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A few months ago, the Atkins Diet felt my wrath when I stood up for Carbs.
Well, Atkins can breathe a sigh of relief now, ‘cause I’m going after someone else!
Whoever came up with the idea to call the important nutrients that do so much for us “fats” anyhow? It’s like if someone had decided to call “chocolate” poop. Sorry to be gross… but seriously, why associate something so good with something so negative?
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If you’ve ever said, “I’m not fat” you’re wrong. That’s exactly what you are!
Every cell in your body is made up of fat.
(Remember her from the Banana Love post?)
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The fats naturally found in whole foods—essential fatty acids—are necessary for your body to function properly. Without them, you wouldn’t be able to think, walk, or even breathe; the brain is 70% fat.
And—oh yeah—ladies, we need fats for certain other functions as well 
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Fats are responsible for soft skin and shiny hair, too.
Of course, not all fats are created equal. I’m all for staying away from trans fats. (An easy way to tell if a food has trans fat is to look at the label; if “partially hydrogenated oil” is listed in the ingredients, it has trans fat.) And obviously I’m not a proponent of a diet high in animal fats (full of saturated fat).
But some fats—monounsaturated fats (such as olive oil) and polyunsaturated fats (such as flaxseeds)—ought to be included in a healthy diet. In fact, studies have shown that these fats may give one an edge against diseases like cancer, diabetes, and even heart disease.
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Fats do not make you fat!
In fact, studies have shown that people who include a moderate amount of healthy fats in their diets tend to be slimmer than their fat-shunning peers. This may, in part, be attributed to the fact that fats help keep one satiated, so one eats less in the long run. Plus, fats make food taste better, so one won’t be as likely to binge on mass quantities of low-fat substitutes trying to soothe a craving that would’ve been satisfied with a small portion of the real thing.
Ironically, the obesity rates for Americans have doubled in the last 20 years, coinciding with the low-fat revolution. In place of fats, many people turn to foods that replace healthful fats with refined carbohydrates and sugar.
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So eat fat… in moderation.
Obviously, you don’t want to go out and drink gallons of olive oil in order to ward off cancer. But completely steering clear of healthy fats isn’t good either. Four reasons why:
- Fat improves the taste of food and helps with satiety. Eschew all fats in a meal and you might end up actually eating more due to the fact that your brain never feels satisfied.
- The aforementioned health reasons; our bodies need some fat in order to function at their peak.
- People on low-fat diets tend to replace healthy fats with not-as-healthy foods, such as those high in refined carbohydrates.
- Many low-fat products replace the fat with extra sugar, chemicals, preservatives, or other nutritionally-devoid ingredients. (I’m lookin’ at you, Better-n-Peanut Butter!)
If you must eat a low-fat sub for pb, go with Banana Butter! 
Oh all right, so bpb isn’t the worst of the low-fat substitutes. At least it isn’t loaded with sugar or sucralose.
But one thing it can’t do is give you that “stick-to-your-ribs” feeling of fullness like good ole pb can.
(I know a lot of my fellow bloggers like this stuff, so I’ll stop bullying it now.)
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What to do?
Choose a diet that emphasizes the consumption of whole grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables, as well as small amounts of healthy fats, such as nuts, seeds, vegetable oils (like olive oil), and oils rich in omega 3s, like flaxseed oil.
Don’t fear the healthy fats!
Especially if you’re an athlete, still growing, looking to gain some weight (in a healthy way), or missing periods, it might be a good idea to up your intake of healthy fats.
Here’s a list of healthy fats
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To celebrate healthy fats—and all they do for us—it’s time for…
.“Fat Love” Month
On the agenda:
1. Ode to olive oil/cooking with fat
2. Recipes such as Homemade Artisana Cacao Bliss (full of healthy fat)
3. And…
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…Do you know where this is going?
Here’s a hint
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{ 59 comments… read them below or add one }
Yéééé!! Let’s hug our fat!! You’re so entertaining, it’s such a joy to read your blog!
