I Ate 100 TBSP Of BUTTER In 10 Days: Here Is What Happened To My BLOOD

This is me loading up on butter at the grocery  store because in the next 10 days I'm gonna eat  

100 tablespoons of butter to see what all the  saturated fat will do to my blood. Hello Health  

Champions. Today we're going to talk about  fat In the blood also known as triglycerides  

and about the blood work that I did before and  after eating 100 tablespoons of butter in 10  

days and I did this because I wanted to see  what would happen we keep hearing about how  

bad fat is how saturated fat will clog up your  arteries and increase your blood fats and cause  

insulin resistance and diabetes so I wanted to do  something sort of extreme just to see what would  

happen I went and looked at some of the websites  about how to get answers what causes high levels  

of fat in the blood and the answer was pretty  straightforward most people have high blood fats  

because they eat foods with too much fat and they  say the reverse is true also how do you treat this  

how do you undo high levels of blood fats and  that is of course the best way the number one  

way is to eat less fat and here's what I ate  during the 10 days 1420 grams of butter but  

of course you have to eat some other things as  well so I ate some meat and some fish and eggs  

and lots of vegetables with that but all in all  I eat 2 200 grams of fat or 220 grams of fat per  

day and most of that was saturated 1170 grams of  saturated fat so that saturated fat accounted for  

42 percent of my total calories now if we check  with some general guidelines they typically come  

in around 10 percent of saturated fat and one in  particular the American Heart Association says  

that we should eat no more than five percent or  maybe six percent of our calories from saturated  

fat so basically I ate a little more than eight  times as much saturated fat as you're supposed  

to and I was thinking that really has to create  some damage right and I agree with them that high  

blood fats are not a good thing high blood fats  can cause problems heart disease and pancreatitis  

diabetes strokes and obesity are associated with  metabolic problems where we see high blood fats  

the question is is this caused by eating too much  fat now in a little trial like this there's three  

possible outcomes either my blood fats would go  up as the standard model would predict and if  

that's true then it seems like the standard model  is pretty much correct that we should list listen  

to that and we should follow that however if my  blood fats would go down or stay the same then we  

worry that there's something seriously wrong with  that standard model or at the very least that it  

is incomplete and doesn't really account for all  the variables that matter now please hear me when  

I say that more isn't better and just because I  had certain results doesn't mean that you would  

have those same results you need to understand  the mechanisms and the things that I will talk  

about and apply them in your case so that you can  have an outcome that you want eating a hundred  

tablespoons of butter is not something that you  want to do long term because it is too limiting  

it's called a stunt and I did it to hopefully  get some people's attention so that we can start  

thinking and questioning some of the guidelines  which ones are true and which ones do we need  

to modify and when it comes to fat and lipids in  the blood we need to understand how does it work  

how does the body transport them how does the body  regulate them what are the different factors that  

make blood fats go up or down what's the basic  purpose first of all fat and water doesn't mix  

so if you put a drop of oil in water it's going  to float on the surface pretty much forever  

and the same thing holds true in the body the  blood is mostly water so we can't just put the  

fat straight in there because it would Clump  together and it wouldn't go anywhere so in the  

body there's something called lipoproteins where  we have proteins that carry the lipids and they  

look pretty much like this this is a lipoprotein  and they've solved this issue of water solubility  

beautifully because there is a membrane on  the outside and these green things those are  

the heads of phospholipids so the green portion  is water soluble and those yellow little things  

are fatty acids sticking to the inside so the  outside of this is water soluble and the inside is  

fat soluble now these are still super super tiny  they're measured in nanometers and on the inside  

they carry the triglycerides and the cholesterol  and we have different kinds so we have VLDLs, LDLs  

and HDLs basically and we want to think of these  in terms of size that the VLDL is extra large in  

nanometers it measures about 40 to 80 nanometers  the LDL is like a medium size about 19 to 23  

nanometers and the HDL is small or extra small 5  to 15 nanometers so when something is extra large  

it's because it contains a lot of fat this piece  in the middle here with the fat the triglycerides  

and the cholesterol that part is huge and then  as they get smaller they contain less fat in the  

middle in proportion to the surface membrane and  the proteins which are these colorful balls and  

the body makes these lipoproteins to distribute  and regulate fat and cholesterol in the body so  

we start off with a really big VLDL, very low  density lipoprotein and this one is jam-packed  

with triglycerides with fat and along the way its  purpose is to distribute this and it's so full of  

triglycerides that it's basically this leaking  these fats all over the place and that's a good  

thing because it's delivering fuel to the cells  of the body and it delivers mostly triglycerides  

by far but it also has a little bit of cholesterol  to deliver and 90 percent of all the triglycerides  

that you find in the bloodstream are going to be  carried by VLDL so when we measure triglyceride  

on a blood test it is really indirectly these  lipoproteins we're measuring and primarily VLDL  

so the VLDL and the triglycerides are going  to be almost the same indicator but with a  

different units and then what happens as this  is floating around in the bloodstream then it's  

going to release a lot of this fat along the way  and the cells will soak it up and then this cell  

this lipoprotein shrinks so it goes from being  a VLDL to a regular LDL and at this point it's  

going to be about 21 to 23 nanometers it's still  going to be a good size it's medium but it's on  

the large size and this is a large fluffy LDL  this is what they're supposed to be but if this  

