Good Fats & Oils versus Bad Fats & Oils

Good Fats & Oils

Good fats and oils are equally important to protein in the diet and they are essential to getting Candida under control. They not only increase the body's ability to absorb nutrients from the foods eaten but also provide the most efficient source of energy. They also provide the building blocks for cell membranes and a variety of hormones and hormone-like substances.

Good fats act as carriers for important fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K and for the conversion of carotene to vitamin A, for mineral absorption and for a host of other processes. The kinds of fats consumed greatly influence the assimilation and utilization of vitamin D.

Cholesterol is the body's version of fat, and contrary to popular belief cholesterol, it s your best friend. Cholesterol's job is to:

 Repair and protect.
 Every cell in the body requires cholesterol.
 Cholesterol is essential for nourishing the brain and nervous system - the brain is 70% cholesterol and it could not function properly without it.
 Cholesterol is necessary for constructing the lining in mucus membranes, i.e. lining of the intestines, stomach, etc.
 Hormones, like estrogen and testosterone, are made from cholesterol..
 Bile salts (for digestion) are made from cholesterol.
 Cholesterol is also a powerful antioxidant.

Cholesterol is a substance vital to the cells of all mammals. There are no such things as good or bad cholesterol, in fact your body produces three to four times more cholesterol than you eat. The eminent American physician and scientist George Mann called the diet-
heart idea "the greatest scientific deception of this century, perhaps of any century."

Fat-soluble vitamins - The fat-soluble vitamins include true vitamin A or retinol, vitamin D, vitamin K and vitamin E as well as all their naturally occurring cofactors. All of these fat-soluble vitamins are essential to health and a healthy immune system.

Vitamin A is all-important in our diets since it enables the body to use proteins and minerals, ensures proper vision, acts as an antioxidant, enhances the immune system, enables reproduction, and fights infections. It is also important for the formation of bones
and teeth and aids in fat storage. Protein cannot be utilized by the body without Vitamin A.

Beta carotene found in plants is not a true Vitamin A since it requires conversion from carotene to vitamin A in the intestines. This can only take place in the presence of bile salts. Bile salts are created out of good fats, which must be eaten with the carotenes
to stimulate bile secretion.

Vitamin D is required for calcium and phosphorus absorption and utilization. It is necessary for growth, for healthy bones and teeth, for proper development of the brain and nervous systems and for normal sexual development. Vitamin D normalizes blood Sugar when there is adequate calcium in the diet. Vitamin D is more than a vitamin because it is essential for producing hormones in the body.

Vitamin E is a very effective antioxidant that can be depleted by a low-fat diet. Vitamin E improves circulation, promotes normal clotting and healing, repairs tissue and reduces blood pressure.

Vitamin K is needed for blood clotting and plays an important role in bone formation. It also converts glucose into glycogen for storage in the liver which is drawn upon for regulating blood Sugar levels. Vitamin K is made in the large colon.

The best sources of these important fat-soluble vitamins are animal meats and their by-products, i.e. full-fat raw dairy products, cod liver oil, lard from pigs exposed to sunlight, liver, wild salmon, butter, and eggs from free-range properly fed chickens.

Equally Important to health is to "Avoid all newfangled fats and oils (trans fats)" - Candida sufferers cannot afford to jeopardize their health by consuming toxic oils and fats and must avoid all of the newfangled hydrogenated fats and polyunsaturated oils. These newfangled fats and oils are not only toxic and increase the body's need for vitamin E and other antioxidants, but also depress the immune system. These fats are found in margarine and shortenings used in most commercial baked goods and most processed foods, and should always be avoided even by healthy people.

The hydrogenation process employs: 1) High heat, 2) A metal catalyst such as nickel, zinc, copper, or other reactive metals and 3) Hydrogen gas. This is a volatile combination designed to extract and process oils, but it results in an extremely toxic product that the
body reacts to like plastic. For that reason these oils and fats are often called “liquid plastic.”

Even when refrigerated these fats and oils stay liquid and go rancid very easily. They should never be heated or used in cooking, except for extra virgin olive oil, which must be handled with care. The most common newfangled fats and oils on the market to avoid are derived from plants such as canola (from rape seed), soy, safflower, corn, and flaxseed. These "bad" fats also go rancid in the body (oxidize) just from the heat of the body.

The plants these fats and oils are derived from have evolved a variety of toxins designed to protect themselves from "predators," such as grazing animals and insects. Their seeds contain a variety of toxins that seem to be specific for mammalian enzymes. The seed
oils themselves block digestive enzymes that break down protein in the stomach. These enzymes in the body are necessary for digestion, production of thyroid hormones, clot removal, immunity and general adaptability of cells. Therefore using such plants to produce oils and fats is very detrimental to health. These seeds also contain phytates which block minerals in the body, making them unavailable for use.

