Let's Talk: Detoxing Off Tasteless Fats
Only a week or so before REAL FOOD HAS CURVES comes out. (You can find it here.) We're so very excited about it. And to that end, we started an important discussion in the comments thread the other day, a discussion that's pertinent to the new book; so I thought I'd give it more space here.
It's about fats. As you know, there's been a fair amount about it on the blog--making your own lard, making your own butter. And that long discussion about canola oil--and finding the best you can, if you want to use it.
All that said, the research is pretty solid: you have to taste something to register the cues of satiety along your gut's enteric nervous system. I spell this out more fully in the new book, but here's some of it:
When you taste something, your tongue pings two sections of your brain: the stem, that controls life support and conscious ("Ah, you've found something that will allow you to thrive") and then the memory center in the hypocampus.
That last bit is crucial: you interpret what you taste based on what you've tasted before. In other words, memory is directly connected to taste. And here's the next crucial bit: memory and pleasure are bound together in the brain. You find something pleasurable because you have found something pleasurable.
Still, you've got to taste something to make this complex action happen--and there's a wealth of evidence to suggest that tasteless foods shortcircuit those brain processes, the ones about thriving and memory and pleasure. There's little there to bring on pleasure! And since eating is primarily connected to the pleasure centers of the brain, if you don't find any, you'll keep looking. And looking. And looking. And eating. And eating.
Which is why you should always opt for a tasty fat: butter, nut oils, olive oil, avocado oil (which is actually a berry oil), even unrefined peanut oil.
As we say in the book, you'll never see anyone canola-oiling their bread. Why not? Because it doesn't bring pleasure. Butter does. Olive oil does.
And the best news of all: you need less of the better stuff. A teaspoon smear of butter on a piece of toast is ridiculously satisfying. A little walnut oil at the bottom of a chicken breast saute is gorgeous and tasty.
But still, fats are still in copious supply in our modern world. How do you deal with the problem of fat in this world of stunning food abundance? The answer may be more important that any of us think.
almond oil, butter, detox, fat, nut oil, tasteless fat, walnut oil
Reader Comments (7)
It's always nice to remember how to balance out the good and 'bad' fats. Sometimes you just forget or get lost in how good something tastes, but if you go overboard one day, you can always be more conscious of it the next.
Thanks for the post - can't wait for the book and to get cooking.
Best to you.
Also, these same tasty fats are nutritious, especially when they come from pastured animals. Quality, non-industrial fats help the body to make better use of nutrients, including the fat-soluble vitamins, carotene, omega-3's, and minerals. And how convenient that proteins are so often paired with fats - egg whites and yolk, meats marbled with fat. Even the nutrients in veggies are better absorbed in the presence of fat. Past generations knew this, which is why they cherished butter and lard and olive oil. This also explains many classic recipe combos - collards and salt pork, fish/shellfish and butter, asparagus and hollandaise, etc.
But, ultimately, I've checked out of the "science" of it. You know the rule, "only eat foods your grandmother ate." Well, that won't work for me. My Gran slathered her bread with Oleo and fried her famous chicken in Crisco, and is now suffering terribly from alzheimer's. Instead, I try to mostly eat the foods my great-grandparents would recognize, and I eat take pleasure and satisfaction in every bite that passes my lips. In this way, I've found balance and wellness.
You, my dear, are my hero. (Or heroine, as it were.) The whole "only eat grandmother ate" rule is ridiculous. (Almost as inane as that BS about shopping the periphery of the supermarket.) None of our great grandmothers would have eaten shrimp--which were considered bait until the 1920s or so.
M.
Love the discussion on fats but love the dog on the couch more. Adorable.
By the way - I guess this post is a no to using Smart Balance or something like that - even if I am trying to lower my lipids - true? Better off with organic butter, grass fed if possible? And just watch portions....what do you folks think? Any experience with this?
Thanks-
First off, let me say that I am not a nutritionist, nor pretend to be one.
OK, so I think some low-fat products are within the realm of the plan. As you'll see, there are four categories: Real Food, Almost Real Food, Barely Real Food, and Not Real Food. The goal is always to move one step to the left of wherever you are. (I'll refrain from making a generalization right here.) So the Smart Balance might be good, depending on its ingredients. But here's the rule: better a little bit of better than a whole lot of worse.
And here's the real key, Greg. Are you getting any satisfaction from the product? If so, then continue it but also step one category to the left. But if not, then try to go with less of the better. As we say in the book, "you'll never see anyone canola-oil-ing their bread." And there's a reason for that!
M.