And yes, Your Banana PB is sooo good. I like to just froze the banana, slice it and mix it with PB. So I guess it’s a Banana PB Bowl. :p
Have a nice Sunday, fatty! (Haha I’m so funny…not)
xoxo
Thank you for this! It has taken me a long time to not fear fats. I didnt wake up one day randomly fearing them, I swear! If you read in magazines or on the internet fat always gets a bad rap. I told someone I liked greek yogurt once and they responded by saying how ‘fattening it was’. Hmph, funny! not really.. anyway, my lovely dietitian has finally convinced me calories is what causes us to gain weight, not fat or carbs! When I started eating fat again I felt great!! Really, I swear mentally I felt 120% better and physically I felt better too!.. I cringe now when people tell me they dont eat fat
We need it!! Thanks for all the great posts! Enjoy your sunday <3
Dana
http://happinessiswithin.wordpress.com/
I always enjoy reading your posts, Katie. They are so well-written! Have you ever thought about writing for a magazine or newspaper? Or maybe a book?
oh katie thank you for this post! i so needed to hear it! i need to add more fats to my diet, so this is a great post for me, and i’ll be looking back to the “healthy fat list” often.
fats make you skinny! hehe.
this post is so true. and its nice to be reminded and even more educated on this now. obviously every body will require a different amount of fat.. but rule of thumb- we all need it! especially our brains
xoxo <3
HOMEMADE ARTISANA COCOA BLISS????!!!!
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I used to fear fats, I’ll admit it. But thanks to terrific posts from bloggers like you, I can honestly say that I love my fats now. And the amazing thing is that I feel so much better and have actually LOST weight to a healthy weight once I got off the low-fat diet I was on!
this is a great post! PB is my favorite fat. My mom just asked me and I was not sure, is coconut milk good for you? I was wondering if you knew the answer
Yay for fats! Haha “hug a fat” sounds so funny…I’m so glad you wrote this post I think a lot of us need reminders every once in a while not to fear those fats and of how important they actually are in our diets.
Just a question? I love dark chocolate but I know it’s hight in sat fat from cocoa butter? Is that a healthy fat, in moderation of course?
Emma xox
hahaha I agree with anonymous above me in being excited for that Cacao Bliss recipe.
But maybe I’m not *quite* as excited as she is
Great post, Katie!
Yayyy for fat lovin’ month
I totally agree about the better n pb…I remember trying that stuff a few years ago and I’d always eat double the serving size because it didn’t satisfy me! I’ll take the full fat pb thanks 
Ohh I would totally take a pic of myself hugging an avocado
lol i think you gotta check the timeline Katie… “fats” in the body, or lipids, have been around for forever. We didn’t start associating the word fat overweight and obesity until that was actually prevalent in our society. Ironically enough.. in the 1500s, fat was the contracted form of fættian, meaning to cram, or to stuff.
Yayy! I love fat! And carbs (maybe a lil too much but I get lots of fruit/veggie carbs too not just grains!)! And protein! And all food!
And BANANA BUTTER? Omg. I didn’t see this post before but now I’m all excited!
Did people decide how long it would last in the fridge? I looked through the comments, but no answer! I guess in all it probably doesn’t matter much–I’d eat it in a few days. Mmm.
Fantastic post Katie!
Homemade Artisana Cacao Bliss sounds amazing!
Oh Katie, this post is so refreshing to read and makes me INCREDIBLY happy!!! I’ll be honest, I fell victim to the “low fat” fad, and I still struggle from time to time with incorporating it in to my diet, but it’s so important to remember that our bodies NEED fat to function properly! Thank you for this – I needed it more than you know.
LOVE YOU!!
This post is amazing! I wish I’d read it earlier so you could have spared me from my years struggling with my weight and not understanding it because I was eating very little fat. But I was tired all the time, and my low fat peanut butter and snack cakes were LOADED with sugar. How could I have been so naive?
Fats are my FAVORITE thing! I usually eat at least one avocado a day, everything I make has olive oil in it, and nuts and nut spreads (and peanut butter!) are one of my very favorite things.
Fat is seriously a huge part of my diet, and I am slender, strong, and healthy! No need to fear the fats at all. (Of course, those creepy chemical laden trans fats are another story…but I’m sure I get my fill of those on occasion, too!)
Thanks for the great reminders, both about fats and that yummy banana butter
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I’m too shy to send you my own fat love photos, but I’m excited to see everyone else’s!
Rosie,
I am a bad person to ask, because I haven’t been able to keep it around more than four days! I CAN tell you that it lasts at least four days… but after that, it’s always been gobbled up too soon to know.
Sorry I can’t be more helpful!
