I’ll start with a quick overview:
Unsaturated fats:
- Monounsaturated fatty acids have one double bond and polyunsaturated fatty acids have two or more double bonds.
- Foods like vegetable oils are high in polyunsaturated fats.
- Unsaturated fats will be liquid at room temperature because of the double bonds in the carbon chain.
Saturated fats:
- Saturated fatty acids have no double bonds in their molecular structure.
- Food like animal fats are high in saturated fats.
- Saturated fats will be solid at room temperature because there are more hydrogens in the carbon chains.
The medical community is switching over on their view of saturated fats. Right now they seem to be slowly being viewed as healthy. That’s great! It’s slow though, and most medical institutions still tell you saturated fats cause heart disease.
How did the view that a low-fat diet prevented heart disease begin?
One guy who didn’t do his studies properly. Story of modern medicine. Ancel Benjamin Keys was an American physiologist in the 1950’s. He was the one who postulated that saturated fat caused high cholesterol and that high cholesterol caused heart disease. He did a study (The Seven Countries Study) that looked at a number of different countries, and then chose the countries where there was an increased risk of heart disease and a diet high in saturated fats. Then he wrote a paper and told everyone that it was the saturated fats causing the heart disease, ignoring the countries where the information didn’t work. Chile had high rates of heart disease and diets low in saturated fat. And Holland and Norway had low rates of heart disease and diets high in saturated fat. Those countries were left out. This led to the conclusion that unsaturated fats were healthier than saturated fats and that’s when everyone started eating margarine over butter, and the war on meat really began.
Here’s a YouTube video that probably does a better job than I did explaining it.
Here’s a good article also explaining it better than I. And here’s some more information.
My “beef, salt, and water” diet is incredibly high in saturated fats (animal meat will also have some mono and polyunsaturated fats, but not nearly the majority). I’m getting about 80 percent of my calories from mostly saturated fat. Don’t be afraid of saturated fats!!! It’s outdated, and the original information was based on lies.
Mikhaila, your claims can work to improve your unique health issues, but are definitely bad for the general population. In particular, your high saturated fat diet will speed up atherosclerosis and catch up to you in terms of degenerative diseases and in particular cardiac health.
This might work for you in medium term (1-2 decades) but you are truly spreading quite a lot of misinformation. The science that points to the negative effects of saturated fats at this point is so abundant that it is quite foolish to utterly ignore it in the way you are doing. We do have multiple epidemiological studies and overviews that have confirmed how high saturated fat diets worsen degenerative diseases and cardiac health (the Inuit are the only population that saw overall health improving transitioning from mostly meat-diet to a Standard American Diet!). But most importantly, we have a lot of data from mechanicistic models, in vitro studies, RCT and genetic studies that all confirm what medical science conjectured since the 70s about the problems associated with saturated fats and meat – especially processed.
There are so many overviews and data it’s hard to know where to start.
Read the other links other people have posted, but start with these very basic overviews:
Faq The World Heath Organization on carcinogenicity of meat:
http://www.who.int/features/qa/cancer-red-meat/en/
(This evidence was piling up for 20 years in one single direction and eventually even the WHO had to acknowledge it!!)
Please take a look at this faq from the American Heart Association:
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/HealthyEating/Nutrition/Frequently-Asked-Questions-About-Saturated-Fats_UCM_463756_Article.jsp?appName=MobileApp
To claim that your personal anecdotal experience on a very short term personal health state should count more than 60 years of research all over the world from countless doctors and researchers is a bit ridiculous, sorry.
…. Really? The American Heart Association is what you’re using for evidence? Look at the scientific studies. I’ve already linked to them in different posts. You can look at it yourself. Don’t quote an FAQ board… That’s not science..
Well, you are questioning one of the sources but not the content of it. The content is: saturated fats unequivocally raise LDL, which is the biggest proxy of cardiac degenerative disease (in fact LDL mechanicistically causes heart disease by damaging the endothelium of the arteries). Heart disease is America’s number one killer winning over cancer. On top of that, we know how meat causes cancer in all models – I linked a WHO page that links to more than 140 studies confirming that. Do of this information what you like, these are not illnesses that occur over night. Good luck!
