Tim Ferris is best known for his book The Four Hour Workweek, which introduced the world to what he calls “lifestyle design”. The idea is that people grow up hearing all kinds of advice about how they should live their lives, but no one ever experiments to see which advice is actually useful. So that’s exactly what he does.
He has experimented with different negotiating tactics when buying advertising. Outsourced the search for a girlfriend. (It worked.) Messed with his sleep cycle to see how much he really needs. He’s even tried intentionally mistreating friends to see how they react. (Not recommended for everyone, by the way.)
His willingness to question conventional wisdom has lead him to some of the same conclusions about diet that I have. Namely, that our thinking on fat is generally a mess, driven more by agribusiness advertising than by science.
Ferris’ latest post is a preview from an upcoming book, The 6-Week Cure for the Middle-Aged Middle: The Simple Plan to Flatten Your Belly Fast!
Go read the whole preview, it’s quick and interesting. I just want to highlight one part.
You will likely be astounded to learn that your brain is mainly made of fat and cholesterol. Though many people are now familiar with the importance of the highly unsaturated essential fatty acids found in cold-water fish (EPA and DHA) for normal brain and nerve function, the lion’s share of the fatty acids in the brain are actually saturated. A diet that skimps on healthy saturated fats robs your brain of the raw materials it needs to function optimally.
The story about fat consumption isn’t just about weight loss and heart disease. Cutting out saturated fat from our diets means we can’t even think properly any more.
Want more like this? For more recipes like this, that you can hold right in your hands, and write on, take notes, tear pages out if you want (Gosh, you're tough on books, aren't you?) you might be interested in How To Cook Like Your Grandmother, 2nd edition, Illustrated. Or to learn your way around the kitchen, check out Starting From Scratch: The Owner's Manual for Your Kitchen.
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So true! Along with my co-author, Dr. Earl Henslin, we sang the praises of fat for brain health in book, This is Your Brain on Joy. I really believe that depression began to rise in America when no-fat/low-fat became crazily popular.
I always thought people were just sad that they couldn't eat bacon any more.
I'd be sad if I couldn't eat bacon anymore. ; ) Anyway, saturated fat defintitely has a bad rep…it's about how much you consume of the fat. If you eat a ton of sat. fat, that's bad for you, and like you said, if you don't eat enough, that's also bad for you. It's all about moderation. Cholesterol also gets a bad name (especially LDL). LDL takes cholesterol (essential for building cells) from your liver to your cells. HDL takes cholesterol from your cells back to your liver. It's more important how well BALANCED those two are than anything else. LDL is just as essential to your body as HDL and people just don't get that. Again, it's more about moderation and balance than anything. Lecture over. : )
Balance? Moderation? What are you, some kind of communist?
So happy to have found this website! I have always felt this way and am happy to discover so many sources through your site that back up my instinct!