Frontline Health

#095 - Beyond the Belly Blob: The Truth About Fat

• Troy Duell

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Fat is a critical nutrient that's been wrongly blamed for numerous health conditions, and understanding which fats heal and which harm is essential for optimal health. We explore different types of fats, debunk common myths, and provide practical guidance for incorporating health-supporting fats into your diet.

• Your brain is 60% fat, with every cell in your body containing fat in its membrane
• Three main types of fat: saturated fats (butter, coconut oil, meat), monounsaturated fats (olive oil, avocados, nuts), and polyunsaturated fats (omega-3s, omega-6s)
• Trans fats are dangerous, disrupt hormones and brain chemistry, and should be completely avoided
• Products labeled "zero grams of trans fat" can still contain up to 0.5g per serving
• Check ingredient lists for "partially hydrogenated oils" – a red flag for trans fats
• Omega-3s fight inflammation and support brain health, but most Americans consume far too few
• The ideal omega-6 to omega-3 ratio is 1:1, but the average American's ratio is 15:1 to 40:1
• Modern livestock fed grains (high in omega-6) rather than grass (high in omega-3) contributes to this imbalance
• The belief that dietary cholesterol raises blood cholesterol is an outdated theory from flawed 1950s data
• Practical tips: avoid trans fats, eat more omega-3s, use olive oil below 400°F, choose good saturated fats, ditch processed seed oils, and focus on quality sources

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Speaker 1:

Today on the Frontline Health Podcast. Omega-3s are really the superstars here. They fight inflammation, they support brain health and they keep your cell membranes flexible.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. But here is the one problem We've talked about it on a previous podcast that we're eating way too many omega-6 fats. So those come from seed oils like we talked about, which would be soybean, corn, canola and there's not nearly enough omega-3s from things like flax, chia, walnuts and wild caught fish or even pasture-raised cattle or chickens.

Speaker 1:

Welcome back to the Frontline Health Podcast by Centurion, where we share health news, tips and insights to help you take ownership of your health and your life. My name is Evan Patrick. With me is Troy Duhl, our founder and CEO here, and we're coming at you with another episode where we are talking about a topic that we both geek out about, which is fat.

Speaker 2:

Oh, gotta love talking about a little bit of fat. We sure do fat.

Speaker 1:

Oh, gotta love talking about a little bit of fat. We sure do. The nutrient has been wrongly blamed for everything from heart disease to weight gain, and today's episode is all about cutting through the fat, because we're cutting through decades of misinformation to give you the real deal on what fats actually do in your body. So, to start with, what is fat, troy? It's not just some passive blob that hangs out on your belly. It's a critical nutrient.

Speaker 2:

Unfortunately it is a passive blob that hangs out on a lot of people's bellies, but it is truly a critical nutrient. So your brain is actually 60% fat, so it is in every cell of your body. So it's got some fat-based membrane and it helps you absorb the vitamins to balance your hormones, and it also helps make food taste a little bit better, which is huge. But there are really three main types that we're going to talk about today. The first are saturated fats. Those are the ones found in butter, coconut oil, meat. Then you've got your monounsaturated fats, so that's olive oil, avocado, nuts, and then you've got your polyunsaturated fats, which are the essential ones, like omega-3s and omega-6s.

Speaker 1:

So I guess the trick is knowing which fats heal and which ones harm. So spoiler alert, we've already hinted at this. Fat is not the enemy, but some types of fat definitely are, and the worst is trans fats. These guys were created to extend shelf life, but what do they do inside of the body?

Speaker 2:

Great question, but in summary, it's bad. It's not a good thing. So trans fats can make your blood really sticky, it can raise inflammation, it can disrupt your hormones and even your brain chemistry and really the worst part is it's kind of a really sneaky fat if you think about it when it comes to our diet.

Speaker 1:

Right. So even products that are labeled with zero grams of trans fat, we know can still have up to half a gram per serving, according to the FDA. And just check for partially hydrogenated oils on the ingredient list. That's really your red flag for this.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely and kind of the bottom line is there is no amount of trans fat that is safe. So toss the chips and the cookies that say zero grams of trans fat, yet they still have on the label partially hydrogenated oils. Yet they still have on the label partially hydrogenated oils. So those partially hydrogenated oils are going to, if you toss those things are definitely going to keep your brain and your arteries much happier. And you know it's interesting because the WHO, the World Health Organization, has guidelines on trans fat that says you should have less than two grams per day, and the FDA and USDA say that we should have no trans fat, trans fats, during a day. But understanding what you said, which is, even with a half a gram, you can still say it's zero grams of trans fat.

