It’s easy to think that health comes from a bottle.  Whether due to successful marketing or our desire for an external solution to “fix” us, most of us think of medication when in pain or feeling poorly.  In this regard, while the form may be different - for some its over the counter medications or prescription drugs, for others it’s tinctures or supplements – the effect is the same. But it is important to realize that while some supplements are universally helpful and some medications life saving, if your “medication” regimen has started to look like a small meal it is time to get back to basics.

This doesn’t only apply to managing illness either.  Many healthy people are taking handfuls of supplements to stay healthy.  And sometimes health has deteriorated to a point when long term medication is necessary.  But all too often, either with trying to live longer or managing chronic illness, you end up with a daily bellyful of pills.  If you’re in the camp, there is pharmacy existing in each of our own homes -the kitchen.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’ve had an extensive natural pharmacy in one of our kitchen cabinets for most of my adult life, and at times it has even overflowed to a secondary closet or the garage.  But while supplements can be amazing tools and/or supportive measures for our health, they should never be used in place of food.

The impact of what we eat can often be felt immediately.  Anyone who has watched children used to low sugar diets have some sweets on Easter or Halloween can see the hyperactive state it can put us in.  And, in the absence of sufficient caffeine, a big carby bowl of puffed cereal or instant oatmeal without protein at that “most important meal of the day” breakfast leads to a mid-morning mental and physical crash, followed soon after by irresistible, almost overwhelming cravings for a quick trip to “treat yourself” to a tasty pastry and start the cycle over again.

So while it isn’t always easy to make great food choices when outside of your house, within your kitchen there are many amazing choices you can make to improve both your short term mood and energy level as well as have a positive impact on your health.  Here are some of my suggestions.

Each and every meal should contain some protein, some healthy fats, and at least some vegetables (and occasional fruit).  And if you are extra crummy or are really committed to living the most healthy life you can, make ½ of each plate you serve up filled with vegetables.  Yes our food isn’t as nutritious as it was many years ago, and yes it is easy to take a multivitamin to cover your nutritional bases, but food based nutrients are still the best absorbed and the most naturally balanced nutrients we can find. 

To keep inflammation low, you’ve got to be mindful of the fats you eat.  An overabundance of seed oils (canola, safflower, sunflower, peanut), while containing good amounts of monounsaturated (good) fats, also contain way too much inflammatory Omega 6.  And you can’t find a nutritionist worth their beans advocating to increase corn oil in your diet, so likewise you should avoid feedlot cows and pigs that have been marbling themselves with corn their whole lives.  We are what we eat, but that applies to animals we call food as well. 

Good fats should be in every meal to give us energy, keep our cells happy, boost up our hormones and once again lower inflammation.  Examples of healthy fats include olive oil, avocado fruit and oil, raw nuts and seeds, and organic pastured eggs, chicken, pork, and yes beef.  Everyone knows that salmon has heart-healthy Omega 3 Fatty Acids, but did you know that 100% grass fed beef and dairy does too?

Far from being simply for adding flavor and variety to meats, herbs and spices are nutrient powerhouses and can be targeted therapies by themselves!  Oregano. Basil, thyme, and rosemary are all potent sources of antioxidants.  While you’re only having a few teaspoons in your meals, when eaten every day that is like a supplement!  Carminatives such as cumin, coriander, cardamom and ginger all help improve our digestion, and the beautifully orange Turmeric turns out to be one of the best anti-inflammatories in nature.  Using herbs as teas are much more than a beverage and can do everything from calm an upset belly, to help clear a cough, or help you fall asleep at night. And these aren’t healthy cardboard – these things taste great!

Need some iron – try liver. Fat-soluble vitamins A, E, D, and K – give organ meats a try.  Move over glucosamine and double up on gelatin or bone broths to give your joints the repair materials they need. And while I love probiotic capsules and know they are essential for nearly everyone who has gotten off the healthy track of life, fermented vegetables can be condiments and Kombucha or Kefir drinks that can be easily added for long-term food-based support!  And here’s the kicker - as long as you don’t overdo it, it’s more than ok to even drink coffee.  As much as I’ve tried to find bad press on coffee for years and years, when drank in moderation it always seems that a little java helps with more than just our get up and go.

