the Butter Lover Diaries: saturated fat myth

For far too long we have been told the lies about 'artery-clogging' saturated fats. The public health officials say don't eat it, it will clog your arteries and give you heart disease and stroke besides making you fat. They say it causes cancer, obesity, autoimmunity, and every other chronic degenerative disease known to man.

The other day I came across this article while I was browsing the net, it is called Why Skim Milk Isn't Necessarily Any Better, I found this article from foxnews.com very uplifting (this is what I've been trying to say!). It is about time we open our eyes. It has be over 70 years that our nation has been living according to bad 'science.'

The author of this article makes several good points. Why do we think we are better than God/Mother Nature? We take the fat out of milk and the skin of the chicken merely because some one told us to skip the extra calories. We use milk and butter substitutes, we homogenize milk so it looks more unified and appealing, we also extensively heat milk so it can go 9 months without refrigeration and we wonder why we have so many health problems. Dr. Weston A. Price said it perfectly--

"life in its fullest is Mother Nature obeyed"

The article brings attention to the fact that synthetic vitamins are added to the skim milk because they are lost when the fat is removed. This is very much true. Most vitamins found in milk are fat-soluble meaning they reside in the fat. Here is a little secret, vitamins fortified into milk is not going to do anything for you, no good anyway. Vitamins that are fat-soluble such as A, D, E, and K2 can be added all you want but they will not be used in the body because a) they are most likely not in the absorbable forms, your body can't use fake, and b) they are fat-soluble, they can not be utilized in the body with out the fat. Same goes for calcium, yes if you compare labels you will find that there is more calcium in skim milk, but none of it will be absorbed into your bones or teeth - not without the absorbable fat-soluble vitamins- instead it will find itself elsewhere, for example, in your arteries (that would be calcifying or clogging your arteries- heart disease, stroke, etc.)

Elena Ferritti, the author, also points out the skim milks and low fat milks contain oxidized cholesterol. The heavy processing of milk causes cholesterol to oxidize, this type of cholesterol actually does cause harm in the body (not the others). Oxidized cholesterol acts as a free radical in the body, which are unstable and need to pair with an electron to neutralize, so it ravages around the body in search of one, creating more oxidized cholesterol and major damage in the process.

Tidbit: At the turn of the 20th century farmers either sold or drank their whole milk and cream and gave the skim milk to the animals. Skim milk that was sold was always labeled - NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION.

She also wonderfully states, "Restricting calories, we now know, leads to temporary weight loss as the metabolism adjusts to weight-loss by slowing down. Fat isn’t making us fat."
Starving yourself of nutrients will get you would a few pounds lighter, but then your body slows itself down to regulate the nutrients you have in storage, the next time you sneak a bite, or go into a full on hunger binge because you are deprived of nutrients you will store all of that as fat because your body thinks you are in famine and will store everything it can to keep you alive longer. So restricting your calories may work but you will have to be dedicated and deprived for the rest of your life in order for it to.

Also without the fat in the milk, the sugar will cause your body to secret insulin to store the sugars because to much sugar in the blood is dangerous, when insulin is secreted so is glycogen (which is secreted from you muscle tissue and the liver) to settle the amount of insulin in the blood. This causes an up and down roller coaster leading to mood swings, cravings and hunger binges. Since their is no fat in the milk to balance the sugar, this will happen every time you consume skim milk, it will lead to overeating of other foods and cause you to gain weight where whole milk would have fully satisfied you without making your body produce insulin or bring on cravings and hunger.

Tidbit: Small farmers give skimmed milk to their pigs so they are more hunger and they will eat more. Then the pigs are ready for slaughter sooner. In other words, farmers use skim milk to fatten their pigs.

Walter Willett told PBS

As Walter Willet, an epidemiologist and department chair in nutrition at Harvard’s School of Public Health

wrote in the American Journal of Medicine

, “Diets high in fat do not appear to be the primary cause of the high prevalence of excess body fat in our society, and reductions in fat will not be a solution.”

Now why didn't that get headline news?
Maybe it is time we reconsider what our public health officials tell us about what to eat and what not to eat...?

Saturated fats found in milk such as butyric acid are short chain fatty acids which are easily digested, they are absorbed from the small intestines to the liver to be converted into quick energy and not stored as fat, like the polyunsaturates our officials prize as the only healthy fats.

Saturated fats also slow down absorption of carbohydrates (which are sugar), preventing a spike in insulin levels, which is a very good thing! That prevents insulin resistance-diabetes and obesity.Without the fat, we feel deprived and still hungry, the insulin further drives our mood swings and cravings and will binge on other foods.