Lunchmunchies,
YES!! Oh my gosh yes it so does have healthy fat! Apparently dark chocolate has monounsaturated fats… plus it has other benefits like antioxidants. And, best of all, it gives you endorphins
devyn,
Yes! It is high in saturated fat, but studies have proven that its saturated fat acts differently in the body than the saturated fat found in animal products. I wrote a little about it in the following post, which also has a link to a great source about coconuts:
http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2009/03/22/my-tongue-has-died-and-gone-to-heaven/
Love this post! I needed to hear it!
Ahh I am guilty of the Better n’ Peanut Butter! But I officially threw it out in favor of REAL food =D
Your not the only one, Megan! I still eat it every now and then, too. But your right, Katie. It takes me the same amount of time to eat twice as much as it would peanut butter, and I’m not even as satisfied when I’m done!
Uh-oh, Katie. I’d be careful if I were you. I have a feeling that the homemade cacao bliss is going to gain you a truckload of stalkers. =P
I’m pretty excited for everything on the agenda. The “Hug a Carb” month was an adorable idea, and applying the same concept to fats will no doubt produce some hilarious photos, too.
Wonderful post, Katie!
Thanks for sharing and for stooding up for fats!
They´re no the bad guys at all
Have a great Sunday, love!
Brazilian XOXO´s,
Gabriela
I liked this post today. However, I think it makes a lot of sense that we call fats “fats” because that is what they are. When people gain weight they gain fat so it also makes sense that we call ourselves “fat” when we have extra fat. There are lots of good fats but there are also lots and lots of bad fats. I think its good that fat has a negative connotation because there are too many people in the US right now who either are too fat or eat too much bad fat. When we have such a big obesity rate that I dont think we should start telling people that fats are good when for a lot people its hard to tell the difference between good fats and bad fats.
Girl, if you have a fat-love photo shoot, count me in. Please
Mona,
Thanks for leaving such a thought-provoking comment! You’re right; maybe it isn’t wise to start debunking the myth that all fats are bad because it’ll confuse people. I didn’t think of that before
Thank you so much for this post, Katie! I love that you are so blunt with your words- they really make an impression. I can’t wait for fat month-
Have a great weekend and thank you for being so fantastic!
Hug a fat photoshoot? Weeeee! Count me in!
I love your fat post
have a happy Sunday!
fat love month i am so excited for this and i need to remember that fats are good for me and my friends i wonder what ones i should hug? probably peanut butter because i love it the most and i agree i tried that better than pb one and its not as scary but not as good as real stuff! xoxoxo
I love my peanut butter too much to give it up. It is only the past few months I have been eating more fats and I feel so much better. Thanks for the post. Have a great day.
I really hate Better n’ Peanut Butter. It so not better in so many way.
And I really hate Atkins too, including the New Atkins diet. The doctor who started it was on NPR recently telling a guy, who was in a healthy weight range and was told by his doctors that his blood showed he was really healthy, that he should really eat less fruit. I’m not saying he’s a quack, but I’m not not saying that either.
Yeehaw! I love me some fats. I used to avoid them at all costs during my ED days, but I now embrace them whole-heartedly. No reduced fat PB for me!
Thank you for a great post! I have often thought that it’s rather unfortunate that dietary fat and the fat on our bodies have the same word. It makes people automatically think that dietary fat – in all its forms – is to be avoided at all costs. Thanks for sharing some insightful information about the truth of the matter!
I’ll all for a Hug A Fat Month!
Better N PB – blech. That stuff tastes like artificially sweetened plastic. Banana butter is much betta!
This is a great post, Katie. I don’t feel comfortable leaving my name here, but I wanted to let you know that you are one of the bloggers who has most inspired me to add NEEDED fats back into my diet. I can’t tell you how much your attitude towards food has helped me in my road to recovery.
HUGS!
that balloon woman is a goob!
PS: check this article out:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=carbs-against-cardio
Terrific post, with great information! I am one of the people who has to get over my fear of good fats. I’m working on it!
Thank you for this. In today’s society there aren’t enough people who understand the truth! I get so frustrated when I see people choosing low fat but low nutrition snacks just because they’re low in fat and they’ll give me weird looks when I choose peanut butter and crackers or raw almonds!
amen sister! fats get a bad rap. we need ‘em and we don’t benefit nutritionally from the artificially lowfat foods that are made in a lab.
