STRESS!!!!!!!!!!!

This has been a whirlwind couple of months. First, I got married in June. While this is an extremely happy event, the planning and execution can be extremely stressful. As if getting married was not enough pressure, I also decided it was time for a change of job and location. After some looking around and consideration, we decided on West Lafayette, IN on where to settle. Again, a decision that I am very happy about, but one that leads to a veritable storm of chaos, with selling one house, buying another, preparing to move, and making arrangements for leaving my old job and starting my new one.

OK. Enough about my life. You might be thinking "what does this have to do with a weight loss and wellness blog?" Valid question which I can answer in 1 word: stress. During the year and a half after my divorce, I ballooned from 200 lbs to almost 300. I am still working on losing the weight now. There are several reasons that I gained so much weight so quickly:

1. I overate. Many people, yours truly included, are stress eaters. I eat when I am angry, stressed, or upset. It causes trouble when I am pressed too hard, because I tend to overeat junk food (who has ever called broccoli "comfort food"). Despite the fact that I am aware of my stress eating, it still happens when I get very stressed or upset.

2. I didn't exercise. Exercise requires a fair amount of motivation and time. As I learned in my journey to fitness take one, exercise is something you have to commit to and plan for. It doesn't just happen. When your plate gets very full with other events and obligations, "optional" activities like exercise tend to go on the back burner.

3. Body chemistry. When you are under large amounts of stress, your own body chemistry works against you. Your adrenal glands release cortisol, which is the primary stress hormone. Cortisol oversees many chemical reactions in your body which were meant to deal with the difficulties of living in the ancient wilderness. One of those reactions was to prepare for a possible famine. Cortisol does this in two ways. First, it turns off most of your fat burning pathways, and shunts most new calories taken in to the formation of fat. The idea being to store up as many spare calories as possible for the famine to come. Wonderful if you are a caveman trying to survive the winter. Not so good if you live in a country with a KFC on every corner.

Clearly, based upon the above, I screwed up royally. Although I try very hard to take good care of my body most of the time, I handled this stressful year very poorly. For you all, my readers, my failure can be a good thing. I would love to share with you how I should have handled all of this.

Stress Management: The Right Way

1. Don't worry about what you can't control. I know it is difficult. I am not really good at it myself, but much of what we worry about is not controllable. Whether you choose to write down your worries and burn them, or place them on God, or the universe, or whatever you believe in, find a way to focus on what you can control, and ignore what you can't.

2. Make good dietary choices. Just because you may be a stress eater does not mean you have to gorge on junk food. If you feel the urge to eat, use my why/why method to make good food choices. Instead of gorging yourself on fried chicken and mac and cheese, gorge yourself on blueberries. Write down what you are eating and why, and you can identify problem times and foods.

3. Exercise! I don't care what you have to sacrifice in order to do it, but make at least 20-30 minutes a day to exercise. Exercise releases endorphins (to make you feel happy), lowers cortisol, and reduces stress. The more pressed for time you become, the more important it is to exercise.

4. Get plenty of sleep. Another part of our regimen that we tend to sacrifice when busy is sleep. It's hard to dedicate 6-8 hours to being unconscious. The problem is, inadequate sleep increases cortisol levels, and leads to overeating and weight gain.

Had I managed my stress this way, I might still weigh around 200 lbs, and not have to struggle my way through weight loss again. I hope you all can learn from my many mistakes, so that you don't have to repeat my unhappy situation.

M. Jacob Ott, MD

Vegan Vacation

It is summer. Travel season. Now that the kids are out of school, everyone is planning their summer trips, and going to such exciting vacation destinations as Disney World, Vegas, Hawaii, and the Caribbean. My family and I have a trip planned as well. I have to say that I am quite excited about it.

