In last week’s primer on saturated fats, Saturated Fat 101: What Is It Anyway?, you were introduced to saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, and polyunsaturated fat. You also learned why the conventional ‘wisdom’ and medical advice on saturated fat is misleading and doesn’t tell the whole story.
This week we’ll focus more on why you need more saturated fat in your life. By the end of the post, you’ll be looking all over for some.
As you know, fat is amazing for increasing your body’s ability to burn fat, increase your energy, and just be all around awesome. But saturated fat in particular is our friend for two main reasons, the first being its ability to decrease inflammation, specifically chronic inflammation.
Saturated fat is able to decrease chronic inflammation because of how stable it is at high heat, ie, cooking. When mono- or polyunsaturated fats are heated, they break apart at their weak spots and allow for a free radical to enter. As a refresher from last week, free radicals can negatively react with DNA or the cell membrane, potentially causing them to malfunction or die. Saturated fat is protective against inflammation because it is highly stable at high heat.
The other main reason saturated fat is our friend is because of all the nutritious foods it’s found in.
If you tolerate dairy well, grab some raw grass- fed cheese, raw whole milk, grass- fed butter, or heavy grass fed cream. Note, even if you’re lactose-intolerant, you may feel good with pastured butter, cream, and especially ghee, as most of the lactose has been removed.
These dairy foods are packed with vitamins A (a potent antioxidant) and vitamin K2 (garnered for its ability to reduce heart attack risk and increase bone density).
Grass fed and pastured meat are high in omega 3 fatty acids, which help decrease inflammation; creatine, for cognitive and exercise performance; and full amino acid profiles for building muscle fast.
By this point you should be reaching for some pasture-raised dairy and meat. If not, then go grab some! They’re high in saturated fat, and you now know why you need more of it. What’s your favorite high saturated fat food? Let us know in the comments!