Cavewomen Don't Get Fat (11 page)

Interestingly, grass-fed meat products tend to be lower in calories. According to
Pasture Perfec
t, a book about grass-fed animals, a six-ounce cut of grass-fed beef can have 100 fewer calories (due to less fat) than the same cut from a grain-fed cow, contain higher levels of the very desirable omega-3 fatty acids, the antioxidants vitamins A and E, and up to seven times the amount of beta-carotene, a superpowerful antioxidant.

I'm loving this trend of people raising chickens in their backyards. Chickens that are allowed to hunt and peck for their food on organic, untended plots of land get to indulge in a diet that's rich in grasses, bugs, worms, and other highly nutritious goodies. These birds tend to be leaner (usually having 20 percent less body fat), contain less saturated fat per pound, and contain a whopping 50
percent more vitamin A than their caged counterparts. The eggs of free-range, organic chickens also come superloaded for health, containing almost 35 percent less cholesterol, 10 percent less fat, 40 percent more vitamin A, and four times the omega-3 fatty acids than the standard USDA-approved egg.

Eating fresh fish and shellfish is one of the healthiest things a Paleo girl can do. Fish, a food source bursting with lean protein, is rich in so many vital nutrients (bring on those omega-3 fatty acids!) that the Harvard School of Public Health has long recommended that we eat at least two servings of fresh fish per week. Why? Eating this baseline amount of fish can reduce a person's risk of developing heart disease by one-third. If you look at the data from across a wide array of studies, seafood consumption is credited with lowering the risk of death from heart disease by 36 percent. This is because the healthy oils found in fish such as salmon and mackerel seem to lubricate the blood in ways that reduce the likelihood of clotting, which can cause heart attacks and strokes. Researchers have estimated that ingesting the oils from these fish can reduce our overall risk of mortality by more than 15 percent.

The health benefits of eating fish aren't limited to the heart. Studies show that the omega-3 fatty acids, which are abundant in fish, provide our brains with the nutrients needed to ward off depression by prompting serotonin production. These fatty acids are also credited with keeping our skin and cells sleek and youthful and are also known to combat inflammation that may lead to joint pain and other ailments.

Go to the home-delivery company Vital Choice (
www.vitalchoice.com
) for wild-caught salmon and seafood that is remarkably clean and pristine. Trader Joe's and Whole Foods also offer wild Alaskan salmon; frozen at Trader's and fresh at Whole
Foods. If you can't buy fresh fish, purchase frozen fish to get the powerful nutritional benefits of seafood.

I can't stress enough how important it is to commit to eating a high-protein diet if you want to be as Paleo Chic as you can be. As with the other dietary changes I suggest throughout the book, give protein a chance—for at least a week or two—and you'll feel a remarkable shift in your energy and overall sense of well-being.

I
am a big believer in fat. I love chewing the fat with my girlfriends, and I definitely believe in the nutritional, healing value in healthy dietary fats. That's because I know how great good fats can make me look and feel.

I, too, was a longtime victim of the low-fat-food crazes that swept the land for so many years. In my late teens and early twenties, I literally starved myself of these healthful nutrients, and I found myself with wicked PMS and menstrual cramps. My skin had more spots than a leopard, and I toggled between Accutane and antibiotics to clear up the situation. If this way of eating was meant to make me healthier, I realized quickly that I was doomed.

Eating healthy saturated animal fats—those found in butter and lean, grass-fed meats, for example—is one of the best things you can do for your body. You don't even have to reach back to Paleo times for evidence of this. In the 1920s, Americans ate a high-fat diet loaded with meat, butter, and whole milk—and still had lower levels of coronary artery disease than we do now. Right around the time the Roaring Twenties gave way to the Great Depression, our kitchens became infiltrated by factory-produced, highly-processed foods. These “innovations” caused a raft of illnesses—including a bump in heart ailments. Since the 1950s, there has been a tremendous
spike in the diagnoses of heart disease. All of a sudden, fat became the bad guy, and we lost sight of the healthy fats that our bodies need to function well.

