This a typical day three conversation that I have with a Health Conscious Female Client (HCFC)
HCFC: I must admit, I do feel better from switching to the meat and nut breakfast. But I have a confession to make I only could stomach 2 ounces of meat the first days.
CP: That does not make you a bad person. You will find that with time, your appetite for meat will go up. I suggest you switch to ground meat first, makes it easier to jack up the quantities.
HCFC: Is it normal that my appetite goes up?
CP: Yes, because the meat and nut breakfast provides you with the right building materials for the proper neuro-transmitters to have drive and concentration, namely dopamine and acetyl-choline.
HCFC: Can you explain further?
CP: It is very clear. The first thing you put in your mouth upon awakening…provided it is food…will set up the neurotransmitter cascade. Research done in furniture factories in Israel and Sweden has shown over 4 decades ago that a high protein intake determined the number of furniture workers did not only before but also aftr lunch. More recently at Harvard University, quality of breakfast make-up influenced in children self selection in caloric intake for the whole day.
Translation; you eat a high protein and some smart fats at breakfast, you are more productive the whole day, and less likely to binge on empty calories.
HCFC: But I must say that I have a concern…is all that fat going to make me fat?
CP: Repeat to me the two top reasons why you are here.
HCFC: 1. The last two times I went to the beach to swim I got harpooned.
2. I have gotten so repulsively fat, that even my hand falls asleep when I ... how can I say.. when I "double-click my mouse".
CP: you mean when you try to be the "master of your domain"
HCFC: Precisely!
CP: That is a case of over sharing. Lets move on.
First, you cannot group all fats under the same category. Mislabeling is far too common. For example, President Obama prefers that we refer illegal aliens as to unregistered Democrats.
Lets make it simple you need to completely eliminate hydrogenated fats.
I want to you read labels, and avoid anything that says hydrogenated fats, or partially hydrogenated fats. You will find those in most packaged foods such as; the coating or make up of most protein bars, margarine, breakfast cereals, crackers, chips, pretzels, cookies, cereal bars, microwave popcorn, and all the bullshit low-fat and fat-free snacks. There are even many packaged foods advertised as "healthy choice" that include this type of very toxic fat.
HCFC: Why is hydrogenation so bad for fats?
CP: Basically, in hydrogenation, you bombard an oil’s fat molecules with hydrogen atoms, making it more dense and raising its melting point, making the oil become solid at room temperature. This results, as an unfortunate consequence in creation of trans fatty acids.
Partially hydrogenated oil implies that the hydrogenation process stopped short of a full solid, creating creamier, almost soft, butterlike texture. This is the deal behind margarine.
When you hydrogenize fats, you create this trans fatty acids, which are linked to anything from higher cancer rates to increased cardiovascular risk.
And here's something else to think about: ingesting a lot of trans fat changes the composition of body fat -- it's harder to pinch. Ask any experienced tester. If you pinch test someone who eats a lot of French fries and chicken nuggets, his fat feels a lot different. So in that case the tester has to be very skilled and needs to have a kung-fu grip worthy of leaving the Shaolin temple.
There's a reason why the medical division of the National Academy of Science says that the only safe level of trans fat is zero: it actually changes the cell structure. Our body doesn't know what to with it.
The problem is that in the U.S., again labeling can be misleading. There is a loophole in the labeling law: If a serving has less than o.5 grams of trans-fat, the label may state ZERO. Yes, that includes 0.49 grams in a serving size even a toddler would find ridiculously too small.
HCFC: So what you are saying is that I could read the label, it would say no trans fats, and yet I could be consuming them?
CP: You have a firm grasp of the obvious.
HCFC: So, how I do I know if what I am eating has the right type of fats.
CP: Ask yourself this question before you put it your mouth: Did a caveman have access to that food:
An avocado? Yes!
Cashews? Yes!
Croissant? No!
Mars bar? No!
Pretty simple isn’t?
That is it for today, tomorrow we will address your exercise program. Before you go, give me two take home points you learn today:
HCFC:
1. One must distinguish between bad and smart fats.
2. If the caveman did not have access to it, I should not eat it.