LDL sticks around and it takes a few more laps and  there's a lot of stress there's a lot of oxidative  

stress and inflammation and too much sugar in  the bloodstream now this LDL gets damaged along  

the way and it shrinks a little bit further and  now it becomes an oxidized LDL or a damaged LDL  

and now we're going to see it at about 19 to 20.  so the more of these small ones you have the more  

damage there they can cause but the whole point  is the VLDLs become LDLs after they unload their  

cargo the other lipoprotein that's manufactured  in the body it's called an HDL and it starts out  

super super tiny and then as it goes around its  job is the opposite of the VLDL. The VLDL unloads  

and the HDL collects so the HDL is supposed to  increase in size as it collects and picks up  

some triglycerides but mostly cholesterol that has  been used in the body and it brings it back to the  

liver for processing and recycling so we want  the VLDLs to be small indicating that they have  

unloaded their cargo we want the LDLs to be large  indicating that they have not been damaged and we  

want the HDL to be as large as possible indicating  that it's actually doing its job of picking up  

that extra cholesterol there's a lot of confusion  about how this is associated with heart disease  

because most people and most doctors believe that  high triglycerides and high LDL always go together  

and this is true in some cases it is pretty  common but it is not the way it needs to work  

this is what it looks like when it's associated  with high insulin when we have metabolically poor  

health then yes we will see high LDL High total  cholesterol high triglycerides at the same time  

but only in the presence of high insulin what we  see a lot when we start changing things around  

when we're metabolically healthier it is that  we can have high LDL and low triglycerides and  

still be metabolically healthy and the reason is  that we now have low insulin so in the presence  

of low insulin we see the opposite relationship  between LDL and triglycerides so triglycerides  

are a very good indicator of insulin resistance  of metabolically poor health now there's a lot of  

confusion about why triglycerides and VLDL build  up and get elevated and the number one reason  

reason and really the only reason that they build  up is that they are not being used the body makes  

them for a reason they're there to provide  fuel but they're not being used up because  

there's too much of something else that has  to be used first and here's how this works  

first we eat some food and the fuel that we derive  from the food can be in two forms it can either be  

fat or it can be a carbohydrate and if we eat the  fat now it can go directly into the bloodstream  

and it floats around as fat or triglycerides like  we talked about and it can be available as fuel  

for the cells needs no conversion or we can eat  carbohydrates and this carbohydrate gets into  

the blood faster that's what carbohydrates do and  they raise blood glucose and if I had a penny for  

every time I heard that carbohydrate or glucose  is the preferred fuel I'll be very wealthy but  

it's not that it's the preferred fuel it's the  fuel that has to be used up first because high  

blood glucose is dangerous to the brain and it  is very very tightly regulated because it causes  

damage when it gets too high that's why if the  body has the choice between fat and carbohydrates  

it's always going to use the carbs first because  they can cause damage if they go to high levels so  

the more carbs you eat the less likely that you're  going to use the fat that is also floating around  

in the bloodstream at the same time but it doesn't  stop there you can use some of the glucose some of  

the carbohydrates you can use in the moments you  can store a little bit but most of it it has to  

be turned into fat so you eat the carbohydrate  becomes glucose and then that turns into fat so  

now we have two sources of fat we have the fat we  ate and the carbs we ate they both float around  

as fat except we have to use the carbohydrates  first so there's no reason we can't ever get to  

the fat but there's one more factor that makes  this situation even worse and that is once the  

carbohydrate is inside the bloodstream it needs  some help to get that glucose into the cell and  

there is a hormone called insulin and that opens  the gate between the bloodstream and the cell to  

let that glucose in so short term that's fine but  if we eat a lot of carbohydrates then this insulin  

is going to be chronically elevated because it's  all ways trying to get that glucose into the cell  

so now the insulin is pushing it into the cell but  it also is preventing that fat from being used up  

so now we have on so many levels it's difficult  for the body to use that fat and that's why it  

builds up however if we don't eat the carbohydrate  if we eat primarily fat then the body is going to  

start burning the fat first and whatever fat we  put in the bloodstream gets used up and our VLDL  

and our triglycerides never rise and there are  endless lists of food that they suggest that we  

can eat that they are good to lower triglycerides  and lower blood fats and I'm not even going to go  

through all these there's dozens on this list  and there's hundreds on various different lists  

but what I want to point out is that these Foods  seem very very random we don't get any explanation  

as to why these Foods would do that what do  they have in common so I want to ask why what  

is it that these foods are supposed to do and  here's the answer if they don't raise glucose  

and if they don't raise insulin then they're okay  they could be beneficial for other reasons if you  

don't have a glucose or a triglyceride problem but  if you put it on the list to lower triglycerides  

that's the only thing that you're concerned with  how is it going to affect glucose and Insulin so  

here's where I ate during these 10 days I kept a  spreadsheet and I had 78 of my calories from fat  