So take your fish oils, your probiotics, and your Vitamin D3 (or sunlight therapy), but don’t ignore the pharmacy you have right within your own home.

I learned an amazing fact today – Annual deaths in the US from Hepatitis C are higher than the annual deaths from HIV!  Sure, HIV treatment has made great advances in the past 10 years, but obviously Hep C warrants more attention than it gets.   The numbers of people with Hepatitis were recently documented as being 2.7 million, and this number was 500,000 people fewer than the previous study.  But many hepatologists believe that because of the number of people who are infected but undiagnosed the number could be closer to 5 million.

While hep C is often associated with illicit drug use and blood transfusions, in the study it showed that nearly half of those infected had neither of these risk factors.  The symptoms of chronic infections include joint pain, numbness, muscle pain, itching and dry eyes/mouth/etc syndrome.  In fact, apparently some authorities believe that all people with unexplained itching should be screened for hepatitis. 

Fortunately spontaneous resolution of the infection often occurs within 20-40 percent, but on the down side about 70% of people who do develop hepatitis do end up with it chronically.  Chronic hep C can frequently be asymptomatic, even by the aforementioned labs, the long term consequence of hepatitis can be the development of scar tissue in the liver (cirrhosis).  And because the liver participates in so many functions in the body, cirrhosis has many detrimental effects.

The CDC now recommends that everyone between the ages of 45-65 should be screened for Hep C at least once. 

Have you been screened?

Low thyroid is a common culprit for many different health conditions.  While this likely has to do with both the obesity epidemic as well as the resultant weight loss mania, it is true that proper thyroid function controls our metabolism by affecting how quickly energy is produced.  Our metabolism therefore controls how quickly we produce new cells or fix old ones, helps maintain proper body temperature, and strongly influences how much energy we have as well.  And of course everyone, both patient and doctor, would like to have a magic bullet (i.e. thyroid replacement) to solve the many issues hypothyroidism can cause.

But the reality is that while many people are affected by hypothyroidism, it is a relatively low percentage of the population that is affected – by most estimates being 0.3-4% of the American population.  And of course this single condition cannot account for all the obesity, fatigue, dry skin, hair loss, and constipation so many people experience. 

The other fact I have come to understand over time is that very little occurs in the human body occurs in isolation.  Low production and/or function of thyroid hormone does not occur haphazardly, but is typically a reaction to something else.  Even in its most common presentation, the autoimmune condition called Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, thyroid trouble is often triggered by other factors.  Diet, nutrient deficiencies and excesses, food reactions, stress, and even pregnancy can all trigger low thyroid. Our thyroid metabolism can be affected anywhere from the pituitary gland in our brain to thyroid receptors on our cells with a multitude of possible factors influencing these. In fact, it seems that the more we learn about thyroid, the more things which discover impacts thyroid function.

Proper thyroid function is oftentimes not even clarified by lab testing.  While most doctors and endocrinologists only check one hormone to assess thyroid function (TSH and thyroid antibodies) and functional medicine doctors often check the “free” levels of the thyroid hormone itself (free T3, free T4), even these precise measurements can incorrectly represent what is going on.  When TSH values are normal, thyroid hormone levels can be low.  And even though thyroid hormone levels can be normal, there may be reduced conversion of T4 (the storage and transport form of thyroid) to the active thyroid T3 at the cell, or the T3 available may be shunted to an inactive (reverse T3) form which has no effect on metabolism. 

Our bodies do an amazing job at coordinating the many systems and processes with input from our own environment, state of nutrition, or states of health or illness.  And there are many situations where the body needs to reduce overall metabolism to maintain health.  The mechanisms for this can be complex are still being discovered by researchers, but giving thyroid hormones to counteract the changes the body is intentionally producing makes as much sense as a cat chasing its tail!  Like so many chronic health conditions, abnormal thyroid function is sometimes simply a sign that something else is not right. Working with, instead of against the normal processes of the body is far more effective at producing lasting change, and to do this we must address the underlying causes first.

As with most chronic health conditions, the first step is to find what is out of balance and work to restore proper function.  Optimizing digestion, treating infections or dysbiosis, identifying nutrient deficiencies or food sensitivities, balancing immune function, and addressing physical and/or emotional stress can oftentimes normalize the reason for low thyroid function and result in long term health that doesn’t require medication.