A Swedish study of 19,000 over 9 years found that women who had one serving of whole milk or cheese a day put on less weight than women who ate the same foods less often.

Eventually we will get the word out there, but for now this is a start! I hope this makes you a little less afraid of nutritious whole milk. Best from grass fed cows and unprocessed!

More information
Why Skim Milk Will Make You Fat and Give You Heart Disease

New Study: Lowfat and Skim Milk Drinking Kids Are Fattest

Think Fat-Free Milk is Healthy? 6 Secrets You Don’t Know About Skim

Why butter? Because butter is the key to life, in more ways than one. Butter makes anything taste better! Sauces, soups, vegetables, you name it. Butter is also important for good health. It supports good development of growing children and continues to support us as we age. I want to tell you about some cool facts from butter's history and how and why this nutrient dense food has been wrongly accused of disease as well as why you need to put butter back on the table.

Butter History Facts

Dr. Weston A. Price studied uncivilized primitive cultures eating their traditional foods in search of good health. He found some extremely healthy people, many of which prized butter as a sacred food. Their butter is not what you would typically find in a grocery store today, it came from content cows grazing on rapidly growing lush grasses and was left raw. Their instincts told them that this sacred gift was especially good for children and expectant mothers. One particular butter loving group Dr. Price studied was the Swiss villagers, they always honored the first butter of the season by placing it in a bowl with a wick and lit it in their churches. A young couple could only marry in the season of spring to summer when butter was at its most abundant and nutritious, so they would be sure to produce a healthy child. They understood how important this food was for life.

In India, ghee (clarified butter) has be a prized and staple food in their diet for more than 3,000 years. For them, it symbolizes purity and is worthy of offering to the gods.

The first written reference to butter was found on a 4,500 year old limestone tablet illustrating how butter was made. Humans may have been consuming butter for a lot longer than that, archaeologist have discovered pottery with milk residues in it dating back over 30,000 years ago.

So What's in Butter that Makes it Soooo Good for Us?

Vitamins - and lots of them. Many of the vitamins found in butter are severely lacking in the modern American diet. Most of these vitamins protect against tooth decay, osteoporosis, vision loss, heart disease (yes nutrients in butter protect against heart disease). Note that the following vitamins listed are all fat-soluble, meaning they cannot be utilized with out the presence of fat, making butter and whole milk products a great source and low fat, skimmed milk products not. I bring this up because that is why many are deficient in these vitamins because we have been lead to believe that fat is bad, but take a look at all the good thing you miss out on when you skip the butter.

Vitamin A

Butter contains the most absorbable form of vitamin A. Despite what we have been told, carrots and tomatoes etc., do not contain vitamin A they contain beta carotene which may be converted into vitamin A, but they have no ready formed, easily usable form of vitamin A. The beta carotene in carrots may be converted to vitamin A in the body, unfortunately it is a complicated process that requires the help of many other nutrients also lacking in the diet, so more often than not you never get that vitamin A from you veggies.
So butter -not carrots- is needed for good vision.
Vitamin A is necessary for thyroid and adrenal health.
Also needed for fetus and child development (see butter and children's health below)

Vitamin D

D is essential for the absorption of calcium, along with saturated fat.
needed for mental health
protects against heart disease

Vitamin K2

found by Dr. Price- during his life he was not able to completely figure out was this was, he referred to it as the X Factor. He knew that it was necessary for the utilization of minerals. He stated that you can consume all the minerals you want but if you don't have the X Factor they are not going to do you any good.
since vitamin K2 is necessary for the absorption of minerals it is very important for strong bones, teeth and so much more.
see butter and children's health below for how it helps children
only if butter comes from cows eating grass

Vitamin E

butter is great source of another fat-soluble vitamin, vitamin E, which is a very potent antioxidant that helps protect infection and heart disease.

Minerals

Calcium

Milk is only a good source of calcium if there is fat

we have all heard that you need to drink your milk for healthy bones and teeth because of the calcium of course. What is funny about that is that there is no way your body is able to absorb the calcium in skim or even low fat milks. This is because calcium needs saturated fats to be absorbed particularly because vitamin K2 and vitamin D which are fat soluble vitamins that are only in the fat of the milk (cream, butterfat). Not only is that calcium going to completely by pass your bones but it will end up calcifying your arteries leading to heart disease and/or stroke.... Hmm that said, it would seem that reduced fat milks contribute to heart disease not whole fat milk and butter.
Calcium in butter is completely absorbed and in all the right places, this is because it has plenty of real vitamin D, K2 (if from grass fed cows) and saturated fat.
needed for strong bones and teeth. Protection against bone loss, arthritis and tooth decay

Selenium

this is a mineral sorely lacking the modern American diet. Butter is a great source of this potent antioxidant that protects against heart disease and free radicals.

