Load Up On the Bacon But Hold Back On the Breakfast Cereals
Many of us have been conditioned to avoid foods like fried bacon & eggs, butter, red meat as well as animal fats and that a healthy breakfast consisted of cereals & fruit.
So it’s not surprising that bacon has had such a bad rap, however the claims that bacon causes high cholesterol, heart disease and makes us fat are not entirely true.
The American Heart Association as well as the USDA (US Department of Agriculture) would have us believe that a high-carb, low-fat diet constituted a healthy diet and one that was good for lowering cholesterol & prevents weight gain.
However, you have to ask yourself the question, that if this has been their preferred diet for good health since 1980, why is obesity amoungst Americans, and elsewhere, skyrocketing?
Why Bacon & Good Fat Is Healthy
Having bacon every morning conjures up images of clogged arteries, heart disease and becoming muffin shaped in no time.
Well the good news is that bacon consumption will not put you on the road to a fat belly and imminent heart bypasses.
In fact breakfast cereals and pancakes with syrup may look to be the healthier option but they mainly consist of simple carbs which are not only bad for your health but they’re addictive and cause progressive weight gain.
Bacon does not contain any trans fats which have been linked directly to heart disease & poor health – trans fats are dangerous.
Bacon contains the following healthy fats – this analysis, of 1 tablespoon of pure lard, is courtesy of Mass Spectrometry at University of Alberta, 2003;
- 5.9 grams of saturated fatty acids
- 6.4 grams monounsaturated fatty acids
- 2 grams polyunsaturated fatty acids (mostly omega-6)
- 14 mg cholesterol
As opposed to the high amount of dangerous trans fats found in hydrogenated vegetable oils & fats which seemed such a good thing at the time as they were less greasy, better tasting & had longer shelf lives, however we had no idea how detrimental they would be to our arteries & health.
Recently the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that it’s introducing a move toward banning trans fats outright and toward removing them from the list of “Foods That Are Generally Recognised As Safe”.
With this banning they hope to save 7,000 lives & prevent 20,000 heart attacks in the US every year.
The Science Behind the Good Fat In Bacon
In 2003, Cassandra Forsythe-Pribanic, PhD, RD, conducted a research study at the University of Alberta to see the effect of cholesterol synthesis and inflammation profiles that a high bacon fat diet would have on 10 healthy adult men compared to a high palm oil diet.
After 6 weeks on each diet it was found that the high lard (bacon) diet produced significantly lower total cholesterol as well as total-cholesterol/HDL cholesterol levels, with slightly lower LDL-cholesterol and inflammatory marker levels as opposed to the high palm oil diet .
The conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that fat from lard (bacon) may be less cholesterolemic and inflammatory than fat from palm oil which doesn’t imply that palm oil is necessarily a bad fat, but that lard is probably better for you when eaten regularly.
Is a High-Carb, Low-Fat Diet Linked To Obesity & Poor Health?
According to Professor Tim Noakes, consumption of fat is the scapegoat for obesity which is endorsed by US Govt agencies (above).
He goes on to say that the “fat is bad” story “was made up initially by a couple of scientists, and then the US Senate got behind it. They produced the US Dietary Guidelines and said fat was bad, and that you should eat more carbohydrates. Industry got behind it because you can make more money selling carbohydrates. From that moment, Americans became more obese.”
To explain Noales’ views on the harmful effects of a high-carb diet it is helpful to understand the kind of havoc that goes on in your system when you eat carbohydrates.
When you eat potatoes, cereals, sugars, white bread, white rice, pastas etc. they get broken down into both glucose & fructose in your bloodstream.
Two things then happen…
- The glucose triggers the release of insulin in your bloodstream which is necessary for breaking down the fat – too much glucose & the insulin production is under pressure & the glucose doesn’t get processed properly & ends up as fat in your cells.
- The fructose in turn causes major issues with your cholesterol levels.
So with the twin evils of fructose & glucose running riot in your body you become exposed to the following;
- having insulin issues
- becoming insulin resistant
- becoming diabetic
- experiencing significant weight gain and becoming obese
- exposing yourself to becoming a high risk for heart disease
Conclusion…
Clearly, your diet can affect how you look and feel and when government sponsored agencies are suggesting certain foodstuffs and then “changing their minds” as per the trans fat issue above, it makes it very difficult for us to know what is good for health.
Well going back to the diet our ancestors followed would be a good start as it’s following the eating plan that mother nature intended for us.
This way of eating is known as the Paleo (Paleolithic) diet and is arguably the most biologically suitable diets for the human body.
So if you’re tired of feeling unhealthy and overweight, now would be a good idea to change your diet & lifestyle – the Paleo diet is one that could offer you renewed energy and significant weight loss.
To ensure you don’t miss out on any of the possible health & weight loss benefits you could benefit from the Paleo diet, download your essential guide to Paleo here..