Last Sunday I spent the day in bed.  All day in bed.  I knew it was going to happen the night before, when my energy started waning and by body started to ache. I hadn’t escaped the flu’s visit to our house after all.  I was simply the last one to succumb.  But when those cardinal flu signs hit, I emptied the dishwasher, put away my projects, and tripled my immune support, herbs, and homeopathy before getting into bed. Time to acquiesce and ride the wave.

  Nobody likes getting the flu.  It feels like you’ve been run over for a truck and had all the gas siphoned out of your tank.  You shiver and can’t get warm even with loads of blankets, and sometimes just a toe sticking out of the covers can bring it all back.  But while you can fight a cold and, if it is your preference, suppress cold symptoms with fluorescent over-the-counter cocktails, the flu cannot be forestalled or ignored.  The flu takes you down and turns you in.  The only thing to do with the flu is to lie down and see it through as quickly as it will go. 

But what I was thinking about during my motionless day in bed was how the flu isn’t all bad.  First of all, the flu happens in the fall/winter.  I think it’s fair to say that most of us don’t take (or have) much time to slow down and have self-reflection, even in the season of that. And the flu hits hardest when we’ve just been pushing too hard, staying up late, and caffeinating ourselves forward.  The flu forces you to go inwards, to drop the “shoulds” and what you want to do, and just stop. It even hurts to think. If only for a miserable day or two, we are forced to take a break.

It teaches us to let go – the stronger you try to resist the flu, the longer you stay sick.  We are taught to stand strong and not give up, but having the flu is about surrender.  The more you try to accomplish or keep doing, the worse you feel.  What feels best is to do absolutely nothing.

It gets us in touch with our bodies: as I laid there aching and shaking, the times the chills calmed down and the aching eased off a bit were when I was absolutely still.  Not moving a muscle.  All my attention was focused on my body - avoiding pain, and keeping warm.  That in itself is a meditation. 

We lose our appetite, get very thirsty, and start to sweat.  Isn’t that the basic recipe for detoxification? And the fever isn’t necessarily bad – fevers are our immune system rallying for a fight and making it more difficult for the bad guys. And sweat clears out all sorts of toxins.  As much as I hate being overheated, I look forward to my influenza fever. Once that fever hits and I start sweating, however uncomfortable, I’m on your way back to better.

So after spending that day in bed, with a few concerned visits from my boys and little in my belly, I knew before I fell asleep for the night I had already burned through it. It passes like a wave if you let it wash through you.

   The field of medicine is on the verge of a possible paradigm shift.  Following the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, we are constantly learning more about how our genes affect our health.  And as of this year, there are commercial tests to detect individual genetic changes (mutations) that may be impacting one’s health from simple blood or saliva samples. Unfortunately, you may have heard that one of the largest commercial tests (and one of the first of it’s kind) 23&me is recently going through some FDA hurdles with regards to what they can report, but even they are still able to provide the raw data needed to decipher our genetic fingerprint.

   The field of medicine is on the verge of a possible paradigm shift.  Following the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, we are constantly learning more about how our genes affect our health.  And as of this year, there are commercial tests to detect individual genetic changes (mutations) that may be impacting one’s health from simple blood or saliva samples. Unfortunately, you may have heard that one of the largest commercial tests (and one of the first of it’s kind) 23&me is recently going through some FDA hurdles with regards to what they can report, but even they are still able to provide the raw data needed to decipher our genetic fingerprint.

These new genetic tests are useful for finding risk factors for illness, genetic predisposition to diseases, and even a person’s capacity to detoxify medications and chemicals is already available as a diagnostic tools for doctors to help guide treatment or influence lifestyle choices.  One of these genetic mutations that stands out  above the rest (and is still available) – is testing for the DNA mutation called MTHFR. 

Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR for short) is an enzyme that converts the folic acid (vitamin B9) from our food or supplements to an activated form of folic acid – methyl folate.  I know that most peoples eyes glaze over one I mention biochemistry, but this one little conversion is a “rate limiting step”, or potential bottleneck, for an important bodily process called methylation. Methylation occurs in every one of our cells and affects some of the most important body functions. 