Trace minerals

phosphorus - like calcium, is needed for strong bones and teeth
iodine - butter contains iodine in the most absorbable form, it is important for thyroid function
zinc
manganese - in perfect amounts
chromium - a mineral found to be lacking in diabetics

Wulzen Factor

Butter contains a hormone like substance called the Wulzen Factor, also known as the anti stiffness factor. The Wulzen Factor protects against calcification of the joints and pineal gland as well as protecting against the hardening of the arteries and cataracts. The bad news is that this amazing factor is only found in raw dairy, as pasteurization destroys it.

Fats in Butter
Yes we all know that butter contains fat, that is one reason that it is so darn good for you! Hopefully you will notice how much these fats can actually help promote weight loss among other benefits.


properties in butter promote weight loss

Short/Medium Chain Fatty acids

such as lauric acid and butyric acid
both are great for the immune system! They have anti-tumor, anti-microbial, and anti-fungal properties and protect against a nasty little yeast called candida.
support against gastrointestinal infections in the very young and the elderly (particularly a fatty acid called - Glycospingolipids)
they are the preferred source of energy for the lining of the intestinal tract
Lauric acid is only found in butterfat or coconut oil
the short/medium fatty acids found in butter do not need much digestion so they are absorbed directly from the small intestine to the liver, where they are converted into quick energy, not stored as fat. Which boosts the metabolism and promotes weight loss. (yes you read right WEIGHT LOSS)

Omega 3:6

if you have ever read anything about health I am sure you have heard of omega 3's being good for your health and yes so are the 6's (and the 9's), we need all of them, however, the balance we get in the modern American diet is not normal, or healthy. We get far too much 6 compared to 3's. 1:1 is best or 1:3 is o.k.
butter contains small amounts of both but in the perfect ratio!

Arachidonic Acid (AA)

is important for brain function, healthy skin and prostaglandin balance.
Prostaglandins are needed to protect against heart attack, stroke, inflammatory diseases such as arthritis, lupus and asthma. They also regulate pain, temperature and clotting.

Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA)

potent anti-cancer properties
builds healthy muscles and promotes weight loss
immunity booster

Antioxidants

Butter contains powerful antioxidants such as vitamin E and selenium that have already been mentioned
one POWERFUL antioxidants overlooked and demonized is CHOLESTEROL.

Cholesterol like any other antioxidant protects against free radical damage and protects against weakening arteries. Despite the bought and paid for research often thrown at us today, we need this healing substance! Besides being an antioxidant that protects the whole body, it is especially necessary for health of the intestinal wall and protects us against cancer of the colon.

Cholesterol

Yes cholesterol is one reason why you should be eating you butter!
Cholesterol like any other antioxidant protects against free radical damage and protects against weakening arteries. Despite the bought and paid for research often thrown at us today, we need this healing substance! Besides being an antioxidant that protects the whole body, it is especially necessary for health of the intestinal wall and protects us against cancer of the colon.
A Medical Research Council survey in 1991 showed that men eating butter have half the risk of developing heart disease than those consuming margarine.
An African tribe studied by Dr. Price noted that the men drank enough milk in a day that was equivalent to eating 3and a half sticks of butter. These men had the lowest blood cholesterol level ever recorded. Further study with carbon-14 tracers showed that the average cholesterol level was about 50 percent of that of an average American.
Cholesterol is required for the production of hormones and as a structural component of cell wall membranes, according to the University of Iowa.
Vitamin D from the sun cannot be used by our bodies without the presence of cholesterol in the skin.
Your own body realizes how important cholesterol is to us, it actually recycles it!

Butter For Your Children - Please!

But Butter is especially good for the proper growth and development of our children. Low fat diets have been recommended not just for us adults but for our children as well, despite the fact that low fat diets are linked to failure to thrive in kids as well as tooth decay - as published in Pediatrics in March 1994. Also children consuming low fat milk have multiple times more risk of diarrhea than those drinking whole milk.

The saturated fat found in butter is crucial for proper development of the lungs and has been shown to be effective in preventing asthma. Besides for lung function, they also need saturated fats for kidney function and heart health. These fats will help fight infections and boost immunity. They are also vitamin carriers: all fat soluble vitamins need saturated fats to be utilized in the body - A, D, E, K2.

Vitamin A, which we have already learned that butter is one of the best sources of, is especially needed for the growing body: bones, teeth and vision. Dr. Price found that cultures consuming adequate amounts of the true form of vitamin A from conception produced children with broad handsome faces, strong straight teeth and excellent bone structure. Vitamin A is also necessary for hormone production and is thought to be able to prevent diabetes if part of the diet early on in life.

