Friday Fitness: Eat Fat, Lose Fat

In the comments, Julie recommended the book "Eat Fat, Lose Fat" . I see that one of the book's authors is Sally Fallon, who wrote the cookbook Nourishing Traditions which has often been recommended to me by various friends. I love connections like that and am interested in finding out more.

It sounds like there are some recent studies that seem to show that eating fat helps trigger the liver to burn fat.

Eating at least small amounts of dietary fats, such as fish oils, might be a better way to kick-start fat-burning, say researchers.

Scientists found that in mice, old fat stuck around when the liver had no new fat to process. The results are further evidence that extreme diets often aren't the ticket to a lean body, and a balanced diet is likely important for more reasons than scientists currently understand......

The research may be one reason why the Atkins diet -- which is low in carbohydrates and high in fat -- seems to work. But Semenkovich said a balanced diet is probably more effective in the long run, because it's easier to maintain for long periods of time. And, like all extreme dieters, Atkins followers could be suppressing other dietary signals important for staying healthy.

I have really liked reading studies that show that people who eat eggs, salmon, almonds, yogurt and now, coconut oil seem to be able to lose weight and keep it off more effectively. Plus, it sounds like perhaps coconut oil can help ailing thyroids; a lot of women have less effective thyroid function as they get older.

Low thyroid function has many causes and no one therapy can cure all thyroid related diseases. Coconut oil is just part of the solution. For some people coconut oil may be of little help. However, when used properly and in conjunction with other things it can have a very significant effect on the most common forms of hypothyroidism.

Those foods listed above are the kinds of foods I naturally go for. For me, eating this way has really helped my hunger problem. Well, I haven't been eating much yogurt yet; I haven't found a way to make it appealing to me without all the sweeteners. But I have been hearing a lot about the benefits of cultured food. It seems that buttermilk counts, nowadays, and you can even make it yourself.

The other helpful thing for me was printing out a chart about the glycemic index. Some diabetes runs in my family and I have always had blood sugar swings. They have gotten worse in midlife after 10 pregnancies. So even with fruit, I'm careful not to eat it unless with some kind of protein.

When my blood sugar levels started being under better control, I had more energy to exercise, and I started having an appetite for vegetables rather than just choking them down to get the required servings, or more often, eating fruit as a substitute for vegetables. Now I really look forward to the vegetables -- broccoli, green beans and lettuce especially.

Just some thoughts!