To simplify methylation, it is the process by which a small molecule called a methyl-group (one carbon and three hydrogens) is added to a second molecule to change its function or “activate” it.  Methylation is involved in critical reactions in the body such as repairing damaged DNA, creating mood-regulating neurotransmitters (serotonin, dopamine, & norepinephrine), the regulation of hormones, anti-oxidant function, immune and nerve function regulation, and even fetal development.  With the advent of genetic testing, we have found the MTHFR mutation to be fairly common – up to 30% of some ethnic populations!  That is 1 in 3 persons.  Someone with the MTHFR mutation, and therefore the enzyme it codes for (also called MTHFR), has reduces or severely limited MTHFR enzyme function.

Ok, yes, genetics is boring and seems complicated and academic.  Not going to argue with that.  But researchers have been studying this one particular medication since the 70’s!  So I want to share why I think this is so important and why you should care, and will do that by answering 2 questions: why is knowing this mutation important, and why should someone care?

First a basic genetics primer: DNA is in every cell in the body and has all the instructions for creating and maintaining all bodily functions.  We all have two copies of each gene in our DNA – one from our mother, and one from our father, and each of these can be normal or defective (mutated). Mutations can occur from random errors not properly corrected, from ultraviolet rays, chemical insults, the presence of heavy metals, and nutrient deficiencies.

With regards to MTHFR, having one copy of the defective MTHFR gene can reduce the activity of the MTHFR enzyme (and therefore methylation) by 40%, and having two defective copies can limit the enzyme’s activity 70%!   And methylation is important because the list of diseases potentially affected by faulty methylation is extensive.  Some of the more common include depression, anxiety, fibromyalgia, cardiovascular disease, chronic fatigue, ADHD, autism, insomnia, and neuropathy.  More severe conditions include cancer, Crohn’s disease, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, neural tube defects, cleft palate, and recurrent miscarriages. The entire list includes many of the most common chronic health conditions seen by most doctors.

This is because methylation affects some of the most basic of cell functions: protection of our DNA, and determining if particular genes are turned on or off.  One popular cancer drug, methotrexate, is designed to interfere with the function of folic acid (and therefore methylation) to affect cancer cell growth because all of our cells (including cancer cells) require it to grow, divide, and repair.

Knowing our “methylation status” is also also important because many of us are not eating enough of our green leafy vegetables, which is the source of a “better” form of folic acid.  (Folate is from the latin word folium, which means leaf). So a combination of the MTHFR mutation and a poor diet can severely inhibit overall methylation. Methylation also relies on other “supportive nutrients” – the folinic acid (natural folic acid) from dark green leafy vegetables, vitamin B6 and B12 from meats, and B2 from meats, eggs, nuts, dairy, and (once again) green vegetables. 

So why not have everyone take plenty of all these nutrients and be done with it.  This is the approach pharmaceutical companies, who are now producing high dose Methyl Folate “medications”, are taking.  But it turns out that if we take too much of the synthetic or active folic acid, it can actually makes the methylation problem worse.  Why? Because it creates a situation of imbalance with the other nutrients it interacts with.  In those with the MTHFR mutation, methylation becomes a gentle balance of inputs (nutrients) and outputs (methyl groups) and too much of one or too little of the other can offset the balance.  Sometimes diet and lifestyle changes can improve this, but for those with the double mutation, the removal of substances that are inhibiting methylation as well as targeted and balanced supplementation is necessary. 

The good news is that there is a simple blood test to determine if you have the MTHFR mutation as well as treatments to help mitigate the effects! At this point in the genetic information revolution, are many genetic mutations one could potentially for, but the incidence of this particular mutation ranges from 20-40% of the general population.  With the number of body systems affected, MTHFR is one of the first genetic tests to consider.  Furthermore, if someone tests positive for one or both of the mutations, there is a high likelihood that immediate family members (mother, father, children, etc.) will have the same mutation and could benefit from a similar treatment.  Lastly, testing for the mutation in a pregnant mother could help prevent the associated conditions from manifesting in the unborn child at all!  This becomes a gift for the mother and the baby, and possibly to future generations as well.

