The Truth About Fat: A new wave of conscious health hunters has debunked the long-held health myth that fat makes you fat. Although not all fats indeed make you fat, distinguishing between good and bad fats is paramount to ensuring you don’t sabotage your efforts. Today we explore all things fat: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Cornerstone of Health: Burning Body Fat

The ability to burn your body fat is paramount for health because it provides you with the energy to perform all other functions. By jeopardizing fuel transmission to the cells, we are compromising their ability to perform tasks from basic survival to detoxification and more.

Being thin does not mean that your body is effectively burning body fat. Visceral fat (the kind of fat that surrounds your organs) is possibly even more detrimental to health than subcutaneous fat (the kind that ‘shapes’ you) because it contributes heavily to insulin resistance and inflammation.¹

Whether you’re overweight or not, addressing the two major pillars enabling you to burn both kinds of body fat is vital.

Truth About Fat: The Secret to Burning Body Fat

The two main pillars of burning body fat include healing cellular function and nourishing your body in a way that continues to fuel the proper functioning of your cells moving forward. This combination of fixed and fuel is what allows cells to operate optimally.^2-3

Fuel the Cell

Exploring the timing of our diet through intermittent fasting is one part of promoting long-term cellular health, and knowing what to eat is the other.

Since the membrane is made of fat, it is key to its regeneration by consuming good fat, specifically fats containing cholesterol and saturated fat, such as full-fat dairy, grass-fed animal protein, and healthy oils like virgin coconut oil.⁴

Equally important is avoiding the inflammatory fats leading to chronic inflammation and insulin resistance. Not all fats are created equal, and knowing the difference can make or break your efforts to restore whole-body health.

The Good and the Bad

For years, all fats have been demonized by the health industry, giving way to the ‘low-fat’ trends that persist in the minds of many today. The problem with that is that the alternative gave rise to high-sugar foods full of artificial ingredients. Swapping whole-fat, whole foods for highly-processed low-fat artificial foods is one of the significant shifts that gave rise to a generation of insulin (and weight-loss) resistance.⁴

Good fats play a crucial role in whole-body health, with functions like supporting your immune system, regulating body temperature, promoting healthy skin, hair, and nails, providing fat-soluble vitamins (like A, D, E, and K) as well as increasing the bioavailability of vitamins and other beneficial compounds in foods.^6-8

What makes a fat ‘good’ or ‘bad’ is its quality, how it was processed, and how much you consume. Many fats are sensitive to heat (more on this below), which turns them rancid and toxic. Knowing what kind of fat must stay whole and raw (like seeds vs. seed oils) is vital.^9-10

The four major categories of fats include:

• Saturated fats: typically solid at room temperature, these fats have a very high heat tolerance. Example: lard, butter, ghee, or coconut oil. These fats can be consumed raw or cooked.
• Monounsaturated fats: more sensitive to heat. Monounsaturated fats include avocados, certain meats, certain nuts (macadamia), and olives. These fats should be consumed cold-pressed, and meat should not be charred.
• Polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs): are most sensitive to heat; these fats are liquid at room temperature. Not only are they a very poor choice for cooking, but the risk of the fats being denatured from the start is likely. Examples: fish oil, walnut oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, soybean oil, safflower oil, and flax oil. These fats should only be consumed in their whole form (i.e., whole fish instead of fish oil).
• Trans fats are artificially produced and commonly found in highly processed foods. Example: vegetable shortening and margarine. Avoid these foods.

Truth About Fat: The Omega 3 to 6 Ratio

The role of fat also plays a crucial role in either creating or quelling inflammation, depending on a delicate balance of omega 3 to omega 6 ratios. Inflammation matters because it is present in almost every disease model, including heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, metabolic syndrome, and various types of cancer.¹¹

The optimal ratio of omega 3 to 6 fats should remain around 1:1. Modern Western diets have skewed this balance, with the rate being more like 16: 1 in favor of omega 6 fats.¹² Finding the balance of these omega-3 to 6 fatty acids happens much more naturally by removing processed foods and avoiding processed seed and vegetable oils.

Knowing that modern diets favor Omega 6 fatty acids and the inflammation resulting from this imbalance, be mindful of your intake of these fats. Omega 6 fats are not innately bad for you; they become problematic when the balance is off.

Examples of omega-6 fats: are walnuts, peanut butter, hemp seeds, tofu, sunflower seeds, safflower oil, avocado oil, almonds, cashews, eggs, chicken, pork, cottonseed oil, sunflower oil, sesame oil, and canola oil.

