The Skinny on FAT – Part 1 – Losing the Weight of All Those Myths

Fats and oils are perhaps the most misunderstood and hyped of all food stuffs.  Product labels that scream ‘fat free’,’ low fat’, and ‘zero grams tans fat’ are rampant – and an indication of how much food manufacturers capitalize on the fear people have of fat.  I think part of the reason for this is that the term fat is too emotionally charged today.

Obesity is soaring, and as anyone who has carried much excess weight can tell you, it is not a fun prospect.  Fitting into seats, aisles, and clothing made for skinny folk, the nasty comments and jeers, the lack of energy and vitality, and the looks one suffers at restaurants – all attack our sense of ease in our bodies.  And, at a time when we are more exposed to artificial, commercial beauty as the gold standard than at any time in history, our looks have a soaring connection to our sense of worth.

As someone who grew up slim, blond, and blue eyed, as well as voraciously academic, disciplined, and hard working, I can tell you I received much more attention for my hair and appearance, and later my physique, than for any of my accomplishments.  It was a toxic environment in which to learn about life and self, and it says something about my family, no doubt, but it is also a cultural epidemic.

Women today are systemically poisoned by the media.  The message is clear: beauty is more important than personality or talent.  We can be complete bitches, as long as we are beautiful.  We will get the job if we are beautiful.  We will get the man if we are beautiful.  We will be happy if we are beautiful.  We will have money if we are beautiful.  And, beautiful is nothing short of having virgin hips, artificially pregnant breasts, adolescent features, taught, pore-less skin, a horse’s mane, and not an ounce of fat anywhere.  Given this message, we collectively obsess about our waistlines.  Our resolution for each New Year, as we catapult deeper into the dismal depths of disaster capitalism and Wall Street’s systemic environmental plunder, is not to unite on any issue of social or environmental injustice, but to get back into that pair of skinny jeans.

We are a fat phobic nation and we are unable to even hear the word without feeling apprehensive.

This contributes to our misunderstanding of fats.  Whenever we react emotionally rather than rationally to information, we are more easily manipulated by greedy, advertisement-savy corporations.  Think about it: McDonalds is sold through advertisements about ‘lovin it’.  Tim Horton’s is subversively marketed as being a part of the Canadian identity.  Folgers coffee is sold through commercials of couples nuzzling together in a serene setting over a cuppa.  Food is sold largely on emotional response, not on nutritional properties!  Advertisers make a lot of money off our emotional reaction to the word fat, and will continue to do so until we get down to seriously talking about it understanding the role it plays in our health.   Perhaps this needs to start with debunking the myths.

It is a long held myth that consuming fat makes us fat.

It was initiated by a few people within the medical establishment and picked up by manufacturers who found it easy to capitalize on.  Or perhaps it was discovered by the manufacturers that it was easy to produce, prolonged the shelf life of products, and had a lot of potential to capitalize on, and thus was sold to, and endorsed by, the medical establishment.  It’s hard to say.  But it began with the claim that saturated fats were the cause of the rising trend of heart health problems – a growing health concern in North America at the time.

Manufacturers produced margarines and trans fats in abundance, fabulous stuff because the fat bonds being damaged, it did not deteriorate like natural fat, which goes rancid quite easily.  The foodstuff made with these unnatural fats had an extremely long shelf life.  People obediently replaced saturated fats like butter with margarine.  They cut their intake of saturated fats, ate leaner meats – often without the fat – and consumed the ‘healthy’ foods low in saturated fats, which often contained modified trans fats.  They consumed less red meat, and often replaced it with processed foodstuffs, as people who don’t consume meat crave sugars.  During that time, however, heart health worsened substantially, to a point where it is now the number one health related killer in North America.

Heart health was not improved by eating less saturated fats. It is now the number one health related killer in North America.

Heart health became a bigger medical problem.  Moreover, it is now closely followed by cancer, which had previously been a modest health problem.  And, another health problem has risen to epidemic rates, affecting younger and younger generations.

….For the statistics on these health issues, and the second part of this series, please check back in a week.

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Posted by Nonie De Long on January 15, 2011

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