 I say this a lot when discussing nutrition and supplementation with patients:  “Yes, X is a great supplement.  I wish we could put it in the water supply.” As a naturopath, part of my clinical toolbox is to know which herbs, vitamins, minerals, or amino acids to use for particular health concerns.  But I don’t like putting people on a “pill diet” for every concern, nor do I think it is particularly helpful. So I always attempt to focus what I prescribe. Even so, some nutrients and herbs are so universally helpful that I’d like to put everyone on them.  

Characteristics that allow a supplement to be included in this group include: near universal benefit, the ability to partly mitigate nutrient deficient diets and regular chemical exposures, and (since these would theoretically be universally applied) very good safety profiles. Of course man cannot survive on supplements alone, and I’ll be the first to say that supplements are no substitution for great nutrition.  But with that said, here is my list of nutrients that, could they be added to our water, would help save mankind! 

Curcumin:  That’s right, good old turmeric.  It’s both a staple of Indian curries and one of the best natural anti-inflammatory compounds known.  Inflammation is needed and useful in the body when for example the immune system if fighting off an infection or when you’ve sprained your ankle.  But chronic, unchecked inflammation is part of most chronic disease.  A poor diet can also be a good source of inflammation, so add turmeric to your anti-inflammatory diet. 

Vitamin D: Here in the NorthWest, I assume that anyone I see between October and June who isn’t taking D is D deficient.  But vitamin D deficiency isn’t limited to our neck of the world.  These days, most people spend the majority of their time indoors, behind glass (which blocks UV), or use sunblock when they do go outside (rightly to prevent skin cancer, which is also a concern of course). But getting enough sun helps make vitamin D, which helps drive calcium into our bones, is a powerful antioxidant, and has many hormone like functions.  It contributes to everything from cancer and heart disease prevention, to improved mood, to immune regulation. Hmm, maybe we just need more time outside…?

Probiotics:  As the Align commercial has now made common parlance, probiotics are benefical bacteria which each of us have on and in us.  While this fact makes many people squeamish, healthy bacteria in and on our bodies outnumber our own cells by 10 times. But we’re more than an incubator – we’re symbiotic. And when our bodies are regularly supplied with good bugs and these bugs are in balance, they provide a multitude of health benefits: improved digestion, production of vitamins, immune regulation, prevention of allergies and autoimmune disease, heart disease prevention, infection prevention and (for your friends and family) decreased intestinal gas.  For that reason alone, it should be mandatory!

Vitamin C:  Hopefully this one is not surprising - we could all use some extra C.  Do you know that primates, guinea pigs, and fruit eating bats are the only animals that don’t produce our own vitamin C? That means we humans need to eat it to use it.  And since Vitamin C is essentially “used up” after it soaks up free radicals (i.e. does it’s antioxidant thing), we need a continual supply.

Sulforaphane:  This supplement will likely never truly take off because it’s name is too difficult to pronounce.  But that’s a shame, because this broccoli seed extract may be one of the most powerful supplements available.  While vitamin C’s lights go out (so to speak) when it gets used up as an antioxidant, Sulforaphanes antioxidant action works on the genetic level.  This means it actually turns on genes that produce antioxidants which function for 2-3 days!  Holy helping!  And as if that wasn’t enough, these sulfur based chemicals aid with one of the 3 main forms of detoxification in the liver! To be fair, like turmeric these sulforaphanes are also present to some degree in all cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, cabbage, etc) but the supplemental amounts are much, much greater.

CoQ10: Although it is expensive to produce (and therefore buy), it is present in every one of our cells and part of making ATP or “energy”. But in addition to allowing us to stand and move, CoQ10 powers our cells, provides the energy to make chemical processes happen, and is an amazing antioxidant too!  And to the countless number of people on statins now (the highest selling drug in the world, ugh) CoQ10 supplementation is necessary because the enzyme that statins inhibit produces both cholesterol and CoQ10.  Limit one, and you limit them both.  (Not that cholesterol is universally bad, but that is another topic.)

NAC:  Another supplement without the most publicity worthy name, N-acetyl Cysteine is an amazing supplement and one I personally take regularly.  Why?  Because this form of the amino acid cysteine is the principle raw material for glutathione, and glutathione is the most abundant antioxidant in our body.  Want to prevent alzheimers, be more resistant to smog, and live till 100?  Take NAC. 

