Good questions, i'm glad you asked. What DO we really mean by “High-fat”?
Well, simply put we are increasing the amount of fat in our diet, but theres a small asterix disclaimer next to the word “High-fat”! I personally like to call this a “High-fat” diet, as I see the glass as half full. Half full of coconut oil as the case might be. In contrast, if you’re a pessimist, you could call this a “low-carbohydrate” diet, in which case your glass is half empty. Half empty of glutinous wheat sludge that is! In essence the diet is, yes correct, high in fat, but also low in carbohydrates. If you simply increase your fat without decreasing the carbohydrates, well, I’m not going to encourage that unless you’re exercising alot.
To put everything simply, for those of you that want the concise rundown,
"What's for dinner?!":
So, now that your on the "diet", what do you eat? Well, they say a picture portrays a thousand words, so in essence you take this:
And you turn it into this:
I’m afraid I stole half of this foodchart, so don’t tell anyone...ahem...
Ahh, food pyramids, “Food pyramid, food pyramid...hmm, I just remember something about only being able to eat the triangular stuff?”
In a nutshell, you can eat anything that's not processed not grain-based, not a potato or a high carbohydrate type of bean, then afterwards you can, if you so desire, eat the aforementioned nutshell!
To be more precise: You want to swap the heavy carbohydrate sources of wheat, barley, rye, oats, tapioca, rice, corn, potatoes and all of their various derivative products (i.e. Pasta, corn chips, potato chips, porridge etc), for better fattier and more protein dense alternatives such as , meat, meat skin and meat fat (ideally all meat should be grass fed or free range if you can get it – as they have better fat profiles!), eggs, vegetables (just about any but potato and high cardbohyrate beans), vegetarian sources of fat such as olives, avocadoes and the legendary coconut! Oils derived from nuts or olives or coconuts are encouraged, and the other cooking substance to be used should be butter or ghee. Avoid all those grapeseed oils, soybean oils, sunflower oils, wheat oils and other grain based oils as they are too high in inflamatory Omega-6 fats (more on that later). And PARTICULARLY avoid hydrogenated oils and transfats at all costs!
Dairy is often not allowed on such paleolithic type diets, but I allow it, because I think its too draconian otherwise. As such butter, yoguhrt, cottage cheese, and other cheeses are all allowed, so long as they are full fat of course! Also allowed are berries, and fruit is encouraged, but not to extremes as many fruits are quite carbohydrate rich (with the exception of avocado [and one or two exotic ones you’ve probably never heard of!] which are rich fat sources). You can eat as much as you want, whenever you want, as long as you eliminate the rich carbohydrate sources. This includes softdrinks and the like. For the purpose of this study though, I have not asked that you reduce your alcohol consumption, largely because I don't know if many of you will! However, think of it like this, we have one month to see what we can do to our blood profiles and bodyfat percentage, so if you cut out alcohol, or at very least reduce your intake, chances are you'll see even better results! This will also stop late night kebab runs...Other factors such as exercise, good sleep, keeping stress managed and so on are all equally crucial factors to ones health. BUT, for the purposes of this study you are in no way inclined to change those habbits. The study is designed to show us how ONLY dietary changes will affect our body, so don't feel inclined to change those habbits unless you WANT to. Maybe we can do more tests down the road as regards exercise or other ideas!
But if this is a "highfat" diet, then "what about Protein?" I hear you asking. Well chance is that, as fat is very energy dense, the majority of your energy will come from fat. However the percentage of your diet that is protein will most likely increase too, but only by virtue of that fact that many healthy fat sources (meat, nuts and eggs) contain a good deal of protein too. Realistically, it’s not only increasing ones fat intake, but decreasing ones carbohydrate intake that is important. It’s also worth sticking in a disclaimer here (or refering to the "asteriks" mentioned at the begining) in that despite the fact we call it “high fat”, not all fat is equal. Some fats are better for you than others and some worse and more inflammatory than others. This, and oh so much more, will all be concisely described in the “Science...does this mean we get to blow stuff up?” section.
But why are you going on a “high fat” diet? Are you insane? Did your brain get clogged up in fat? What could be the possible motive?
Well believe it or not, I have reason to believe (a reason shared by several intelligent and influential individuals the world around as well) that fat is a better fuel source for how our bodies are designed than are carbohydrates. This “belief” of mine, is made all the more rational in that it is rather well supported by two key ideas:
1. Evolutionary theory and concepts of palaeolithic nutrition
2. Many scientific studies that exist that both claim that fat is not as damaging as we may have assumed and that carbohydrates are more damaging than was first imagined!
Now, don’t misunderstand me, there is also some clear evidence against high-fat diets, which I will also be looking at for you, but, I feel overall the balance is more pro fat than against it.Lastly, the only SURE way to know that something works for human beings and specifically for YOU, is to test it on human beings and, of course, on YOU. So, short of tying up your best friend and making sure that quantities of fat don't kill them, what are you waiting for? Go break some unfounded antifat stereotypes with the “Fat Chance Challenge”!
