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Thursday, July 17, 2008

Is 99% Fat Free Food Healthy Food?

Go to the supermarket, read the Heart Healthy Guidelines and there is no doubt that the best foods to eat are the 99% fat free ones. But is this really the truth about healthy eating?

Well, the answer is a definite "No!" A food that is fat reduced is not good for you. Take milk for example: The best milk nutritionally, is whole raw milk. Processing milk from pasteurisation to homogenisation and fat reduction progressively reduces its nutritional value. Take the fat out and you lose the essential fatty acids that your body must have to thrive. Take out the fat and even if the fat soluble vitamins are added back in, the ability of the body to uptake these vitamins is seriously compromised.

This is why I question the health claims of fat reduced. fat soluble vitamin fortified milks like Anlene.

But what about all the fat in full cream milk, you might ask? Well, the answer is simple: Drink less in a sitting. Better still, drink raw A2 milk (if you can find it) and there is little documented risks and plenty of health benefits from having this kind of milk (A2 milk is the milk one finds in "Old World" cattle in places like India and Africa; whereas the modern dairy herd has a predominance of a mutant protein called "A1" which is known to have a number of harmful properties).

But isn't cholesterol bad for you? The fact is human life cannot exist without cholesterol. Cholesterol is essential for every cell. It gives cells their water-proofing and it is the building blocks for our hormones. Interfere with cholesterol metabolism and we shrivel and die. A man without cholesterol is without his manhood. Cholesterol is not a problem if your body is suplied with good quality fats and is able to properly use it. If the fats are poor quality and if they just float around in the blood stream with nowhere to go, then they might just decide to go rancid and stick to the artery walls (Fat soluble vitamins help prevent fats, including cholesterol from going rancid, by the way). But you need to have fat in your diet to get the fat soluble vitamins! You just can't win if you mess the food.

For linking through to an interesting series of articles about cholesterol and health, I have just received this article a few hours after writing this one.


So, stick to the most natural and the least processed foods. Buy raw foods and cook at home. Eat a wide variety of least processed foods. Do not be sucked in by commercially motivated health advice. 99% Fat Free = the Kiss of Death.



Do you have a question?
Email Gary: gary at myotec.co.nz (Replace the "at" with @ and remove spaces). Please include any relevant background information to your question.

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