The American Heart Association gets big bucks from Bayer and the Soy Producers/Big Agriculture. They have serious conflicts of interest and deserve no respect whatsoever. Follow the money and you’ll see.
The American heart association is as trustworthy as the American Diabetes Association (or whatever their name) who prescribe a HIGH CARB diet to diabetics, and then tell them to just inject more insulin and other meds to compensate, when a strict LOW CARB diet can for a lot of diabetics mean a life without insulin injections and other meds.
But look at their main sponsor list, and you will find big pharmaceutical companies, companies selling insulin and other diabetes medication…
I’m seeing improvements in my depression and fatigue, but i’m still far from OK, it’s day 19 only beef and water now, is it possible it will take me 30 days to feel normal again?
That’s what the majority of people who are carnivores say, Fabian. It can take weeks or months for certain issues to clear up. Try not to stress about the timeline as it will only make things harder. I spent the first 6 weeks on carnivore only sleeping 2-3 hrs per night and am only now starting to get about 4-5 hrs at week 7, but it’s progress. There were times in the beginning I wondered how I could go on with just a couple of hours sleep, but I’m so happy I got through that rough patch and am feeling stronger and better than ever after years of dealing with Major Depressive Disorder and Panic Disorder w/agoraphobia.
Hang in there and keep finding things to do that make you feel good and think about all the things you have to be grateful for: food, water, shelter, social media/internet, entertainment sources, the love of one or two special family members or friends, etc. Take care.
Thx, i’m sticking with it for sure, it’s just that i expected a more gradual improvement, i long for the day where i will wake up and feel normal again.
I know what made me feel good before i got sick, but with this depression i cannot feel good whatever i am doing.
Yeah it’s slow. I noticed a huge improvement after 3 months. Which is strange. I’d say around day 25 you’ll feel quite a bit better. But it did take a while for me too.
3 months? :O i thought your reactions usually took only a month to clear up?
I felt a lot better after a month (the autoimmune issues all cleared up). My mood was stable. But it got better again after about 3 months and instead of just being stable I got happy!
Ok that makes sense!
Have you tried introducing Raw eggyolks in the past? i might have to try it out someday when i’m better because meat is pretty expensive, but i won’t take the risk right now!
That’s the classic sign when we’re very depressed; nothing gives us pleasure. I hope you continue to see improvements and will feel ‘normal’ again in the next few days or weeks. Stick to the meat and water protocol and get out in nature if you can and I’m sure you’ll see the light at the end of the tunnel any day now.
thx, i just need to be patient yes.
Outstanding, Mikhaila! I have been following a carnivore diet since I heard about it from Jordan on Joe Rogan podcast (36 days now). Lost about 5kg/11pounds of excess bodyfat.
It helped me discover I am allergic to milk and rice (two things I had been consuming my whole life).
What you do is admirable, cheers from Brazil!
I was wondering if you know of any evidence/studies for the effects on the environment from eating meat. I love eating meat, but a cousin of mine is vegetarian and he claims that the effects on the environment (in the farming of animals etc.) is extremely bad. I asked if there were studies to back this up and of course he said “oh yes, many!”
But I’m skeptical. Of course I would never be a vegetarian. I just wondered if anyone has some insights on this ..?
I recently read this: http://quillette.com/2018/04/05/case-sustainable-meat/
It uses the term “AMPAG” – anti meat posing as green – and criticises some of the bigger and more frequently made claims against meat production as damaging to the environment.
Thanks Joel, for sending this! It is a very interesting article.
On the contrary Allan Savorys work has demonstably shown that livestock are necessary to protect grasslands. Fossil fuels aren’t the biggest driver of climate change, it’s desertification of grasslands. https://youtu.be/vpTHi7O66pI
Do you think cow blood and organs would also be safe to consume?
I would assume so yes
ok 🙂 ground beef has also never been a problem? it could save me some money!
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