Soapbox Sunday - Fats

Fats are not bad. Fats are not bad. Fats are not bad. Fats are not bad.

Up until four years ago, I avoided fats like the plague (thanks to all that low-fat, Susan Powter-infomercial crap that had been running my brain for years). Seriously... I would not eat fat on anything. Ever. Then, I wised up and read a couple of facts.

Here's the thing: Bad fats are bad, but good fats are good. The fats that you should be eating are: butter (preferably raw), olive oil, coconut oil (especially coconut oil... it's one of the best fats out there), cream (preferably raw), cod liver oil. The fats that you should continue to avoid like the plague are: margarine (because margarine is basically plastic), shortening, trans fats, vegetable oil, canola oil, corn oil, and hydrogenated and partially-hydrogenated oils.

And it's important to get a lot of good fats into our diet. They are essential to hormone production, cancer prevention, metabolism regulation, fat-burning, brain development, and weight loss. If you are having any sort of hormonal problem, you should probably up your fat intake. If you want to burn fat, you should probably up your fat intake. If you want to grow healthy children, you should probably up their fat intake.

But, Allison, won't fats make me fat? No. Fats don't make you fat. Processed foods (and all of their various chemicals), sugar... those are the things that are making people fat. I'm serious. I know all of this may sound like complete malarkey (ah, finally a time I can comfortably use the word "malarkey"), and I know that I wouldn't believe it myself if I was 20-year-old Allison reading this, but it's all true. Do the research. Stop believing what THE MAN is feeding you.

Oh, and, P.S. All of these good fats are really, really yummy. Give yourself permission to eat them once again. It's worth it, in more ways than for your tastebuds.