One of the things I find hardest about vacations is the travel itself. As a reformed overeater and vegan, travel is quite scary at times. At home, I control my diet and exercise stringently, as that is the way that I lost all the weight in the first place. When I travel, all of those rules go out the window. That being said, there are strategies which can help you deal with the rigors of travel, and still keep to your vegan diet and exercise. I will outline these below:

1. The Airport: Unfortunately, the airport is a hotbed of bad food. I have been to many airports in my time, and I am sad to say that the vegan options are very limited. In smaller airports, you are usually limited to a small salad or some fruit from one of the few restaurants available. In larger airports, there will occasionally be an establishment which specializes in vegan cuisine, but at least you can usually find a sushi place or something similar, and get veggie rolls or the like. What I usually choose to do is pack my own snacks ahead of time. Dried fruits, nuts, and fruit bars, such as Larabars are wonderful vegan options.
2. The Airplane: Once you cross the jetway, forget it. I don't know of a single airline who still offers vegan meals. Their pathetic a la carte "menus" offer no vegan choices. Even if you request a vegan meal, the request won't be honored. This applies even if you fly first class. In 7 years of flying as a vegan, I have yet to get a single vegan meal aboard an airplane...
3. The destination: Once you reach your destination, your job is often the hardest. The temptation to eat bad foods "because I am on vacation, and the rules don't apply" is very high. Additionally, if you are like me, you plan lots of activities on vacation. Thus, exercising is difficult, as time is limited. I have learned a couple of strategies to deal with this:
1. Lose the vacation mentality: First, forget you are on vacation. You still need to eat the same as you would on the DevolveHealth eating plan at home. Remember, though, the DevolveHealth plan does allow for "occasional" animal products. If you want a bite or two of dessert, go ahead. Just don't throw the rules out completely
2. Wake up early. I know this is difficult on vacation, but getting up an hour early allows you to get a run in (hopefully on the beach), and still be back and ready before your vacation companions even wake up. You can run 3-4 miles every day during vacation, with only a little discipline.
4. Back Home: Believe it or not, I find this to be the most difficult. Because we all have that vacation mentality, once you return to your home, it is often hard to get back into your normal routine. Saying to yourself "I will start running and eating well again tomorrow, but today, I am going to let everything go" is very easy. I find the best way to deal with this is to re-establish the routine from day one. Get up. eat a breakfast of fruits and veggies, and go for a run. Get right back on the train, so that the human sense of routines kicks in. We are creatures of habit. If you reclaim your routine, it will take over, and your good eating and exercise will support themselves.

Most experts, including me agree that vacations are very hard on a fitness routine. I hope the strategies that I have shared will help you maintain healthy habits during your vacation, yet still allow quite a bit of fun. If you need more help on eating or exercise, please visit my website: www.devolvehealth.com, or contact me: drott@devolvehealth.com. Also, please feel free to post your experiences with diet and vacation on this blog, as other readers may need the inspiration.

Good luck to all and enjoy your summer!!!

M. Jacob Ott, MD

So you call yourself an environmentalist?

I read a recent study that 70% of Americans consider themselves to be environmentalists. Green is very much the in color right now. People are opting for higher fuel efficiency cars, recycling their trash, putting solar panels on their roofs, and using fewer utilities to save our precious resources.

I  don't know about all of you, but I love the environmental movement. It is good to know that we can help pass the earth to future generations with hopefully minimal impact. If you ask most people who are the biggest offenders to the environment are, they would say humankind. In a way, they are right.One sector of human endeavor does contribute massively to energy waste and greenhouse gases. It isn't the automobile industry, nor is it factories and other manufacturing. What is this huge drain on our resources? Meat.

The meat industry, in particular factory farms, is a leech on the environment. The meat farmers claim to produce quality products at a cheap price. I'll give them one thing: the price tag on the grocery store packages is relatively low. What they don't tell you about is the cost to society and the planet. Since they won't, I will.

