visible proponent of testing this heretic hypothesis. Willett is the de facto spokesman of the longest-running, most comprehensive diet and health studies ever performed, which have already cost upward of $100 million and include data on nearly 300,000 individuals. “Those data,” says Willett, “clearly contradict the low-fat-is-good-health message and the idea that all fat is bad for you; the exclusive focus on adverse effects of fat may have contributed to the obesity epidemic.”3
Fats that Heal
Fats have always been a part of human nutrition, until the late twentieth century that is, and they were even recommended in days of yore for treating serious medical conditions.
Rex Russell, M.D. writes: “It was 1944, and World War II was roaring. A young mother was wasting away with an infection diagnosed as tuberculosis. Antibiotics were unavailable. Her doctor prescribed (1) isolation, (2) bed rest, (3) exercise (eventually) and (4) a diet high in fat. Surprising, but true! High-fat diets were often the recommended protocol by the medical profession during those years. Before you scoff, you might want to know that this lady recovered. She is my mother, and she has stayed on this diet through the years. Presently she is enjoying her greatgrandchildren.”4
While the experts claimed, “fats are good,” prior to World War II, we have heard just the opposite in recent years. What actually constituted a “high-fat” diet prior to the late 1940s was mostly butter, cream, eggs, nuts, seeds, lard, and beef tallow. Just mentioning some of these fats make many people gasp today, but they made up the typical diet of yesteryear. Margarines, which were introduced in the 1860s, were butter substitutes made with animal fats such as lard and beef tallow or the saturated vegetable oils from coconut oil and palm oils, eventually with yellow dye added to make them look like butter.
Today, saturated fats are considered by many people to be the worst fats one can consume. However, drastically reducing saturated fats from the modern diet has not solved our health problems. Statistics show that obesity rates are at an all-time high as is heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and stroke. The low-fat advice is losing credibility. And, surprisingly, people on a high-fat diet using coconut oil are discovering that many of their ailments as well as excess weight are disappearing.
I’ve been taking about 1 to 2 tablespoons of virgin coconut oil per day for about 4 months now. I definitely notice a difference in my energy. It’s steady through the day—no longer have the surges of ups and downs, especially that sleepy feeling after a meal.
Marty
I am 52 years old and I am keeping up with my visiting grandsons (6 and 8 years old) as if I am 30 something. I have lost 10 pounds in about five weeks and have 10 more to go. My dry eyes are gone along with the aches and pains of arthritis, Sjogren’s, osteoporosis, and fibromyalgia. I feel like the combination of my good diet, the virgin coconut oil, and exercise is the key to my success.
Sharon
About Fats and Oils
Fats and oils are technically known as “lipids.” If a lipid is liquid at room temperature, it is called oil. If it is solid, it is called fat. Fats can be found in many food sources in nature: meat (such as tallow and lard), fish (fish oil), vegetables and fruits (olive, avocado, and coconut oil), nuts, seeds, and legumes (walnut, sesame seed, peanut, grape seed, and soybean oil), and whole grains (wheat, rice, rye). Grains must contain all of their components, which we call whole grains, to benefit from all the oils present. A diet rich in natural foods will be a high-fat diet. It is virtually impossible to eliminate fats from our food unless we refine them. Fats are an essential part of life. Without them, we could not survive.
Four vitamins—A, D, E, and K—are fat-soluble vitamins, meaning they are soluble in fat and fat transports them in our body. When fat is removed from a food, many of the fat-soluble vitamins and other compounds are also removed and the carrier of fat-soluble vitamins is unavailable.
Fat also gives rich flavor to food. It adds satiety to a meal—a feeling of having had enough to eat. Fat-free and low-fat foods are one of the reasons some people over-eat carbohydrates, which really packs on the pounds. These people just don’t feel like they’ve had enough to eat many times, even when the volume has been more than ample.
One very good reason to add coconut oil to your diet for weight loss is that it satisfies hunger better than any other fat, as well as most other types of food. For this reason, many people say they feel full eating less food at a meal and can go for longer periods of time without getting hungry. This helps prevent unnecessary snacking.
I am marveling over and over about how this coconut oil is working! By the time I finished my first quart of virgin coconut oil, I could tell my hypoglycemic hunger cravings were subsiding, and my taste for coffee and chocolate was changing. I feel like a “born-again believer.”
Beverly
I have been on virgin coconut oil for the past two months (4 tablespoons daily) and feel better than I have in a long time! My energy levels are up and my weight is down. I am never hungry any more, and have incorporated a daily exercise routine. I have lost 20 pounds.
Paula
The Benefits of Saturated Fats
Saturated fats have not only been a major part of our forefathers’ diets, they have been a big part of the diets of traditional cultures. Tropical diets, for example, obtain much of their fats from coconut and palm oil, which are rich in saturated fats. As we discussed in Chapter One, these cultures have not had the obesity problems that we see today in our culture, even though they’ve had a diet high in saturated fats.
Saturated fats have a long history of use in traditional cultures because they are very stable fats that do not easily oxidize (turn rancid). Virgin coconut oil, for example, will not turn rancid at room temperature in the tropics for several years. Conversely, the refined oils that many of us use are very unstable and turn rancid (oxidize) quickly. Oxidized oils are very toxic to the body and they can cause widespread free-radical damage.
In addition to their shelf stability, saturated fats have many important roles in the body’s chemistry: For example:
Saturated fatty acids constitute at least 50 percent of cell membranes. They give our cells necessary firmness and integrity.
Saturated fats play a vital role in the health of our bones. For example, at least 50 percent of our dietary fats need to be saturated for calcium to be effectively incorporated into the skeletal structure.5
They lower Lp(a), a substance in the blood that indicates proneness to heart disease.6
They protect the liver from the toxic effects of alcohol and certain drugs.7
They enhance the immune system.8
They are needed for the proper utilization of essential fatty acids. Elongated omega-3 fatty acids are better retained in the tissues when the diet is rich in saturated fats.9
Saturated 18-carbon stearic acid and 16-carbon palmitic acid are the preferred foods for the heart, which is why the fat around the heart muscle is highly saturated.10 The heart draws on this reserve of fat in times of stress.
Short- and medium-chain saturated fatty acids have important antimicrobial properties. They protect us against harmful microorganisms in the digestive tract.
Toxic Oils
Walk into any major grocery store or retail food chain and visit the cooking oil section—you will not find much in the form