Examples of omega-3 fats: are salmon, mackerel, sardines, oysters, caviar, anchovies, and fish oil supplement.

The rules above (good vs. bad fats) still apply to both types of omega fats. Since omega fatty acids are predominantly polyunsaturated fats, they are the most susceptible to becoming denatured by heat.¹⁰ Therefore, keeping them as unprocessed and unheated as possible is essential. The oils listed in the omega-6 category can run over 50% of their weight in omega-6 fats and should always be avoided. Always opt for whole fish instead of risking the rancidity of processed (heated and denatured) fish oil supplements.¹³

Summary

Dietary fats are crucial in supporting or harming your wellness journey. Understanding the difference between good fats and bad fats makes all the difference. By opting for fats containing cholesterol and saturated fat, such as full-fat dairy, grass-fed animal protein, and healthy oils like virgin coconut oil, and avoiding heat-sensitive oils (PUFAs like seed and vegetable oils), and trans fats– your body will be able to burn fat for fuel and naturally reduce both adipose and visceral fat from the body.

References

1. Matsuzawa, Yuji, et al. “Pathophysiology and Pathogenesis of Visceral Fat Obesity.” Obesity Research, vol. 3, no. S2, 1995, doi:10.1002/j.1550-8528.1995.tb00462.x.
2. Pompa, Dr. Daniel. “Back to the Basics: The 5R’s of True Cellular Healing.” Dr. Pompa & Cellular Healing TV, Dr. Pompa & Cellular Healing TV, 28 Jan. 2020, cellhealthnews.com/cellular-detox/true-cellular-healing-the-5rs/.
3. Pompa, Dr. Daniel. “Diet Variation Strategies the Quickest Ways to Lose Weight.” Dr. Pompa & Cellular Healing TV, Dr. Pompa & Cellular Healing TV, 28 May 2020, cellhealthnews.com/diet/diet-variation-strategies-quickest-ways-to-lose-weight/.
4. Krönke, Martin. “Biophysics of Ceramide Signaling: Interaction with Proteins and Phase Transition of Membranes.” Chemistry and Physics of Lipids, vol. 101, no. 1, 1999, pp. 109–121., doi:10.1016/s0009-3084(99)00059-6.
5. Lawrence, Glen D. The Low-Fat Lie: Rise of Obesity, Diabetes, and Inflammation. Universal-Publishers, 2019.
6. Scheppach, W. “Effects of Short Chain Fatty Acids on Gut Morphology and Function.” Gut, vol. 35, no. 1 Suppl, 1994, doi:10.1136/gut.35.1_suppl.s35.
7. [Shilling, Michael, et al. “Antimicrobial Effects of Virgin Coconut Oil and Its Medium-Chain Fatty Acids OnClostridium Difficile.” Journal of Medicinal Food, vol. 16, no. 12, 2013, pp. 1079–1085., doi:10.1089/jmf.2012.0303.
8. Masterjohn, Christopher, et al. “Nutritional Adjuncts to the Fat-Soluble Vitamins.” The Weston A. Price Foundation, 20 Aug. 2019, www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/abcs-of-nutrition/nutritional-adjuncts-to-the-fat-soluble-vitamins/.
9. Esmaillzadeh, Ahmad, and Leila Azadbakht. “Home Use of Vegetable Oils, Markers of Systemic Inflammation, and Endothelial Dysfunction among Women.” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 88, no. 4, 2008, pp. 913–921., doi:10.1093/ajcn/88.4.913.
10. Köckritz, Angela, and Andreas Martin. “Oxidation of Unsaturated Fatty Acid Derivatives and Vegetable Oils.” European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology, vol. 110, no. 9, 2008, pp. 812–824., doi:10.1002/ejlt.200800042.
11. Russo, Gian Luigi. “Dietary n−6 and n−3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids: From Biochemistry to Clinical Implications in Cardiovascular Prevention.” Biochemical Pharmacology, vol. 77, no. 6, 2009, pp. 937–946., doi:10.1016/j.bcp.2008.10.020.
12. Simopoulos, A.p. “Evolutionary Aspects of Diet, the Omega-6/Omega-3 Ratio and Genetic Variation: Nutritional Implications for Chronic Diseases.” Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, vol. 60, no. 9, 2006, pp. 502–507., doi:10.1016/j.biopha.2006.07.080.
13. Cameron-Smith, David, et al. “Fishing for Answers: Is Oxidation of Fish Oil Supplements a Problem?” Journal of Nutritional Science, vol. 4, 2015, doi:10.1017/jns.2015.26.