Methyl Folate (MF):  This is my most recent addition to the list, because before this year I didn’t know much about it.  But the more I (and others) learn, the more amazing it is.  MF (yes, ha ha) is really the active form of folic acid, and one of the main nutrients involved in a reaction called methylation.  While methylation is a rather complicated biochemical process, it essentially produces something (a methyl groups) which acts as a switch to turn enzymes on or off for little things like detoxification, making neurotransmitters (mood regulators), breaking down hormones, making antioxidants, and even the silencing and protecting genes in our DNA (those we want to stay quiet).  And while folic acid deficiency is rare in the US, many people have a genetic mutation called MTHFR that limits their ability to produce methylfolate, and modern research has found synthetic folic acid antibodies in the brain.  Yet another reason to eat your greens.

Fish oil:  Does anyone not know fish oil is amazing?  If not, see Google.

Positivity: As many of us have learned from Masuro Emoto’s and others work, positive intention has definitive physical outcomes.  The many forms of this nutrient include nourishment, healing, purifying, and even love.  Even scientific studies are showing how sometimes our perspective of an event is more important than the event itself.  And why not?  Envision your food nourishing you, your immune system protecting you, and the water you drink as purifying you. Perhaps positivity is the most important “nutrient” of all. 

  Sometimes patients confess things to me they know they shouldn’t be doing, like going through the drive-in “restaurant”, eating a bowl (or two) of ice cream every night, or skipping meals.  Most of the time I just nod, or say, “yea, that’s not too healthy” or “fast food is not really food”, but some confessions just aren’t necessary.  Take chocolate for example.   

 Well, first I should make a clarification – Hershey’s is barely chocolate.  Milk chocolate is basically another form of brown sugar, and Swiss Miss is… what is that stuff?  No, when we’re talking about chocolate here, we’re talking about dark chocolate.  In my mind, dark chocolate contains 70% or a greater amount of cocoa.  This means it really is mostly cacao beans mixed with a little sugar and hopefully some cacao liqueur (my favorite combo).  Real chocolate like this doesn’t need a confession or forgiveness.  I actually frequently recommend eating this rich, dark goodness.  Why?

Because it’s healthy!  The Greek translation of Theobroma, the name of the genus of cacao tree, literally means “food of the gods”.  Not that this proves much (as it also just tastes really good) but when eaten in moderation, chocolate has many positive, documented health benefits.  The first is that it is a potent antioxidant.  A quick scan of the medical literature reveals over 300 studies correlating chocolate consumption with cardiovascular benefits.  The cacao bioflavonoids help protect against inflammation in our vessels leading to heart attacks and stroke.  And while not a substitute for regular exercise, many studies have shown an anti-hypertensive effect from chocolate.  Yes, it lowers your blood pressure.  Newer studies even show it may protect against insulin resistance (i.e. diabetes). 

And cocoa works well with our brains as well!  A study just this year showed cocoa to be neuroprotective (protects our brain/neurons), that it promotes new nerve growth, and (once again through the improved vessel health) it improves blood flow to our brain.   The cocoa flavonoids actually penetrate the extremely selective Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) and accumulate in regions of the brain involved in learning and memory.  Yes, chocolate can be part of your dementia prevention routine as it does improve cognition!   And several studies have also shown either improvement in mood state or reduction of a negative mood as well as clear evidence of cognitive enhancement following the consumption of cocoa flavanols and methylxanthine (natural compounds in chocolate).  I know I feel better after eating some.

Love, the heart, sex, Valentines Day, and chocolate.  The cultural connection between love and chocolate is firmly rooted.  And while love and sex are obviously not always synonymous, it turns out “science proves” that chocolate can have a direct effect on our sexuality.  As expressed in another scientific article, the “Synergic effect of all these substances could have a positive direct and indirect influence on sexual health and function. Nevertheless, randomized studies are needed to confirm these hypotheses and to elaborate recommendations about cacao consumption.”  Studies on sex and chocolate are needed?  Indeed.

While chocolate should likely remain a small (but regular) indulgence as opposed to part of your daily meal, go ahead and eat that fairly-traded, shade-grown bitter pill, and know it’s good for you!

