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Milk and Fat


More from Real Food: What to Eat and Why...

The Cholesterol Theory. The myth is: eating cholesterol and saturated fat raises blood cholesterol and clogs arteries. Milk is rich in cholesterol and saturated fat, so it must not be very good for us. That's why we buy 1% or skim. With this new information, and a conscientious effort to eliminate these from our diet, why has cholesterol and heart disease risen in Americans? Real Food quotes studies done of Masai shepherd communities and Swiss dairy communities where people eat whole milk, cream and butter, and are in excellent health. Interestingly, when Americans began the transition from saturated fats to unsaturated fats in the early 1900s, that's when heart disease and cholesterol began to rise. At that time we began creating our own "better" kinds of fats like margarine, shortening, and refined vegetable oils (what the book calls "industrial" fats) instead of butter, cream, beef fat and lard ("traditional" fats). Interesting fact: in 1890 the top 4 fats used in food was lard, beef fat, chicken fat and butter. Heart disease or cholesterol was unheard of then. In 1990 the top 4 fats used were soybean oil, canola oil (both often hydrogenated), cottonseed oil and peanut oil, and heart disease was one of the leading causes of death in the US. Pretty crazy huh? This evidence suggests that something else besides fat itself is to blame.

I find this so fascinating! To be continued....

Comments

Monica said…
Very interesting stuff Amber. My hubby and I have read a couple different books along these lines. In fact, we are planning on getting some chickens soon. If the city code would allow, we would also get some milk goats. But we will start out with chickens for now.
1/31/2011
Camber said…
LOVE IT! Just got my blog up and running!

naturalhealthgoddess.blogspot.com

There should be things you'll love! Keep being a great inspiration! This is important information to get out there!
2/02/2011
Frozen Cacti said…
The old saying "if a man made it you shouldn't eat it" really makes sense when you read about how much the food industry has changed the way most Americans eat.

It's really interesting stuff.

I noticed on Sherie's blog that she mentioned buying raw milk for Catherine...
2/08/2011

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