Cholesterol is especially important for children, it is of the up most importance in forming the human brain, nervous system and digestive system, as well as building a strong immune system. Children need a lot of fat in their diet. Mother's milk is 55% fat and it is mostly saturated fat. It is extremely high in cholesterol, and it has a special enzyme that helps the baby absorb the cholesterol. That is how important cholesterol is for the growing child. Children not only need this nutrient in the womb but growing up as well. The human brain is largely made up of cholesterol and continues to develop at a very fast rate in the first 2-3 years of life. Children need more fat than adults right through their growing years, right up to the age of 18 or 20. As mentioned before, cholesterol is important for the immune system which is important for children - we are exposed to many horrible things in our environment and need as much protection as we can get.

Vitamin K2 is needed by children for good, healthy growth. We don't always want them to grow up too fast but we need to give them what they need to be able to do it the right way.

If Butter is So Darn Good for You Than Why Does My Doctor and Every Say It Is So Bad?

Unfortunately this is true, our "experts" and foundations that we look to for answers have either: been deceiving us or have been deceived themselves as well.

We have been told for over 70 years that saturated fat and cholesterol-rich foods like butter cause heart disease. If butter really caused heart disease don't you think it would have wiped most of us out already, I mean we have been consuming it for as least 4,000 years and whole fat milk for at least 30,000 years! Not to mention other sources of saturated fat before butter have helped us a species, survive and thrive throughout the millenniums.

Butter consumption at the turn of the 20th century was 18 lbs/person/year and heart disease was rare, very rare (at that time we also consumed fats such as lard and tallow, which the American Heart Association looks down on). Today 40% of all deaths in the U.S. are from heart disease, 2,600 every day! That makes heart disease the number one killer of Americans, and guess what - butter consumption today averages less than 4 lbs/person/year! Hmmm... interesting, how is butter consumption contributing to heart disease? As banned butter from our kitchens the consumption of processed vegetable oils increased by 400% and processed foods/sugar consumption increased by 60%. Again, hmmm......

The very studies that "prove" saturated fats such as butter are bad for you, were actually conducted incorrectly. The scientists doing the research that lead to the famous diet-heart hypothesis, grouped dangerous trans fats (margarine) with natural animal fats and concluded they are all very bad. However another scientist, Dr. Mary Enig, reviewed this work and noticed that they did this, grouped the two fats together, she went to her superiors to get these findings corrected - she found nothing bad about the natural animal fats, actually she found the exact opposite. Unfortunately Dr. Enig was laughed at and thought a fool, the oil industry made sure she receive no grants or funding to continue her work, her name was tarnished and finding work after that was very difficult. All for the sake of profit! Today Dr. Enig has received the gratitude she deserves from many followers through the Weston A. Price Foundation, she has written many great books (Know Your Fats, Nourishing Traditions, Eat Fat Lose Fat, The Oiling of America) and continues to get the truth out there.

My vote for a new name: I Can't Believe it's actually Plastic

Find anything life sustaining about this? Ingredient list for I Can't Believe it's Not Butter

Again, Why Eat Butter? 

Butter is made from milk, the nutritious food made by the mother's body for her growing young. It is a natural and life sustaining substance that is a concentrated source of the best things in the milk! The higher the quality the better.

Because ........

it promotes weight loss

provides healthy energy

protects against osteoporosis, tooth decay, arthritis, cancer

strong bones, teeth and joints

protects mental health, as well as adrenal, thyroid, endocrine and immune systems

boosts immunity

promotes good brain function

helps to fight infections

may help fertility

supports healthy development of children in the womb and throughout life

provides nutrients for proper lung function

good for intestinal health and heart health

Resources

The Untold Story of Milk by Dr. Ron Schmid
westonaprice.org
"Why Butter is Better" pamphlet by Weston A Price Foundation
Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Dr. Weston A Price
realmilk.com
Nourishing Traditions and Eat Fat, Lose Fat by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig
The Healthy Home Economist blog by Sarah Pope
mercola.com
http://suite101.com/article/eat-fat-lose-weight-butter-diet-a54388
http://www.webexhibits.org/butter/history-intro.html
http://www.foodrenegade.com/high-fat-dairy-lowers-risk-of-heart-attacks/
http://www.kineticconditioning.net/Skinny%20On%20Fats.htm

the Butter Lover Diaries

Tabs

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Caprylic Acid

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Fat Myth Debunked In Local News- Why Skim Milk Isn't Better

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Why Butter?

Farm Match

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