  Fat is good for us.  I’m not the first one to say it, but I want to add my name to the list. Fat and cholesterol have been vilified as the nutritional enemy for long enough. As a naturopath, many of the people I see are pretty hip about doing their own nutritional research and have already found this out, but when I come out of my naturopathic bubble and meet people who still are convinced that fats are evil, I remember the tide has not yet shifted.  For my own part, I’d like to help set the record straight.

Since the 1970’s, we’ve all been taught that fats are bad.  “Lower your dietary fat and cholesterol.”  “Don’t eat red meat.”  “Switch to heart healthy margarine.”  Well, at least this last point is finally on the chopping block from the FDA, who have taken a stand against trans-fats and may one day outlaw them.  Hooray for that!  But red meat and cholesterol are still being touted as big killers.  While I’d love to launch into the politics of carbohydrate promotion at the expense of fats, I’ll leave that for another time.  My point here is to provide basics on which fats you and your family should be eating to help you stay healthy.

Why eat fats?  For starters, they are one of the 3 main nutritional categories (the others being protein and carbohydrates) so they are essential to life.  Fats are what make our skin water repellant, what most of our brains are made of, and make cellular life possible.  Without fats, we’d be puddles of ooze on the ground. 

Fats are also a great source of fuel.  While it’s terrifying to many that a gram of fat has more than twice the calories as a gram of carbohydrates or protein, those extra calories are a good slow-burn type of fuel.  Carbohydrates (sugars) are also sources of cellular fuel (ATP), but simple carbs like bread/pasta/baked goods completely destabilize your blood sugar.  This makes you hungry soon after eating when your blood sugar drops, which consequently makes you crave more carbs.  Fats help keep you full.   All you have to do is have a veggie omelets for breakfast one day and a bowl or two of cereal the next to experience that. And along with keeping us full, fats and proteins help us maintain mental focus. 

Here’s more reasons: Our hormones are made from fat.  Our nerves are insulated in fat.  And for that matter, our bodies are insulated by fat.  I can tell you as a tall thin guy that not having fat on your rump makes sitting on wooden surfaces less than cozy.  And lastly, fats taste good.  We are all genetically programmed to crave fats and carbohydrates for living in “the wild”.  Supermarkets have just made our “hunting” a little too easy.

So what fats should you eat?  Healthy fats of course.  And these healthy fats come from two different basic camps: vegetable and animal.  I’ll cover the vegetable kind first because these are easier. Good non-animal fats should be from nuts, seeds, avocado or olive (fruits or oils), or coconut oil.  Olive oil and coconut oil are in superfood classes by themselves in their respective unsaturated and saturated selves and should be eaten regularly.  I have come to stop recommending seed oils.  Once thought incredible in terms of health, for reasons beyond the scope of this article lets just say it’s time to drop all besides Flax (still great). Canola, safflower, peanut and sesame oil should all be eaten minimally or in moderation. Avoid “vegetable oils” entirely. I used to recommend canola oil for high heat cooking, but now I recommend coconut and butter.  That’s right, I recommend grass-fed butter.  Naturally saturated fats (solid at room temperature) like coconut oil, butter, or even tallow or lard are more heat stable than all liquid oils, and so don’t turn into “bad” fats when heated.  But of course the source of the animal fats makes a big difference. 

And this is a big point with all animal fats – know your source!  Butter (or meat) from a grass-fed cow is better than either from a feedlot corn-fed cow.  And the fat from a pig or the yolk from a chicken that have eaten their normal diet of seeds, bugs, and such and getting regular activity actually have a better fatty acid ratio than the factory-farmed counterparts.  When patients “confess” to me that they eat red meat once in a while, I say “great! As long as it’s 100% grass-fed.  That’s even got the same Omega 3 fats we all eat salmon for!”  It’s time again to know our livestock farms, what they feed their animals, and how their animals live.  And if you are eating high quality meats, low carbohydrates, and getting plenty of antioxidants from vegetables and dark green leafies like Kale, you are going to be ok. 

You might even improve your cholesterol!  Once again this is another topic that I will have to cover elsewhere, but some of the healthiest cholesterol levels I have seen are from patients who eat tons of vegetables with relatively high fat and protein diets, complete with daily eggs and red meat!  But once again, for the record, they’re never eating much in the way of carbohydrates, and most of these folks have lost weight!  That's a paradox most people would be glad to be part of.