The Importance of Healthy Fats for Nutrient Absorption

fatsDr. Edward F. Group – Since the 1960s, Americans have been obsessed with cutting all fat out of our diets. In that same time frame, rates of obesity and diabetes skyrocketed across all socioeconomic groups. How is it possible that reducing fat intake coincided with a 300% rise in obesity and a 700% increase in diabetes?[1, 2] It’s almost as if we’ve been completely wrong about fat and its role in nutrition this entire time.

Why Low-Fat Diets Fail

Many readers have no doubt tried a low-fat diet and experienced mixed results. Maybe it didn’t work at all. Maybe you lost a couple of pounds, only to have them quickly return—with a few unwelcome friends. The diet may have even made you sick. Most people eventually slip and abandon the diet, but even when followed obsessively, low-fat diets don’t work.

That’s because it’s not fats that make people fat, or at least it’s not only fats. It’s sugar that actually triggers fat storage in the body. After you absorb sugar from your digestive system, it’s released into your bloodstream in the form of glucose. High blood sugar causes your pancreas to release insulin, which instructs fat cells to absorb excess glucose and convert it into more fat.[3] Continue reading