We headed to California’s Napa Valley last weekend for a conference on healthy eating. One message we heard might surprise: People should say no to low-fat diets.
Instead, nutrition experts told us to eat foods containing “good” unsaturated fats: those found in olive oil and other plant-based oils, as well as nuts and fish. The experts said we should avoid “bad” saturated fats found in red meat and diary products like ice cream; and we should steer way clear of “very bad” trans fats found in everything from store-bought cookies to French fries.
“It’s important to say yes . . . specifically to good fats,” said Eric Rimm, director of the cardiovascular epidemiology program at the Harvard School of Public Health. “There’s enough science to say fat is good as long as you have the right kind of fat.”
Rimm was among many speakers a conference co-sponsored by the Culinary Institute of America and the Osher Research Center at Harvard Medical School. Hundreds attended: doctors, nutritionists, and dietitians as well as culinary and food industry officials.
Aside from hearing about health, we watched chefs demonstrate dishes that not only taste good but are also good for you, like a Spanish romesco sauce. (To get an idea of healthy living and eating habits, check out the “Healthy Eating Triangle” from Harvard’s School of Public Health.)
Good fat versus bad fat was a key conference topic.
The Harvard School of Public Health says unsaturated fats are good because they can lower your bad cholesterol and increase your good cholesterol. Unsaturated fats can help your heart and most other parts of your body in other ways, too, says Harvard. Moderation, as with everything, is important.
The experts said the low-fat diets so popular for many years can be counterproductive. For one, you miss out on the benefits provided by good monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.
“Never use the world low-fat when you’re talking to a patient,” Walter Willett, chairman of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health, advised the physicians in the audience. “It’s totally misleading.”
“Low-fat by itself does not mean healthy,” added Willett, also a Harvard Medical School professor. “It’s the choice of fats.”
Healthy fats, according to Harvard researchers, not only can help your cholesterol; but they can help your heart by easing inflammation and stabilizing your heart rhythms.
Saturated fats, by contrast, boost total cholesterol by upping harmful “LDL” cholesterol, says Harvard.
Meanwhile, trans fats, or partially hydrogenated oils, boost “your risk of developing heart disease and stroke,” according to the American Heart Association; the group notes trans fats also are linked to a “higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes.”
Stay tuned for more conference dispatches on good fats and recipes.
Bon appétit,
Claude S. Weiller
Vice President of Sales & Marketing
California Olive Ranch