1. The raising of billions of animals for slaughter takes a lot of grain and water. It takes approximately 12 pounds of grain and 2,500 gallons of water to produce just ONE POUND of beef. Due to the fossil fuels required to produce the grain, that equals 1 gallon of gas. Since the average beef cow weighs in around 1000 lbs, it takes 1000 gallons of gas to raise one cow. All in all, factory farming accounts for 18% of the fossil fuel used in America today. That is more than all the cars on the road, even before you take into account the gas required to ship the dead cows around the country to get to your local grocery store.
2. The concentration of thousands of animals in a small enclosure leads to humongous amounts of waste (urine and feces). The waste is pumped into giant lagoons, some of which is used as drinking water for the animals themselves, but the rest of which seeps into the ground water, ruining the quality of the water we all drink every day. Some even seeps into the air, causing asthma and other respiratory ailments. People who live near or work on factory farms have 3 times the rate of asthma of the general population.
3. The cheap corn and soybeans that are used for feeding this mass of animals can come from South America and other places, contributing to deforestation of the precious rain forests.
4. The massive amounts of Methane and Sulfur dioxide produced by the animals (farts) contributes more to greenhouse gases than all vehicles on the roads combined.

The reason I find this interesting is the statistic I quoted at the beginning: 70% of Americans consider themselves environmentalists. Yet 95% of Americans eat meat, and 99% of Americans eat dairy, eggs, or other animal products. Given the facts presented above, you simply CANNOT be an environmentalist if you choose to eat animal products. Unless you farm the animals yourself (in a non factory manner), you are enabling that system. Eating organic doesn't help. Organic operations are just as factory as the next guy.

If you care about the environment like I do, I hope that you use these newly learned facts to opt out of the factory farming system. Your health and our planet will be all the better for it.

Feel free to share any experiences or thoughts you have on your journey to true environmentalism and a truly sustainable lifestyle. Good luck!

M Jacob Ott, MD

Fat Pride. Why it Isn't Good for Us

Let me begin by saying that this post may not be completely politically correct. I don't really like political correctness very much. Being super careful not to offend anyone is not really a great way to motivate. I will also say that I am sensitive to the issues I am about to present. As a fat, then skinny, and now fat again person, I more than most understand the issues that overweight people face. I have been made fun of, and felt insecurity and depression about my body image.

With all of that said, I HATE the current "fat pride" movement. In this era of equality and social progressiveness, we are taught that however a person chooses to live is totally OK, and that we should celebrate their life choices. Now, I am in no way racist or sexist. I am really glad that women have achieved equal rights, and that people of non-white ethnicities have made huge strides in social, economic, and academic circles. I am also very glad that gay marriage has become acceptable. Regardless of your beliefs about the sinfulness or lack thereof of homosexuality, I think most people can agree that gay marriage is a political, not a religious issue. I truly believe that everyone deserves equal protection under the law, regardless of what the dominant religion has to say about it. (I am Christian, but in America, religion and law are two separate issues).

The fat pride movement is quite different. There are plusses and minuses to it. I'll start with the positive. It is a good thing that people are happy with who they are, and don't have to suffer major self-esteem issues because they don't fit society's standard of beauty. Here in America, beauty seems to be the most important objective. Most people want to lose weight because they need to fit into a bikini, or look good in their little black dress.

Which leads us to the big minus: beauty is a secondary concern. As a doctor, I am primarily concerned about people's health. Unlike being a woman, being African American, or being gay, obesity leads to scads of health problems, including high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, depression, chronic pain, and most likely early death. This is my big problem with fat pride. People use it as an excuse to forgive themselves for what is usually a deep emotional issue, or a major addiction. It would be similar to having a movement for alcoholic pride, or meth abuser pride. Just because someone chooses a certain lifestyle doesn't mean that it needs to be celebrated.

