Please Pass the Butter?

When a client of mine spends several hours a week with me at the gym, working hard and doing everything right, and they still don't lose weight?

I always end up asking the question, "So, what are you eating at home?"

And, sure enough, they begin to list off the same standard items belonging to a calorie-controlled, perfectly portioned, low-fat diet straight from one of the many books or diet plans we market in our country.

They hold onto such plans like life rafts, and it takes a real come-to-Jesus moment for me to shake them loose and go, "But it's not working!"

And then, even if they can acknowledge that, they still don't want to heed my next piece of advice:

"Try incorporating better sources of fat in your diet - grass-fed beef, avocados, organic dairy."

Immediately, they look at me as if I'm crazy. They begin to doubt my credentials as a trainer, what with me listing off a regimen of typical "high-fat" foods.

It's frustrating, for me and for them. We're stuck at an impasse.

But now? I have a solution.

Now, I'm going to hand them the book Why Women Need Fat by William D. Lassek, M.D., and Steven J.C. Gaulin, Ph. D.

source

While I don't feel like the information in the book is earth-shatteringly new - eat less processed, packaged food; eat organic, grass-fed animal products - I think it finally laid out, clearly, why women in our country gain weight the way they do, historically and personally.

It points a clear finger at the food industry, who made popular the use of corn and soybean oil - a huge source of "bad" fats, or omega-6s. And it lays blame on food and nutrition's governing bodies, who clearly ignored research that showed "low-fat" diets do not help weight-loss or heart-disease, as they were originally intended.

The book then goes on to explain why women need "good" fats - omega-3s (DHA and EPA) - for child-bearing purposes. But in our society, where studies show most American women are taking in only a quarter of the omega-3s necessary, our bodies actually hoard the fat we do take in, which, thanks to our love of packaged, easy food, are omega-6s, so as to make sure our children can reap enough DHA from our fat stores while in the womb.

It's all a messy cycle.

And while the book can get a bit bogged down at times, debating the vast literature that's out there about women's body fat and waist-to-hip ratios (an indicator of health and fertility, as the book explains), I found the read refreshing.

It explained what many of us in the industry already know; thankfully, it finally gives the science behind it.

And, to my great delight, it points a finger at the consumption of margarine, vegetable shortening, and other polyunsaturated fats marketed as low-fat butter substitutes, as the reason for the long-term indicators of weight-gain in women in America - something I've always held to.

Plus, it applauds a practice many nutritionists ignore - praising full-fat, but all-organic (and grass-fed), meats, cheeses, butters, and milks.

Amen and alleluia. We can have our cake and eat it, too. As long as it's made with the real stuff, fresh off the farm.

(The authors also point out that main-stream, non-organic animal products on the grocery store shelves normally come from animals fed a corn-based diet, i.e., a diet high in those nasty omega-6s. So the products on your average grocery store shelves and meat counters should still be eaten warily at best.)

With so many women on the diet train - a practice that actually starves the body and signals it to gain more weight - this book is a must-have if you're female and American.

Other than a few lapses in judgment when it came to trusting out-dated and dis-proven research on birth (they hint around at the fact that the C-section rate in our country is due entirely to the size of our larger babies - a statement that is largely incorrect when you take into account the piles of research and testimony conducted by natural birth-supporting OB-GYNs and midwives), I think any woman can understand the rather complicated compilation of research that supports what many of us have been saying for a while.

Real good tastes good. And real food is good for you.

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Other bloggers are talking about why fat is no longer the enemy over at the BlogHer Book Club. Join in on the discussion and see what others had to say about Why Women Need Fat right here.

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This is a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own.

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Happy Thursday, everyone!