Saturated fats help regulate our hormones, which you now know is at the heart of losing weight, building lean muscle mass, a glowing complexion, keeping our brains firing on all cylinders, protecting our vital organs, and making sure that our cells are replenished and toxin-free. It's time to wrestle to the ground the great American myth about dietary fat. Don't you ever wonder,
If fat-free is the way to go, why are we so fat?

We can lose unwanted body fat only if we eat an adequate amount of healthful dietary fats. But how much is enough? You should be eating some dietary fat with every meal, which is why most of the recipes listed in this book have about 15 grams of fat (just over 1 tablespoon) per meal; this includes both the fat found within the protein source and the fat it's cooked in. And, you can also toss in another 10 grams per snack to allow for that
¹
/
₄
cup of nuts or some coconut oil in your protein shake. Depending on your weight and body fat, you may need to go up or decrease accordingly, but I'm willing to bet that the starches you eat will have a far more detrimental impact on your body composition than the fats you are consuming.

It's important to learn the differences between good and bad fats so that you can eat the ones that are going to help you slim down. Here's what you need to know:

1. High-fat, high-protein, low-carb diets regulate blood sugar and insulin levels better than low-fat, high-carb diets can. Low-carb diets also raise levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL, the “good” cholesterol), and decrease blood pressure.

2. Become knowledgeable about the fats you consume. Good fats are just that: good, not evil. Steer clear of trans fats, poor quality vegetable oils (see number 5 opposite),
hydrogenated oils, processed foods, and grain-fed meats. When you eat foods with high-quality fats, you can get 40 percent to 50 percent of your calories from fats and still lose weight. This may seem like a lot of calories from fat, but when you're not eating overprocessed, empty carbohydrates, your body needs another source of fuel in order to run optimally and stave off hunger.

3. Lowering body fat isn't only about your dietary fat intake. Whether or not you lose weight is also influenced by the quality of the proteins and carbs you eat. So make sure that you're eating grass-fed meats and organic eggs. Get the majority of your carbs from vegetables and fruits in the range of 100 grams per day. And say sayonara to sugar—as well as limit your intake of alcoholic beverages to one to two per week—if you want to lose weight.

4. Avoid all processed foods. Period.

5. Balance your omega-3 and omega-6 fats. Omega-3s are essential fatty acids found in fish and fish oil. Fish contain the omega-3s eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). According to the National Research Council, more than sixty health conditions have been shown to benefit from fish oils. Omega-3s help reduce systemic and localized inflammation, treat dry skin, heart disease, depression, PMS, autoimmune conditions, and poor circulation, to name a few benefits.

It's important to have the right balance of different fats in your diet. Most sources of pro-inflammatory omega-6s can be found in vegetable, corn, cottonseed, safflower and sunflower oils, and should be avoided. However, there are a group of beneficial omega-6 fats, which are anti-inflammatory: black currant seed, borage, and evening primrose oil, found mostly in supplement form. The trick lies in keeping omega-6 fats in balance with omega-3s to the tune of at least a 3-to-1 ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats.

Most of us consume too many omega-6 fats and not enough omega-3 fats, due to our high consumption of vegetable oils coupled with eating grain-fed animals, corn, and soy; the typical American has a 20-to-1 ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s. This is a deal breaker for the human body!

Eggs from factory chickens contain twenty times more omega-6 fats than omega-3 fats, compared with organic, free-range chickens, which are rich in omega-3 fats. Farmed salmon contains more omega-6 fats than omega-3–rich wild Alaskan salmon do. Fish liver oil, fish eggs, egg yolks, organ meats, and seaweed are rich sources of omega-3s, but many people are unfamiliar with them, and so they don't cook or eat them.

Some people like to take flaxseed oil as an additional source of omega-3s. About 15 percent of the alpha linoleic acid in flaxseed oil will also convert to omega-3s in a healthy body. If you are diabetic, or your diet is too high in sugar, the conversion to EPA can be much more difficult. So relying on flax oil alone for omega-3 fatty acids can lead to a deficiency. It is also noteworthy that flax oil can raise men's levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a biochemical marker used to screen for prostate cancer, so they should stick to ground flax for all of the benefits and none of the prostate problems.

