Note: Please see the updates on healthism here. Flexibility, social connection, enjoyment of health, and not obsessing on perfection of diet is what makes health a means, not an end.

What the heck should you eat? Do we even know anymore?! Is fat really back?

All the dietary confusion! There’s so much advice on what to put in our mouth. It seems like nutrients deemed demons one day are our health saviors the next… what is a well-educated person to do?

The most recent trend is swallowing butter in big mugs of coffee and layering it on bacon. Is it too good (or gross) to be true?

In my latest article series, published on Natural Path, I explore “The New ‘Bad Dietary Guy’ Redeemed? Saturated Fat and the Battle of the Butter Bulge.” Here’s an excerpt:

In Part I, I discussed the current obesity epidemic and the unsuccessful attempts to mitigate it.

In this section, I stated:

For years, conventional dietary wisdom, across continents has told people to eat less, move more, and to watch saturated fat intake in order to be “healthy.”¹² Different cultures have different ideas of what that means, and this can cause confusion.^14-15 (This leads me again to point out the definition of insanity, this time in regards to the current methods used for addressing the extra poundage)…

Here’s more from Part II:

Obviously, with the weight of the world on the rise, what we are doing isn’t working. Many experts are beginning to realize the old advice of “eat less, exercise more,” isn’t cutting it. Furthermore, microscopically zeroing in on one food group as “good” or “bad” isn’t working either. In Part II, I discuss the latest example or dietary friend versus foe in relationship to saturated fat.

I also wrote about The Mega- Meta-Analysis That Caught My Hungry Eye!

Another little blurb for you:

Probably, one of my favorite articles on this topic, because it was the most comprehensive and DID include controlled studies, was a 2010 review study. It consisted of analyzing randomized control trials (RCTs) related to lipid and non-lipid risk factors for heart disease risks, prospective trials on saturated fat and health outcomes, and RCTs evaluating heart disease and metabolic outcomes of saturated fatty acid consumption in humans, including “whether effects vary depending on specific SFA chain-length; on the replacement nutrient; or on disease outcomes evaluated.”⁷ Why is this important?

My conclusion? Here’s part of it:

So, is fat back? Can you eat butter? Probably, but I’m really not sure.

I don’t know your current health status, your genetics, your ethnicity, what quality food your buying, and how your digestion is “primed” for fat absorption. However, a naturopathic doctor could help you out with this and assist you with finding a plan that is right for you. Who wants to sort through the confusing generalizations with mixed results and confounding factors alone?

This is why we need a new model to stop obsessively focusing on one nutrient in isolation as good or bad. Right now, saturated fat and butter is back. However, without considering all the other factors in healthy weight, which I discussed here, it won’t do much for our nation to simply substitute the margarine for butter. (Though it will help.)

Now, click here to read the rest!