I am pissed off at myself because I gave up and got fat again. I don't want to accept my body. I am not depressed or unhappy, but I am not satisfied with how I currently am. My goal is to reach 175 lbs (about 100 from where I am now). After reflecting for a long time about the fat pride movement, I have decided to selectively accept a few things, and reject others. I accept that overweight people should not be ridiculed or disrespected just because they don't fit our narrow view of beauty. I reject that we should stay how we are out of some misguided sense of pride or arrogance. Thankfully, no one need ever be obese. All it takes to find health and a normal weight is a few lifestyle changes.

The DevolveHealth eating plan is simple, easy to understand, and works every single time. All you have to do is follow 3 guidelines:

1. Eat foods like they grow in nature. (No processed sugars, oils, or "food products."
2. Eat a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and grain, and very little if any meat, dairy, or eggs.
3. Choose food for nutrition, not flavor.

Easy to implement, sometimes hard to follow. As I always tell myself in a weak moment, nothing worth having is easy. So refuse to be insulted because you are overweight, but also refuse to accept that obesity is the only possible outcome for you. Join me in reclaiming your health and fitness, and post your comments on here, or on my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/devolvehealth). Or go to my web page, and send me an email (www.devolvehealth.com). I would be thrilled to share in your journey, or hear about your successes and hardships.

M. Jacob Ott, MD

Do you love your pets?

I must admit, I love pets. We currently have 3 dogs and a cat. They cause unlimited amounts of trouble, and I try to convince them that I am mad at them by telling them that I don't like them and that I am upset by what they did.

Fact of the matter is: I like having them around when I am alone. They lay next to me when I sleep, and they are very happy to see me when I get home. Next to my wife and my kids, they are the beings I love most in the world.

I know what you are thinking. How do pets have a place in a health and wellness blog. We'll get there, and you'll likely be horrified, as I was. My job is not to keep you happy, but to expose you to issues that you might not experience in the mainstream media, when it is pertinent to your health and well being. Since I have been a vegan for 4 years, with a year hiatus, and have extensively studied animal execution, factory farming, and animal welfare, I was surprised I had never learned about this. I'm glad I have now. Big Meat might be mad at me for sharing this, but I wouldn't feel right unless I talked about this with you, my followers who have chosen the path of health and wellness.

First, we have to start with the food chains of Asia. In many cultures in Asia, the dog is considered a valid part of the food chain. They kill, butcher, and eat dogs, as we do to cows, pigs, and chicken. Most Americans consider dog eating to be abhorrent, mainly because we choose to keep those animals as pets, name them, and care for them, rather than choosing them as food.

I have two points here. First, why are dogs not considered food in the west? They are just as nutritious as pigs, cows, and chicken. They are no smarter than pigs, in fact, they may be much less intelligent. They are no better as guard animals. A pig will give its life to defend its master against a physical threat, even to the point of death. I love dogs, but how can we justify the way we treat pigs, when they are more intelligent and just as loyal as dogs? If you are unfamiliar with how we currently treat pigs in America, they are contained in crates barely bigger than their bodies. They have their tails cut off without pain control because they go insane under such conditions. After about 6 weeks of force feeding, they are brought to the processing plant, where nearly 1/3 of them are still awake while they are skinned, put through a boiling water bath, and dissected alive, before being bled out and finally dying. I don't know about you, but that isn't how I'd like my dog to be treated. BTW, that is how almost all animals destined for your dinner plate are treated. If you don't believe me, google "slaughterhouse practices." You will see more than you ever want to.

Point two has to do with dogs and cats that are unwanted. Many sources estimate that 6-8 million dogs and cats are euthanized every year. Most of these animals are born because of irresponsible spaying and neutering practices. I feel sad about the number of unwanted pets, but even worse about what I found out considering what happens to them. Let's say a clinic euthanizes a large number of dogs and cats. What do they do with the bodies? They cremate some that their owners want. The rest are sold to rendering plants. The bodies are ground into meat, brain tissue, and bone meal. This meal makes very cheap feed, which is given to chicken, cows, and pigs. Those of you who were happy that you didn't live in Asia because you didn't eat dog or cat, surprise! You eat the flesh of virtually every dog and cat who is killed in this country, only second hand through what you call chicken, pork, and beef.