Last but not least, let's also give a shout-out to an omega-6 fat called gamma linolenic acid. GLA has tremendous health-promoting effects and fights inflammation, skin conditions such as eczema and acne, and PMS. Evening primrose oil is another rich source of GLA. Taking GLA in conjunction with omega-3s will establish a healthy balance of essential fats from within.

Given the powerful regulatory benefits of fats, let's put them to work and keep you in skinny jeans! The following are my top ten favorite ways that fats will make you gorgeous from the inside out.

1. Healthy Fats Reduce PMS.
Premenstrual syndrome is a condition of imbalances, often from inadequate amounts of omega-3s and other trace minerals found in fats that would otherwise help you feel calm and relaxed. Time for an oil change! Adding primrose oil and omega-3 fats, along with eating grass-fed meats and fish, can quench inflammatory fires from within and keep your hormones humming along smoothly. (Refer to the “Reproductive Hormone Balancing” protocol in chapter 11,
page 184
, for more information.)

2. Healthy Fats Balance Hormones.
We require fat in our diets because fats are precursors to estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. If we don't eat enough quality fats, we can feel depressed, experience changes in our menstrual cycle, get dry skin, and have a hard time burning our own body fat. We can also suffer from vaginal dryness and unnecessary menopausal symptoms. Insuring the proper balance of fats will keep your hormones in harmony.

3. Healthy Fats Fight Heart Disease.
I explain this in greater detail on
page 90
, but suffice it to say that there is no conclusive relationship between saturated fat intake and coronary artery disease. The message has been botched for years; we need to return to our roots on this one.

4. Healthy Fats Regulate Inflammation.
When you remove quality oils from food and replace them with poor-quality oils such as canola or corn, you ignite your inner inflammatory fires. Margarine and trans fats literally block healthy fats from being absorbed by our bodies! If you have junk fats in your diet, it can take up to two years to displace those bad fats with healthy ones at the cellular level. There is no time like the present for getting those toxic fats out of your system and replacing them with healthy ones.

5. Healthy Fats Are Necessary for Fat Loss.
When you remove natural fats from foods and replace them with sugar, you can become
insulin resistant. On the other hand, if you eat enough of the right kinds of fats, you can improve your insulin sensitivity and stoke your metabolic fire. Omega-3s help ignite the genes that burn fat and turn off the genes that store fat. Plus, the medium-chain triglycerides found in coconut oil (a champion fat) help the body naturally burn fat more efficiently.

6. Healthy Fats Control Hunger and Cravings.
Eliminating fat and cholesterol starves the body of nutrients it needs and messes with the hunger-fullness messages it sends to the brain. When your body is deprived of fat, your brain tells it to go into famine mode, damaging your metabolism and converting every calorie it can latch onto into stored fat. As your brain biochemistry goes wonky, serotonin levels drop, and your cravings pick up speed so fast that you'll be sucking down that chocolate milkshake before you know it.

7. Healthy Fats Promote Bone Density.
We know we need calcium for healthy, strong bones. We also need saturated fats to transport that calcium to our bones, which is why raw, full-fat dairy products (see
page 113
) are a much better option for those who can tolerate dairy. Without saturated fat to transport it, all the calcium you get from dark leafy greens won't do you much good.

8. Healthy Fats Give You Glowing Skin.
Dry skin isn't a lotion deficiency—it's an essential fatty acid deficiency! To get to the root of the problem, you need to lube up from the inside out: a combination of 2,000 milligrams primrose oil and 3,000 milligrams omega-3 fats will help. The cool thing is that if you're at the opposite end of the spectrum and have oily skin, this combo of omega-3s and primrose oil will also control sebum production and level out your skin's oil production.

9. Healthy Fats Support Thyroid Function.
Omega-3 fatty acids help improve thyroid hormone signaling pathways in the liver,
which means that the precious thyroid hormones in our bodies will reach their targeted cells. Omega-3s also help ease inflammation that is secondary to thyroid dysfunction. Cooking with coconut oil also has the potential to greatly improve thyroid system function because it stimulates the metabolism and boosts energy.