Fat Myths

The subtitle of the book is, “The Lifesaving Nutritional Program Based on the Diet of the Island of Crete.”1 The book is 382 pages. Half of it is devoted to a 3-week program, with recipes at the back. The front half of the book explains the ins and outs of the diet. The Omega diet is as its name implies, based upon the effective use of Omega fats in the diet, particularly Omega-3.

The author’s premise is that too many people today are overloading their bodies with Omega-6 fatty acids and not getting enough of the Omega-3 (a.k.a. EFAs or Essential fatty acids).

I was extremely impressed with the research that the author of the book did. And she put everything into layman’s terms.

She Gives 7 Dietary Guidelines For the Diet

1. Eat foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids such as fatty fish (salmon, tuna, trout, herring, mackerel), walnuts, canola oil, flaxseeds, and green leafy vegetables. Or, if you prefer, take omega-3 supplements.
2.  Use monounsaturated oils such as olive oil and canola oil as your primary fat.
3.   Eat seven or more servings of fruits and vegetables every day.
4.   Eat more vegetable protein, including peas, beans, and nuts.
5. Avoid saturated fat by choosing lean meat over fatty meat (if you eat meat) and low-fat over full-fat milk products.
6. Avoid oils that are high in omega-6 fatty acids, including corn, safflower, sunflower, soybean, and cottonseed oils.
7. Reduce your intake of trans-fatty acids by cutting back on margarine, vegetable shortening, commercial pastries, deep-fat fried food, and most prepared snacks, mixes, and convenience foods.

She offers a question-and-answer section where some frequently asked questions are posed and answered. Then she debunks four myths, as follows:

Myth #1 Fat Makes You Fat

If you eat a lot of calories and don’t burn them all off, true, she said you would gain weight.

Then, she cited a study that was done in Geneva, Switzerland that put two groups of overweight people on high-fat diets, both with the same number of calories. One group was put on a 45% fat diet while the other was put on a 35% fat diet. At the end of 3 months the high-fat dieters had lost 8% and the lean dieters had lost 7.2% of body weight (almost a full percentage point of fat!)

By citing this study she is proving that it is not fat in the diet that makes people fat. Though there are no other factors considered in the study as to whether one group exercised or not (it’s not likely that any one group did, or that would defeat the study’s purpose), her point is well taken that the extra 10% fat content made no difference to the high-fat dieters.

Myth #2 A Low-Fat, High Carbohydrate Diet Boosts Your Metabolism

Simply put, she states that, “…trying to lose weight by eating less fat and more carbohydrates without cutting calories is a prescription for failure.” (Or, in my opinion, you can change your percentages of Fat/Carbs/Protein as long as your calories are just below your energy output needs). She later goes on to prove how a low-fat diet is actually dangerous!

Myth #3 You Can’t Get Fat Eating Carbohydrates

This is a bit antiquated (the book was written in 1998 originally in 1933, though it has obviously been updated with current research). We know now by watching the Atkins hype in the media that you can get just as fat from Carbs as you can from Fat, or more correctly, from too many calories. As we get further from the complex carbohydrates, we begin to simplify our foods’ composition; that is, turn the foods into simple carbs. But if those carbs are complex (as in whole foods that have not been processed or cooked, etc.), then our bodies don’t get the sugar-like jolts and start the pancreas over-producing insulin, creating insulin resistance. A lot of people still believe that bread is not a problem for their bodies.

Myth #4 An Ideal Way to Lose Weight is to Eat Fat Substitutes

Again, this sounds to me to be a bit antiquated also. She goes on to re-emphasize that our bodies need fat to function effectively.

Her next step, in the book, is to talk about the major diseases that afflict so many people today: Coronary Artery disease, Cancer, Syndrome-X, Obesity and Diabetes.

An example that she gives is a study in which laboratory rats were injected with Omega-6 fats and Omega-3 fats, after having human cancer cells introduced into them. She went on to explain how that when the rats were put on a fast, the fat cycle kicked in and caused the dissemination of fat into the blood system of the rats, and the tumors thrived and even grew exponentially with the Omega-6. Whereas when Omega-3 was introduced into the rats, the growth of the tumor cells slowed almost to a stop.

She explains how she came, in a roundabout way, to learn about range-fed chickens when she was younger. Then later in her life when she was working at the National Institutes of Health, she took a range fed chicken egg in to one of her colleagues to have him analyze the Omega-6 and Omega-3 content only to find that it was loaded with Omega-3 fat.

IS THIS DIET HEALTHY OR NOT?

Everything about this diet is absolutely exceptional! I feel that it is a very sensible diet. If followed for life, a person could have longevity and good health without the fear of having a stroke or heart attack later in life. Many of the guidelines for the diet line up with the current Food Guide Pyramid we have today. The fact that the author establishes the fact, early in the book, that high bulk diets that take away taste by eliminating fat and/or carbohydrates and are very strict cannot be followed. Our bodies will tell us when we don’t get enough of the essential elements in our diets – particularly fat! I could not begin to enumerate all of the studies that the author cited in her book, AND they were not little-known institutions. She cited studies found in the New England Journal of Medicine2 (See “The Long-Term Outcome of Patients with Iga Nephropathy Treated with Fish Oil in a Controlled Trial,”), The Mayo Clinic and other highly reputable institutions.

She delineated the oils that have Omega-3 and Omega-6 in Tables, as well as the chemical properties of the oils (whether saturated, monounsaturated or polyunsaturated). She also charted the changes that Omega-3 and Omega-6 go through, how one turns to Gamma-linolenic Acid (Omega-6), which is not a good acid to have. And the other, Omega-3, changes into Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA), then Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA), then into Eicosonoids.

A COMPARISON

GOOD POINTS

She recommends similar amounts of fat (35%) that are established as healthy amounts. She listed the many foods that have the EFAs. As a reader, you don’t have to go to indexes or tables in the back of the book (she charted everything as she went). In her Food Guide Column (See Table 2) she goes a step further and charts out a weekly menu that has leeway built into it. It makes more sense than the portions set forth in the FDAs Food Guide Pyramid (Nix, 10).

FLAWS

The only flaw that I was able to find with the book/diet was that the author was a bit vague with regards to carbohydrates. She obviously doesn’t agree with the FDA’s Food Guide Pyramid. She didn’t go, except vaguely, into the required amounts of carbohydrates and protein. But, she did give an example of her own Food Guide Column (See Table 2).

SUMMARY

It is extremely important to stay away from the Omega-6 fatty acids and increase our portions of Omega-3 fatty acids. Increase our intake of Olive oil and canola oil. Increase our intake of green leafy vegetables, especially Purslane (considered a weed by most farmers). Begin the use of eggs that are from range fed chickens and meat from range fed cattle (They have highly increased amounts of Omega-3 in them due to the animals’ ingestion of green leafy plants on the range). Stay away from trans-fatty foods. She also recommends very little sugar in one’s diet.

CONCLUSION

This diet is a very good diet! I would recommend it to anybody. I feel that it has great potential, especially where EFAs are concerned. It was very informative and reassuring with all of the studies and experiments cited. Those gave me a sense of confidence in what she was postulating and put me at ease, especially with the credible nature of the institutions that did the studies and experiments. I’m sold on everything about this diet! I have learned a few things that will help me in my efforts to live a healthy lifestyle.