor that we only get  a couple of percent at best out of the EPA  

and the DHA ever. A lot of people who work in  the health field, who look for optimal rather  

than just avoiding deficiencies, they feel that we  need somewhere between 1,000 and 3,000 milligrams  

of the EPA and DHA. And the 1,000 is if you're  relatively healthy, if you're just maintaining,  

and there's a good chance that you're converting  some of this ALA, but if you're not so healthy,  

if you're working to reverse some problem, then  you probably want to be closer to that 3,000.

Now, you probably heard that you get  what you pay for, and very often,  

you can go and buy like a two-pack of huge  capsules of fish oil, and they're dirt cheap,  

and they say that I have 1,200 milligrams of  fish oil in them. But then you look at the label,  

and sometimes they don't even tell you how much  EPA and DHA is in there. But one example I found  

where you had only 240 mg of EPA, 120 of  DHA, even though you had this huge horse  

pill of a fish oil capsule because it's not very  concentrated. So, a good brand would actually give  

you just a little bit bigger capsule, or maybe  two of them, would give you something like three  

to four times as much of the good stuff that  you're looking for. And most fish oil is going  

to have more EPA than DHA. If you're looking  for the opposite, the one that I mentioned,  

the T Omega, would have in three capsules,  you would get 1,995 milligrams of fish oil,  

but you get a whole 450 of DHA. And it's not just  the absolute amount, but it's the ratio of them.  

The body tends to process them differently, so if  you're looking for the brain support primarily,  

you want to look for something that has  more DHA, regardless of the quantity.

So, when are Omega-3s good or bad? Well, if  you get them from fresh fish or fresh fish oil,  

then they're great. If you get them  from nuts and seeds that are fresh,  

then that's good. Just keep in mind that the  conversion may not give you what you're looking  

for in terms of EPA and DHA. And even though  the oils are protected in the nuts and seeds,  

if they're not kept cool, they will go  rancid over time. And if they turn into oil,  

then they go rancid much faster,  and now it's actually harmful.

And polyunsaturated fatty acids, again,  fresh fish oil would be a great source,  

nuts and seeds would be a great source, flaxseed  oil would be good if it's fresh. But keep in mind,  

you don't convert all that well, if that's what  you're looking for. And if you eat the processed  

plant oils that we're told to consume  in mass, then those are not recommended;  

there's nothing good in there. And if most of  the polyunsaturated fatty acids are Omega-6s,  

then you tend to get an excess, which puts you  in pro-inflammation, and that's not a good thing.

Monounsaturated fatty acids, the best source,  easiest, cheapest, tastiest, is extra virgin  

olive oil. If you can get it organic, that's a  plus. And then there is also something called  

light olive oil because some people want to use  it for dressing or mayonnaise, and they feel  

like this extra virgin is too strong in flavor.  So, they sell light versions, but what you have  

to understand is then they have been filtered;  they've removed some of the beneficial things,  

and they have most likely processed it harder.  So, extra virgin means it's the first pressing,  

it's cold-pressed, and there is no heat added,  and the oil is as little damaged as possible.  

Whereas when they process it more, now it's  not the first squeezing, and they might use  

some heat and more pressure, so it's not going  to have the same beneficial characteristics,  

and it's not going to have the same nutrients,  and it might even be a little bit damaged. So,  

it's not going to be nearly as bad as other oils,  like soybean or safflower or canola or corn oil;  

it's going to be ahead of that. Just keep in  mind, it's not as good as the extra virgin.

The same thing with avocado oil, if  you get the cold-pressed, unfiltered,  

it's going to be excellent; it's going to be  every bit as good as olive oil. But it's again,  

very strong in flavor, it's going to be an intense  green color, it's going to be very strong. And  

almost all of the avocado oil they sell is  fairly harshly processed; it's not going to  

be the cold-pressed extra virgin, and it's going  to be more like this processed olive oil. Again,  

it's going to be light years better than  the mass-market plant oils. So, just keep  

in mind that if you're looking for the purest  stuff, then keep it extra virgin, unfiltered.

