Way back in 1977, a Senate committee led by George McGovern published its dietary recommendations for Americans called Dietary Goals for the United States. George McGovern, an American historian, author, U.S. Senator, Presidential nominee in 1972, was involved in issues related to agriculture, food, and nutrition. He created the UN World Food program, and it’s aim was to address the problem of world hunger. In his “McGovern Report,” he laid out what he thought were sound nutritional guidelines for all Americans. Essentially this report urged Americans to eat less fat from red meat, eggs, and dairy and to replace them with fruits, vegetables, and especially, carbohydrates.
The problem was that as time moved forward, the UDSA also issued its first guidelines, which relied on the McGovern report recommending that Americans avoid the consumption of any kind of fat. Based on the recommendations from USDA, the National Institute for Health (NIH) then recommended that all Americans over the age of 2 cut fat consumption. All of these recommendations hinged on the McGovern report, which was created on flawed science. Unfortunately, we have seen that the results of excluding good fat and increasing carbohydrates in the last 40 years has totally failed our health.
With nearly a million deaths due to cardiovascular disease per year in 1980, fat just had to be the culprit. Right? Fast forward. After nearly 4 decades of us Americans consuming fat-free food items in packages, fat-free yogurt, skim milk, fat-free cheese, and Egg Beaters, we have turned to sugar and carbs to try to satiate us. The thinking was that if people just took saturated fat out of their diets, they would replace it with healthy fruits and vegetables. Nope, we chose processed, sugar-loaded alternatives. We reasoned that if the food containing fat increases your risk of a heart attack, then we’ll produce a product with no fat and it will be a healthy alternative. This caused a drastic rise in the intake of refined carbs, which absolutely underlies today’s obesity and diabetes epidemics.
And, guess what!? Our number one stealth health killer is still cardiovascular disease. Now, we are a country hooked on carbs, hungry often because we don’t have enough good fats and protein to keep our blood sugar stable. So, of course, we crave more carbs.
There is a “fat-free” hangover we need to address. People are afraid of fat, literally. Patients ask me all the time, “Won’t I get fat if I eat avocados? Doesn’t the cholesterol in eggs give me high cholesterol?” Absolutely and emphatically, NO! The healthy fats from nuts, eggs, seeds, avocados, and olives can actually help protect you against cardiovascular disease and aid in weight loss. Trust me when I say that lowering carb consumption and increasing fruits, vegetables, organic protein, and good fats will actually lower your cholesterol. Not the elimination of fats. I promise.
Processed foods are designed by the food industry and are created to make us want more. When our diets are made up of real food, we are healthier and more satisfied. In my mind, there are still “good” fats and “bad” fats even today. The “bad” fats are the trans-fats: the ones that stay solid at room temperature and are made for use in crackers, cookies, and pastries to increase shelf life (e.g. palm oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, peanut oil, margarine, vegetable shortening, coffee creamers, commercially baked goods). The healthy and good fats come from the food that come in their own natural packages: avocados, nuts, seeds, eggs (and yes, their yolks), olives, and healthy oils, such as olive oil, coconut oil and avocado oils.
Simply put: The only way to stay well is to eat well, and that includes fat.