I love the post on fats. I hate the whole low-fat craze. it’s at least as bad as the low-carb thing. next thing you know, they’ll have a low-chocolate diet; that’s just craziness!
I wanted to let you know that I have bestowed on you the great honor of “Sunshine Award”
You can check it out here, http://theradioactivegan.blogspot.com/2010/05/let-little-sunshine-in.html but it basically just means you’re awesome! Thanks for some great blogging 
Completely agree! I can’t STAND IT when people think they’re being healthy by going on low-fat or low-carb diets (Kate Gosselin comes to mind… she said she was the healthiest eater you’ll ever meet because she eats low-carb. I laughed when I read that.). They’re ALL necessary for health, just in moderation.
Oh, and I am SO making your banana butter!
I adore healthy fats
(well, I adore all the healthy food 
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Nuts, avocados, peanut butter, yesterday I tried coconut butter..yum!
People avoid things like nuts like they are food from hell, I never understood that.
Obviously, I’m a big fan of PB!
I don’t shy away from healthy fats in moderation…avocados and dark chocolate especially!
Haha Jessica, YOU like pb? Who knew?!
Fat is your friend!!! Yay! Love this post girlie. I HATE that so many people (myself in the past included) think that fat makes you fat. It doesn’t. I cringe when people label a food as “fattening…” bah. They need to change the name of Fat.
Katie, I was sitting in my backyard in the sunshine this weekend, thinking about exactly the ame thing! Ever since I INCREASED my healthy fat in my diet, the “flab” on my body has melted away. Methinks they should change the name of the blubbery deposits on the body from “fat” to something else..can we just call it blubber? Because FAT in food – good fats, that is, not trans fats, the processed chemical fats that kill us – are so good for you, but we’ve been indoctrinated to stigmatize things like NUTS and AVOCADOS because of their high fat content while eating highly processed, made-only-of-chemicals-that-will-make-you-sick foods is “okay” because the “fat” content on the label is low. No thanks. My roommate has a tendency to buy those things that are “reduced fat” and “less fat than the original!” because she thinks they’re healthier, but I can’t stand seeing them in my fridge!
Yay for fats!
PS- I’ll hug a fat! Hell yeah.
This is a wonderful post! People need fat, sugar, and carbs. Why must people give them such bad reputations? Sure, their heavily processed versions are horrible for you, but the whole food varieties are essential for optimal health. I think people just need to eat more whole foods in general. Get rid of the processed rubbish.
I add a good splash of flax oil, hemp seed oil, or walnut oil to my smoothies to get more healthy fats. It helps keep me full for longer too. And so yummy too.
Mmmm… off to eat some mounds fudge babies from my lunch. So good.
Ilana,
LOL at first I mis-read “blubbery” as “blueberry”
JCD,
I want your lunch!! Can I steal some while your back is turned?
I tend to eat semi-low fat (around 30-40 grams a day) mostly due to not liking to use added oils. I prefer to get my fats in delicious, filling whole foods form like nuts/seeds/avocados/nut butter/coconut.
My only guff with fat is that it’s higher calorie and I’m still working on that whole weight loss maintenance thing! As I’m increasing my running mileage (half marathon is on Saturday!) my calories go up and I can eat MOAR peanut butter! Which is a good thing. I’ve been known to eat it out of the jar (with a chopstick… LOL)
Katie, odd question, which of these animals are your favorites (pick two for me, in order of favorite first): panda, lion, tiger, brown bear, cow or elephant. I’m soooo sneeeeeakkkkyyyyy.
Hey Melissa!
. Ok, well right away the panda bear wins all! Because who can resist those big eyes? Then maybe tiger. Cuz I played soccer on the Tigers once… and we wore these ugly orange unniforms!
Haha I love random questions
(It wasn’t so bad; there was a team that got stuck with yellow and black. Bet you can guess their name… Bumblebees!)
Duly noted!
Watch your mailbox, lady.
I’ve never understood the need to replace regular peanut butter with something like Better Than PB. Just seems so wrong! Unless you consume an entire jar of nut butter in one sitting, why nickel and dime away your calories, and miss out on eating real, whole foods, which have their naturally occurring nutrients?
Check out my post about Hug-a-Fat Month! There’s a picture of me hugging a fat too!
http://soychaibookshelf.blogspot.com/2010/05/hug-fat-month.html
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