And again, surprise to most people, is that beef  and pork are excellent sources of monounsaturated  

fats. Chicken also a good source, not as much  as the beef and pork but still a good source,  

and the only question is going to be, how  healthy was the animal? Because there's a  

big difference between a mass-produced chicken  and a pastured chicken that led a normal life.

Saturated fatty acids, like coconut oil,  are excellent. The butter, better if it's  

grass-fed and organic, excellent source. Meat  is an excellent source, and for all of those,  

just like before, it's going to depend  on the quality. Is it grass-fed? Is it  

full of hormones and pesticides? How did the  animal live? Because the life quality is going  

to determine the quality of the food. Eggs  and dairy are also good sources, and again,  

the quality of how they were raised, but also  we want to keep in mind on these that they're  

fairly common allergies. So, notice how you feel  and be a little bit on watch for that as well.

So, is there anything bad about saturated fat?  Well, for most people, there really isn't,  

as long as you eat quality food. Saturated  fat is an excellent source of energy. However,  

there's always the exception, and if you  measure cholesterol the way you should measure,  

by measuring LDL particle size and count,  for some people, the LDL count will increase  

dramatically on saturated fat and not so much  with monounsaturated, like olive oil. So,  

you want to measure this and understand it and  see what happens for you. For some people, a very  

small percentage, it becomes a problem, especially  if you have a predisposition for making plaque,  

then you don't want a very large number of  LDL particles. It's one risk factor. Some  

people can have very large numbers and still  be okay, but for some, it can be an issue.

So, the most important thing to understand when  we talk about fats being healthy is to understand  

their purpose in the body, and number one is to  act as precursors and building blocks, and number  

two is to provide energy, in this moment and  for reserves. And as far as the building blocks,  

what we're looking for is called EPA and DHA.  They're very specialized molecules that fit in  

cell membranes and that act as precursors, and we  need very small amounts. These are not for burning  

for energy; we need about one to three grams a  day, and the best source to get these is fish.

And no matter how many times you're told to eat  vegetable oil because it has polyunsaturated  

fatty acids, that's not the way that you  want to get them. When it comes to energy,  

you want to burn it primarily from stable  fats and natural fats. So, that's going  

to be monounsaturated fats, saturated fats, and a  small amount of polyunsaturated. So, for example,  

in beef, we have 40 to 45% monounsaturated fatty  acid, the good one that's in olive oil. We have  

40 to 45% saturated fatty acid, pasteur, which  is an excellent source of energy that you burn  

for energy. The fat that you eat is not the fat  that becomes fat on the body; you convert it.  

And beef also has about 4% polyunsaturated fatty  acids, and some of that is going to be those CLAs,  

the conjugated linoleic acid, that's  actually beneficial and reduces inflammation.

So, this is the fat composition of a cow,  of beef fat, even though the cow only eats  

grass or supposed to only eat grass, which  is carbohydrate. So, the cow has bacteria  

that breaks down the grass into glucose, and then  that glucose turns into this fat composition. So,  

it's not from eating saturated fats. And very  similarly in humans, I want to show you a  

comparison that humans have a very, very similar  40 to 50% monounsaturated fats that we store,  

30 to 40% saturated fats, and I couldn't find  any reliable numbers for the polyunsaturated,  

but it's probably going to be a  little bit higher. But regardless,  

we don't get this fat on the body  from eating this fat, because the  

cow didn't. It's just the most efficient,  most natural way for us to store energy.

And if you think about it, if saturated  fat was so bad, and you go on a fast,  

well, now you're eating fat off your body,  which is going to be a lot of saturated  

fat. Is that bad for you? No, of course not;  that's just the way we store and use fat. The  

best forms of fat for energy that you should  eat plenty is monounsaturated and saturated  

fats. They're stable, they're safe, they don't  oxidize easily, they burn clean in the body.

So, the polyunsaturated fats that you  eat should be about 1 to 2% of your fat,  

should be EPA and DHA, which is not  for energy, and the rest of it, 98,  

99%, should be the naturally occurring  fats. And the polyunsaturated fats are  

fine if they're in their natural form  inside nuts and seeds and inside meat.

If you enjoyed this video, you're going to  love that one. And if you truly want to master  

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