Get the Guide to Fats and Oils from the How to Feed a Brain book!

Read the Fat Chance Series about Cavin’s experience with ketogenic metabolism

The Confusion and Controversy Around Fat

There are a lot of misunderstandings about which fats are healthy and unhealthy. In fact, there is a lot of conflicting information from various seemingly respected sources. What are we to believe, and why is this the case?

The confusion began in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s when we were told that fats in general, especially saturated fats, were “bad” for heart health. This is what started the low fat craze, and to make food more palatable, food producers started to add more sugar.

A Cheaper Source of Sugar!?!

In 1975, a Japanese scientist created high fructose corn syrup which was an even cheaper source of sugar, and fructose tastes much sweeter than glucose.
It was a food producers dream if your goal is to create a cheap, hyper-palatable product. It is a nightmare if your goal is optimal health.

Oils and fats do not spoil or rot like produce or meat, but they can become rancid. Many fats and oils have properties similar to an antioxidant, but when an oil becomes oxidized, then it has various negative effects on physiology like inflammation, hormone disruption, oxidative stress, neurotransmitter imbalance, and more.

Our bodies cannot recognize that these fats are damaged, and so it tries to build new tissues, hormones, and neurotransmitters with these defective fats.

The Good, The Bad, and The (Artificial) Trans Fats!

The worst culprits are artificial trans fats (aka trans fatty acids) that come from hydrogenating oils. When one bubbles hydrogen through liquid oils at high temperatures, these previously liquid oils become solid. For example, margarine is hydrogenated oil that is added to many food products across the world.

These kinds of fats have been connected to increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, and breast cancer. After Denmark banned the sale of all food products containing trans fats, the number of deaths caused by heart disease fell by 50% over 20 years.

The American Heart Association and Trans Fats

The American Heart Association used to put their heart healthy logo on these hydrogenated oils so it is no surprise that people are confused about what fats are healthy. They still recommend vegetable oil, canola oil, and other highly inflammatory oils to this day.

Oils high in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA’s) become rancid or oxidized very easily. This means they cause a lot of oxidative stress and inflammation in our bodies.

As soon as these oils are pressed, they become rancid and must be deodorized in order to be palatable. For a full list of oils to exclude or include, check out our printable Handout on Fat.

Our Favorite Fats and Why

High-Quality Saturated Fats

Saturated fats are highly resistant to becoming rancid. High-quality saturated fats come from grass-fed or pasture raised animals. They also happen to be precursors to important hormones and neurosteroids like pregnenolone, DHEA, testosterone, and estrogen!

Saturated fats like coconut oil, butter/ghee, and animal fats like tallow are solid at room temperature. These some of the fats that we recommend because they tend to have anti-inflammatory effects.

These also tend to be better for cooking. Check our full Handout on Fat for specific cooking temperatures on each fat. The animal-based saturated fats also raise serum cholesterol which has been unfairly demonized for “causing heart disease”.

Does Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease?

Cholesterol is also an important precursor for the same hormones that I mentioned before. It also happens to be an important transporter of “happy brain chemicals” like serotonin and dopamine.

Cholesterol is too large to cross the blood brain barrier. However, its so important to note that our brain makes about 1,300mg on site EVERY DAY!

New studies are now associating low cholesterol diets with an increased risk of cancer, anxiety, and depression. If this wasn’t enough to make you reconsider your thoughts on cholesterol, then consider this: Dr. Michael Greger (a vegan doctor) reports of a 66 year old man dying of a heart attack after being a vegan for 40 years!

Vegan means no animal products are consumed which means that he ate a cholesterol-free diet for 40 years, and still died of a heart attack. Serum cholesterol can be a factor in heart disease, but it is not the cause of heart disease.

Is it Saturated Fat or Oxidative Stress?

High levels of oxidative stress, rancid omega-6 oils (i.e. vegetable, canola, soybean oil, etc.), trans fats, and elevated homocysteine levels are much more indicative of heart disease than serum cholesterol alone. Its important to note that serum cholesterol, in your blood, is different than dietary cholesterol we get from eating animal products.

Dietary cholesterol does not raise serum cholesterol in the blood. Serum cholesterol (like HDL, LDL, and VLDL) is produced by the liver and our body will make this even if we don’t eat animal products. It’s only when this serum cholesterol oxidizes that it causes damage to the veins and arteries so reducing inflammation and oxidative stress is the important factor here.

Monounsaturated Fatty Acids

The next category of healthy fats that we recommend are monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA’s). The most widely available oils high in MUFA’s are olive oil and avocado oil. Eating whole avocados and olives are also a great way to get these fats as well as hazelnuts and macadamia nuts.

It’s important to note that some people get dysbiosis and insulin resistance from excessive saturated fats because of differences in our microbiome and genetics. I personally get bloated when I eat lots of liquid saturated fats. That’s why I get my saturated fats in whole foods like meat, and use avocado oil and olive oil for the remainder of my fat intake.

One of the greatest things about avocado oil is that is can maintain its integrity even at very high temperature upwards of 500 degrees Fahrenheit!
This means you can still eat your deep-fried foods without the guilt as long as you cook them in avocado oil.

Are There Any Healthy PUFA’s?

Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFA’s) includes omega-3 fatty acids (like alpha-linolenic acid) and omega-6 fatty acids (like linoleic acid). Both of these can become rancid through light, heat, and oxygen exposure. Industrial seed oils like soybean oil, corn oil, vegetable oil, grapeseed oil, etc. are ALWAYS oxidized because of the processing methods.

Diets high in PUFA’s (especially excess omega-6 fats) have been connected to low testosterone as well as the previous diseases I mentioned. Avoid conventionally fried foods unless you want to have chronic inflammation, and have a low libido. PUFA’s can be safe in moderation when they are contained inside of a nut, seed, or dark leafy green.

The cellular structure of the plant will protect the PUFA’s from the light, heat, and oxygen that would otherwise cause them to go rancid. This is what makes those particular fats much safer to consume in whole food than say vegetable oil.

Even so, many experts recommend not going above 4 oz. of nuts and seeds per day because they can still be inflammatory when consumed in excess.

(Dr. Terry Wahls used her custom nutritional protocols to put her MS in remission; click here for Terry’s Full Story)

What About Omega-3’s?

Lastly, we cannot say enough good things about omega-3’s! Both plant and animal sources of omega-3 fatty acids can have beneficial effects on brain health, cardiovascular health, and inflammation. Omega-3 and omega-6 fats are both PUFA’s, and thus easily become rancid. This means we must take great care in processing fats like fish oil to prevent oxidation.

The vegetarian omega-3’s (alpha linoleic acid/ALA) come from hemp, chia, and flax seeds as well as in leafy greens, but only in trace amounts. The other form omega-3’s (EPA/DHA) mainly come from fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, sardines, anchovies, etc. It is also in beef and eggs but in much lower quantities. However there is one vegan source that is cold-pressed from algae.

EPA & DHA Are The Most Important Brain Fats

These other two forms of omega-3’s are some of the most beneficial. If you cannot get them from food for whatever reason, then we highly recommend adding a supplement into routine. I recommend about 1,400mg of combined EPA and DHA. However, you can take higher doses if you are deficient (80% of the population is deficient).

We have a full article on Omega-3’s in General.

We also have a Full Article on DHA that you can read to learn about what they do.

Get Your Guide to Fats and Oils from the How to Feed a Brain book!

Some of our favorite brands for high-quality fats:

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