Why do the meat farmers feed the ground up bodies of cats and dogs to the animals we eat? Simple answer: Money. Rendered dog and cat corpses are rather cheap. That lowers their cost of operation, which lowers the cost of the meat. If they then sell at the same price, they get to pocket the difference as profit. They also grind up the bodies of lame cows, cattle, and chicken, and feed them to the live animals for the same reason. Although the practice has been banned in Europe for decades, it is considered "standard industry practice" and is exempted by federal law. These laws are largely written by Congressmen and Senators who are given scads of money by lobbyists for factory farmers.

There are a couple of reasons I give you this information: first, I want you to know what exactly goes into the food that you eat. The big meat companies could come down on me hard for what I am telling you, but I think you deserve to know the truth. Second, I want you to be healthy. Do you think that chickens, pigs, and cows, whose normal diet is based on grazing should be fed the ground up tissue of their own species (also known as cannibalism) and those of other animals? Is eating the byproducts of those sick animals good for your health? As a doctor, I can tell you the answer is no. Salmonella, E Coli: 0157:H7, Shigella, and prion diseases, such as Mad Cow Disease (known in humans as Crutchfeld-Jacob Disease) are the result of feeding animals to animals.

Fortunately, if you want to avoid adding to this system and contributing to both disease and the cruelty that these animals suffer, all you have to do is adopt a plant based diet. Plants harbor no such diseases, and do not suffer merely because we like to eat a steak now and again. Eating plants, fruits, legumes, and nuts is not only nutritionally sound, and conducive to weight loss, but is also free of killing poor cats and dogs, and eating animals which likely contain deadly disease.

If you want to opt out of factory farming, and the lies told by the meat industry, feel free to comment, email me at drott@devolvehealth.com, or visit my website at www.devolvehealth.com

M Jacob Ott, MD

So You Want to be a Vegan?

I've been looking back on the history of DevolveHealth lately. I started this company in 2010. The reason that I started DevolveHealth was because I saw the results that a plant based diet and good exercise habits had in my life. I went from 350 lbs to 200 lbs, and discovered levels of energy that I never knew were possible.

In 2012, I had a little hiccough in my life. If you define hiccough as your wife has an affair and leaves you, and you go through over a year of depression. Needless to say, this whole episode left me rather devastated. I didn't really care about anything, and that included my own health. I forgot all the hard work I had put into reforming my mind and body, and went back to my old habits of overeating and being sedentary. Not surprisingly, I gained a significant portion of my weight back, topping out near 300 lbs again.

Even despite this, I never forgot the way I was from 2010 to 2012. I longed to get back to the way I looked and felt at that time. I tried multiple diets- I won't mention their names, but they all have very popular books that make a lot of money. For some reason, I didn't consider going back to the vegan diet which had gotten me to my goal in the first place.

Not surprisingly, none of those diets really work. In fact, one of the guiding principles of DevolveHealth is that diets don't work. It is rather amusing, but I didn't take my own advice at all. Finally a few weeks ago, I came back to my senses, and got back to my roots, so to speak.

Returning to veganism made me think about going through the process of eliminating animal products from my diet in the first place. Hopefully, some of you have read some of my other blog posts, and see the wisdom and health value of avoiding animal products. If not, please go back and read some of them. This post is dedicated to those of you who would like to go vegan, but feel like it might be too hard, or just plain don't know how.

For those of you who think it will be hard, I won't lie to you. Avoiding animal products is not easy. Both times I went vegan, I suffered meat cravings for about a week to two weeks. That being said, finding foods to eat is not that hard. Even in your local grocery store, there is a tremendous variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts. You just have to be willing to experiment, and have an open mind. When I was just a fledgling vegan, the thing I had the most trouble with was figuring out what to cook. There are loads of vegan cookbooks out there (my personal favorite is the Veganomicon, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero), and plenty of websites which offer free vegan recipes. My favorites:

www.vegweb.com: offers over 10,000 vegan recipes of all kinds.
www.allrecipes.com: not specifically vegan, but has a large vegan section

I promise you, it isn't nearly as hard as you think it may be. I was a staunch omnivore. In high school, if anyone would have been voted "most likely to die while eating a steak" it was me. The term "meat and potatoes man" found its literal meaning in me. If I can do it, so can you. No excuses.

