Let's Talk: The Fat Discussion

Since we're been having some good discussions on Wednesdays about food, I thought we'd continue that trend with one today about fats.

Specifically, tasteless fats.

We're on a war path against the tasteless stuff. During the third step of our new book REAL FOOD HAS CURVES, the mini-detox program, we first take on the myth that fats are somehow bad for us.

We need fats to live. Some vitamins are fat (not water) soluble. Dietary fats aid in proper digestion. They also build neural structures and connections in the body. And they build the wall of every single cell in the body. Want to recover from your work-out with weights? Don't forget the role of fats.

But most importantly, fats bring on satiety. If only we register that we're eating them.

The research is pretty solid: we eat more and more these days because what we eat is pretty darn tasteless. We're caught looking for satiety because we're not eating flavorful food.

Fats, too. We eat copious amounts of the no-flavor stuff. But we crave big, bold flavors for satiety.

Or as we put it in the book, "You'll never see anyone canola-oil-ing their bread."

Let's be honest: all liquid fats have 120 calories per tablespoon. Every one. So why would you "waste" 120 calories on something tasteless? Why wouldn't you DEMAND walnut oil, or hazelnut oil, or olive oil? Why would you not want butter (which actually has fewer calories that a liquid oil)? Or (wow) lard--which is actually a monounsaturated fat like olive oil?

Yes, we consume too many fats. Saturated, monounsaturated, whatever. No doubt about it. The modern world is awash in fat. But most of them are tasteless. And craving flavors, we search for more. But we also eat more because we can't taste what we're eating.

The answer is not to pull away from fat. The answer is to embrace is for the real pleasure it is. The answer is to demand more flavor from every calorie. The answer is to use less of better, not more of worse.

Got a favorite, full-flavored fat--and a way to use it? We'd all love to hear from you.

(Hey, did you know we now have a channel on youtube? Check it out here. OK, don't laugh at me. It's rudimentary, for sure. But hey, I'm working on it!)

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:

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