15 from protein and seven percent from carbs so  the standard model the general wisdom of the day  

would say it would predict that my triglycerides  would go way up because I ate so much fat almost  

80 percent and that would also be reflected in the  vldl we're going to look at both markers and then  

it would predict that my insulin resistance  would increase because that is what they  

say and also that because fat is such a strong  contributor to obesity then I should also gain  

some weight and here's what happened to my insulin  resistance markers my weight went from 185 to 185  

no change at all and I might add that I did not  have time to exercise a whole lot I did a few  

push-ups I went for a couple of walks but that's  about it my glucose started off at 95 and after  

10 days it was down to 84. my insulin started  at 3.5 and it went down to 2.8 and I might add  

that an ideal range for insulin is between two and  five whereas a diabetic is going to be more on the  

range of 25 to 30. and if you calculate something  called HOMA-IR or homeostatic model assessment of  

insulin resistance you're taking into account  the glucose levels but also how much effort how  

much insulin it takes to keep the glucose levels  down so you multiply the glucose by the insulin  

you divide by 405 and an ideal number would be  somewhere around one so anything from 0.5 to 1.5  

would be ideal and very insulin sensitive and I  started out at 0.82 and after 10 days of eating  

butter I was down to 0.58 even though we're  supposed to increase insulin resistance with  

saturated fat and I ate eight times as much as  I was supposed to again nothing I recommend but  

obviously does not have that predicted effect of  worsening insulin resistance and then let's look  

at normal and healthy levels of triglycerides so  these numbers come from Kaiser Permanente that's  

an insurance company that ensures people they look  at various different risks and they know that if  

people have high triglycerides then they're very  risky to ensure they say that optimal for an adult  

is less than a hundred milligrams per deciliter  and then they also say that younger people like  

teens would be less than 90 and pre-teens would  be less than 75 so the general idea is that these  

numbers naturally and normally go up as we age  but I would rather say that younger people have  

less because they haven't lived long enough to  get clogged up and congested whereas if you keep  

burning through the fat that you eat by keeping  insulin down there's no reason we shouldn't have  

these low numbers all the way through our lives  and they also say that a normal risk not optimal  

or ideal but just kind of average normal would  be 150 to 199 but keep in mind most people are  

metabolically challenged challenge these days  they have some degree of insulin resistance  

so let's take a look at my numbers and again  optimal is less than a hundred so I started  

off at 56 and after eating butter after stuffing  my bloodstream with saturated fat for 10 days it  

was at 54. and again these triglycerides are  carried by the vldl so we confirm this finding  

the lab range would be 5 to 40 with anything over  20 being way too high in my opinion and I started  

off at nine and after 10 days with butter I was  still at a nine so I think we need to challenge  

the standard Model A little bit and understand  that it's not about the fat it's not about the  

saturated fat it is how high we're driving the  insulin with the other Foods we're eating at the  

same time I think Mark Twain says it best what  gets us in trouble is not what we Don don't know  

it's what we know for sure that just ain't so and  we've heard these things so long that they become  

truths even though it may not be so so keep  in mind we want to focus on the key factors we  

want to look at insulin and VLDL when it comes to  understanding fat in the blood and we don't want  

to focus on LDL by itself we want to understand  healthy versus unhealthy LDL but the number itself  

means very very little and it is not about how  much saturated fats you eat eat quality food of  

a wide variety and understand the mechanisms as  they apply to you but now here's the thing one  

of the best ways to find that perfect balance for  you is to know your Baseline and if you didn't see  

last week's video that's where I was talking about  how you can do blood work and if you understand  

what those markers mean you can catch imbalances  much much sooner and you can get a truer picture  

of where you are for example if you're more or  less insulin resistant you can also find out  

some markers that most people don't test for most  doctors never test for things like homocysteine or  

ferritin and if homocysteine and ferritin are high  then you can actually aggravate insulin resistance  

you can promote insulin resistance simply by those  two markers being elevated and because most people  

have no idea and unfortunately most doctors have  no idea I'm about to launch a a blood work course  

where I'm going to teach over eight weeks and  help you understand your blood work so that you  

can truly take charge of your own health get some  blood work and understand what it means so you can  

get a baseline make some changes and then monitor  the results and understand it better than you ever  

have before so if you check out the links down  below they'll take you to where you can find out  

and learn more about that course if you enjoyed  this video you're going to love that one and if  

you truly want to master Health by understanding  how the body really works make sure you subscribe  

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