Which Fats Are Essential to Our Health?

Fat. Okay, I'm fearing we might have a difference of opinion. I don't know, but my understanding that you're focusing on vegetables and protein as the core foods we should be eating.

Correct.

And fat, are you thinking that the data that's coming out around fat showing that it's not a driver of heart disease, that it's something that helps reduce appetite, increase metabolism, and increase lipolysis, all that, you think that That's not right.

It depends what you're substituting for. So what you're saying is, I always joke about this, the protein is a requirement in my mind. As far as the carbs and the fat go, now I found that when we did the Women's Health Initiative, I did a study on low-fat diet because we were part of this whole low-fat diet. Oh yeah, yeah, sure.

And what I found was about half the women raised their triglycerides.

Yes. And they became insulin resistant. That's right. And it was about half the women. So there is a genetic component here, as you mentioned this morning. so I think that fat can go up to 40%, say, of calories, carbohydrate could go down to 10%. There's no real requirement for carbohydrate.

There's no essential carbohydrate.

That's correct.

You can make essential fats and essential amino acids, but no essential carbs.

And yet they call them the concrete of the diet when USDA talks about it. So I am not against it. I think if people can take a low-carb diet, say 10%, that's fine. obviously glycogen for your muscle and in your liver, a very limited amount, about 300 grams in muscle and liver, and that's only 1200 calories. It's a very poor way to store energy. Glycogen loading, I agree with you, does not work. Most athletes don't like it. It causes water bloating because the water comes along with it. And high insulin, by the way, is a water retaining hormone. Yes. And so the people that I have on a diet will go for one meal and they'll say, Dr. Heber, I gained four pounds.

I said, you didn't eat 14,000 calories. What happened was your insulin level went up and you retained a couple of quarts of water. which is actually important because when people stop eating carbohydrates, they go on like my 10-day detox diet or they go on a low carbohydrate diet or ketogenic diet, they'll drop huge amounts of water and weight and they'll lose salt and.

Lose because insulin makes you retain salt and makes you retain water. And they'll reduce their sympathetic nervous system. So if I'm doing work in the summertime, people are coming in sweating after one week on a diet, they're not sweating anymore. They're calmer, they're less agitated, their sympathetic nervous system is reduced. So I think that You're absolutely right, high carbohydrate. And I wouldn't even go beyond just high carbohydrate. Another place where I think you and I agree is that sugar can become addictive, highly addictive. And some people, we found with a validated questionnaire in our obesity clinic, 50% of women were self-proclaimed sugar addicts and many of them had this dopamine receptor polymorphism. DrD2.

DrD2 polymorphism found in alcoholism and drug addiction.

Right. and if you look at that, by.

The way, for those listening, that means in your brain, you have a receptor for dopamine, which is the pleasure chemical, and people who have this genetic variation need more of a substance to create the same amount of pleasure as somebody else, and that's dangerous. So if you have that, and you can measure it through very common gene testing, you're more likely to become addicted.

To sugar or alcohol or whatever. And what does addicted mean? It means that there are people who eat one thing of sugar and they can't stop. They have to just keep eating and eating because they've got a circuit between the memory part of their brain, the part part of the brain that puts out dopamine and their frontal cortex. So they see a piece of cake, that's a cue. They now have an immediate, sometimes unconscious behavior. Up to 200 unconscious food decisions are made every day. And then they get that reward, that high, the sugar high, and that's memorized in their memory center. So the next time they see the cue, they remember the reward and they want to have it. If you tell them, don't eat that, it's very hard for them. They start craving it. So that's not the answer. The answer is when that cue comes up, find another healthier solution. to deal with it. And it's a very common problem in our society.

And the fat thing, you said 40%, but some people are using ketogenic diets now and having amazing results reversing diabetes. What do you think of all that?

Well, you know, I think the human body is highly adaptable to different diets. I mean, if you look at Eskimos, they eat a very, very high fat diet. So again, there's no requirement for carbohydrate, so you can definitely do that. You can adapt to it. And I think that you know, there was somebody who was coming out with Ketone supplements the other day. Yes. And actually, to give.

They're kind of cheats. They. Yeah, they reduce insulin.

Yeah. But, you know, that's not something I favor. I I think you, you know, diet and exercise, lifestyle, balanced lifestyle is really the way to go. I don't think you can't cheat Mother Nature because a lot of those people. Oh, my doc gave me a pill for hypertension. I'm gonna go to the steakhouse, you know? Right.

Exactly.

So.