If you fall into the "I want to go vegan, but I don't know how" group, then here is some advice I learned the hard way, through trial and error:

1. Eat a variety of foods. Vegan diets are nutritionally sound, and superior to diets with meat in virtually every way, with one proviso. You have to eat a variety of foods. Rice, beans, green leafy veggies, nuts, legumes, and soy, tempeh, seitan. Use the websites above for ideas and be adventurous. 
2. Avoid processed foods. Oreo's are technically vegan. They aren't good for you. With all the processed vegan products out there today, it is easy to become a "junk food vegan." Make sure the foods you eat are in the form they grew in nature. Avoid processed sugars and refined oils as much as possible. It is fine to indulge once in a while, but refined sugars are just as bad for vegans as they are for meat eaters.
3. Get ready to poop a lot. One byproduct of eating lots of vegetables and beans is that you will probably get 50-80 grams of fiber daily. While this is good for preventing colon cancer, It also means several trips to the restroom per day. On the upside, you'll never be constipated...
4. Get a B12 and a Vitamin D supplement. Vitamin D intake is too low in vegans and meat eaters alike. B12, which vegans would normally get from the bacteria in the dirt on the plants they ate, is gone in our toxic soil, and needs to be supplemented. I recommend 5000 IU of D per day, and 1000 mcg of B12 once weekly. The best B12 is the type of tablet that dissolves under the tongue.
5. If you feel craving for meat, get a meat replacement product. Although these aren't the best for you, as they are heavily processed, they are OK in a pinch, and vastly better than going back to meat. There is a wide array of soy burgers, hot dogs, sausages, and other meat like products at your local grocery store.
6. PLAN AHEAD. This is really important. Although restaurants and cafeterias are getting better about offering vegan options, not every place has them. Some places say they have vegan entrees, but they are cooked in butter or the like. Family gatherings, weddings, and parties can be especially bad, as they usually lack vegan food choices. Be sure to bring a snack with you (some nuts or carrots, an apple, banana, or peach) so that you have something to eat in a real pinch. If I am going to a party or wedding, I like to eat a vegan meal ahead of time, just in case. The same is true of air travel. Airplanes never feed you anymore, and airports have very limited choices. Pack some good vegan snacks in your carry-on.
7. Be prepared for people to think you are odd. Meat eating is very ingrained into our culture. People think all vegans are tree hugging hippies. If you tell someone you are vegan, they will pepper you with questions. Read my post entitled "What are you Eating?" for more info on the questions. Even if they think you are odd, most people are intrigued, and those questions can be a good jumping off point to discuss a better lifestyle with them (as long as you don't sound pompous and preachy)
8. Get ready to feel good. Now that your body no longer wastes half of its energy trying to digest meat, you will feel younger, with tons of energy. Funnel that into exercise, family, and fun!

I'm not kidding about any of this. Try going vegan for a month, and if you don't feel a world of difference, I will refund the $0 you paid to read this blog. (Seriously, you will notice a large difference)

If you need more info on how to make the change and opt out of the Standard American Diet, feel free to comment, visit my website www.devolvehealth.com, or email me at drott@devolvehealth.com 

(Not so) Evil Fat

Weight: 272
Running: 3 miles today. Felt AWESOME!!

Fat. It is a word we have all been trained to fear over the last generation or so. It has almost become dogma among doctors and nutritionists that fat makes you fat. If you ask virtually any doctor what you should eat to be healthy, especially if you have a history of heart disease, you will be told to eat a "low sodium, low fat, heart healthy diet."