Speaker 2:

So if you just eat three or four items that have zero grams of trans fat but have that partially hydrated oils in it, then you're going to be at that two grams before you know it.

Speaker 1:

So shifting gears. That's the bad fat, the trans fat. Let's talk about the essential fats. Omega-3s are really the superstars here. They fight inflammation, they support brain health and they keep your cell membranes flexible.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. But here is the one problem and we've talked about it on a previous podcast that we're eating way too many omega-6 fats. So those come from seed oils like we talked about, which would be soybean, corn, canola and there's not nearly enough omega-3s from things like flax, chia, walnuts and wild-caught fish or even pasture-raised cattle or chickens.

Speaker 1:

That's right, and one of the things that we talked about on that episode was that the ideal ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s is around one to one, but instead do you want to know what the average American's ratio is? 15 to one, or even 40 to one. That imbalance drives chronic inflammation, which is at the root of everything from heart disease to autoimmune conditions. So why are we so low in omega-3s and what has really changed?

Speaker 2:

Well, part of it is we're taking in a lot more omega-6s because of those seed oils. We know that just about everything seems to be cooked in seed oil, because chips, cookies, whatever, it's a lot cheaper and we're not getting the full benefit of those omega-6s because we're throwing out all the fiber and all the good stuff that comes with those in the seed oil piece. But a second reason is really our modern livestock. Most of our modern livestock is fed these omega-6s. They're fed grains, so they get corn, they get soy and they're huge omega-6 heavy products that they're eating instead of the grass-fed, which is omega-3 rich. So those animals that go out and eat grass, that eat the bugs, like the chickens and everything else, it all affects the eggs, it affects the milk and it affects the meat that we eat, because we're getting more omega-6 even in what we eat than the omega-3s themselves.

Speaker 1:

So maybe we should change the saying from you are what you eat to you are what what you eat eats.

Speaker 2:

That's exactly right, because it's true, if the food we eat isn't getting the omega-3s, we're not getting it either, because it can't pass it down to us.

Speaker 1:

We're just getting those Omega-6s. I don't know if that made sense to anyone else or if it'll catch on at all, but it sure made sense to me. Maybe you should start with a t-shirt because that'd be big, let's try it yeah. So one of the things we love to do Troy is to bust myths, and cholesterol is a big one, so let's go there. No-transcript blood cholesterol. For most people, that was actually an outdated theory that came from flawed 1950s data and we now know that that's not true.

Speaker 2:

That's true, and what we also know is that the liver actually makes cholesterol. It's not just coming from the eggs or butter that you eat, which the truth is. Most of us then go what you mean. Cholesterol is not that bad. So what is it that's bad that I'm eating? And the answer is a lot of the things that we've discussed previously, which would be sugar, stress, inflammation. All those things really seem to be greater issues when it comes to our cardiovascular health than cholesterol or even fat.

Speaker 1:

Well, this is all such great information, Troy. What can we do with this now?

Speaker 2:

I think, there's some practical things we can certainly do and start stepping up to, and the first thing is avoid trans fats completely. We already talked about it. Read the ingredient list. Make sure that there are no partially hydrated oils in that or in the food that you're eating. We need to eat more omega-3s, so look for the leafy greens, look for the salmon, look for grass-fed beef and grass-fed and raised chicken. Use your olive oil wisely, because we know olive oil is good, but if you do it above 400 degrees, apparently it tends to cause some oxidation and the olive oil can actually be bad for us and not as good for our health.

Speaker 2:

We need to look for those good saturated fats. We know coconut oil is good for you. We know ghee, which is a clarified butter type thing that you need to be taking in. And then you need to ditch those processed seed oils which we've already talked about previously.

Speaker 1:

And always think about quality. That's something that's really important to me is to eat good quality food Grass-fed, wild-caught, organic. These things matter with fat because fat stores toxins.

Speaker 2:

It does, and I think it's also crucial for us to understand that fat is truly not the thing that we need to fear, understand that fat is truly not the thing that we need to fear, but we truly need to understand how it becomes a part of our health and our diet and have the right fats and the right amounts, and we should be good.

Speaker 1:

That's great. We hope this episode helped you, cut through the confusion and has empowered you to make smarter choices around fat. As always, eat with intention, stay curious, go out and take ownership of your health, because you are your best health advocate and tune in next time here on the Frontline Health Podcast. We'll see you then. If you enjoyed what you heard today on the podcast, please consider leaving us a review. We would love to hear your feedback and connect with you further. You can also follow us on Instagram X, TikTok and YouTube, and for safe, effective and affordable health and wellness products made in the USA, visit wwwcenturionhealth. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.