Why has fat been so stigmatized? To answer that question, we are going to take a step back in time. The beginning of the anti-fat movement has its roots in the 50's. It began not scientifically, but with common sense. If the problem is that you are carrying too much fat, then eating fat will only make things worse. To back this up, they began to design (rather poorly) studies in the 60's which confirmed that increased intake of fat, especially saturated fat, increased risk of heart disease and death. The birth of the low fat diet had happened. From there, citing these poor studies, the American College of Cardiology recommended a low fat diet in the prevention of coronary artery disease (CAD). What the doctors of the time (and even today) failed to realize is that human metabolism is far more complex than fat being turned into fat.

I apologize, but I have to go into a little chemistry here. There are many types of fats:

Saturated fat: a fat in which all of the carbon molecules (the c's) are occupied by hydrogens. Saturated fats occur in most animal products, and some plant products like avocado, nuts, and coconut. They are solid at room temperature.

Monounsaturated fat: Notice that one of the carbons in this molecule has a double bond to the one next to it. Thus, it is not "saturated" with Hydrogen. These fats occur in mostly plant oils, like olive oil.

Polyunsaturated fat: More than one of the carbon atoms has a double bond. There are 3 main varieties:

• Omega 3- The first double bond is in the 3rd carbon atom
• Omega 6- The first double bond is in the 6th
• Omega 9- The first double bond is in the 9th

Trans fat: A type of monounsaturated fat where the Hydrogens in the double bond are on opposite sides of the molecule. These have the advantage of being super stable and having a long shelf life, making them ideal for selling. They have the disadvantage of causing horrible amounts of blood vessel inflammation in humans. These do not occur in nature and only are made by food companies for use in fried foods. Many types of chips and microwave popcorn have vast amounts of trans fat. This is the big baddie.

Cholesterol: A complex molecule used in the cell membrane of virtually every cell in your body, as well as in steroid molecules, testosterone, estrogen, and many other hormones. The USDA has a daily recommended intake of cholesterol, but the human body is perfectly capable of making cholesterol without any help. You don't have to take in any, and a high cholesterol level is well linked to heart disease.

So on to the myth about fats. They are not all bad. In fact, there are essential fats. Our bodies can't make two fatty acids we really need: alpha-linolenic acid (an omega-3 fatty acid) and linoleic acid (an omega-6 fatty acid). They should be consumed in the ratio of about 2:1 with the 2 being omega 3. Flax, walnuts, and some other nuts are great sources of omega 3. 

The truth is even broader than that, however. Fats from plant products are quite beneficial for you. Whereas animal fats (particularly from factory farmed animals who are fattened on corn) cause CAD, systemic inflammation, and create the small LDL's (the bad ones that cause artery disease), plant fats actually decrease information, slow artery plaque formation, and contribute to satiation, causing you to eat less.

You'll notice if you read my DevolveHealth eating rules at www.devolvehealth.com, they say nothing about fat intake. If you eat a varied diet including nuts, seeds, healthy oils such as flax and olive, chia seeds, avocado, and coconut oil in mild to moderate amounts, you will get plenty of the essential fats that you need, and avoid the evil trans fats and animal saturated fats. The foods to avoid are animal products and processed (especially fried) foods.

I know what you are thinking: "what about salmon? They say salmon has lots of omega 3's." While this is true, you can easily get the same omega 3's from plant sources, and avoid the antibiotics fed to farmed fish. Also, you can avoid the Mercury load that you get from predator fish such as salmon. 

Bottom line: if you want to be healthy, ignore the guidelines about fat, stop counting calories, and follow the DevolveHealth eating rule #1:

Eat a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, and legumes, and very little if any meat, dairy, or eggs.

If you do this, you will not only notice weight loss (if that's what you're looking for), but also increased energy, and lower risk of chronic disease.

Happy eating! Feel free to comment and let me know your results!