The right kind of fat is saturated fat, in spite of what we've been led to believe. It plays many important roles in body chemistry. But saturated fats have been given a bad name by the oil and food manufacturing industry with the sole purpose of selling their products. This is also true for drug companies who perpetuate the cholesterol myth and low-fat diets in order to sell drugs.

The truth is, natural fats and oils have components found only in them which are health-promoting, and the newfangled fats and oils are now known to be disease-causing. These health-giving saturated fats are stable and do not become rancid easily and they do not draw upon the body's reserves of antioxidants nor do they initiate cancer or irritate artery walls.

Healthy saturated fats are an important part of any healthy meal. It draws nutrients out of foods and slows digestion so that natural enzymes and the assimilation process can take place. Healthy saturated fats include butter, tallow, lard, and fish, palm and coconut oils.

Butter - Butter from raw milk produced by certified organic grass-fed cows is a tasty, important saturated fat in the diet. Butter added to vegetables and meats, ensures proper assimilation of the minerals and water-soluble vitamins in foods.

Many trace minerals are also contained in butterfat, including manganese, zinc, chromium, and iodine, as well as Vitamin D and many other nutrients. In areas far from the sea, Iodine in butter protects against goiter (enlarged thyroid). Butter is also extremely rich in selenium, a trace mineral with antioxidant properties.

Coconut Oil - Coconut oil is another healthy saturated fat that contains many beneficial properties and helps prevent bacterial, viral, and fungal (including yeast) infections. It also kills off yeast overgrowth. It supports immune system function, supplies important nutrients necessary for good health and improves digestion and nutrient absorption.

The fat in coconut oil is easily digested and absorbed, unlike the newfangled fats that act like plastic in the body. It puts little strain on the digestive system and provides a quick source of energy necessary to promote healing.

Coconut oil is absorbed directly from the intestines into the portal vein and sent straight to the liver, whereas other fats require pancreatic enzymes to break them into smaller units.

Look for unrefined coconut oil, since some commercial coconut oils are refined, bleached, and deodorized. It is highly resistant to spoilage and has a long shelf life (up to two years at room temperature). It is liquid at room temperature and it goes solid when
cooled, and should not be refrigerated. Coconut oil has a high burning point of 375 degrees Fahrenheit and is a perfect oil for cooking. Coconut oil can also be taken by the tablespoonful with meals to aid digestion. A good therapeutic dose is 1 to 2 tablespoons
with fat and protein containing meals. When first taking coconut oil start at a low dose of 1 teaspoon a couple of times per day, and gradually increase it over a months period of time in order to allow your body to adjust to the changes.

Fish oils - Fish, unlike mammals, birds and reptiles, do not respond to sunlight and rely on vitamin D found in phytoplankton and other fish.

Unfortunately, eating most fresh fish, whether from the ocean, lakes and streams, or farm-raised, is no longer recommended because of their dangerously high mercury levels. The most reliable sources of fish are wild non-farmed species, shrimp and sardines.

The best sources of Vitamin D are cod liver oil and halibut liver oil. These oils also contain Vitamin A and Omega-3 essential fatty acids. Look for oils that are free of chemical modification and processing, and purified to the highest standards, as well as
routinely tested and free from detectable levels of mercury, cadmium, lead, PCBs and other contaminants. Good liver oils contain naturally occurring Vitamins A and D. Some oil manufacturers remove these important oils and add synthetic forms back into their products (D3 is a synthetic form of Vitamin D). Most manufacturers add Vitamin E to prevent rancidity. All oil capsules and liquid oils must be kept in the refrigerator away from heat and light to prevent rancidity.

A minimum therapeutic daily dose of cod liver oil and/or plain fish oil liquid is one teaspoon for every 50 pounds of body weight per day. If you weigh 150 pounds that would be three teaspoons per day, but most people can easily utilize 1-2 tablespoons per day.

Essential Fatty Acids - There are also two types of essential fatty acids (EFAs) that must be obtained from the diet, which are are omega-3s and omega-6s. They are called essential because we can only obtain them from food because our bodies can't manufacture them from other fats. Most people's diets contain an excessive amount of omega-6 EFA, therefore it is important to ensure the diet contains more omega-3
rich foods to offset this imbalance. The ideal balance is 1:1.

Good sources of omega-3s are animal meats and eggs. But there is an important difference in the ratio of omega-6s to 3s according to how the animals are fed and raised. For example, grain-fed beef can have ratios that exceed 20:1, but grass-fed beef is down around 3:1. Similar ratios are found in all grain-fed versus grass-fed livestock products. Grass-fed livestock are rich in all the fats that are health-enhancing and provide the body with goods fats for the production of cholesterol. Similarly free-range chickens produce eggs with an omega 6:3 ratio of 1.5 to one, whereas the "supermarket egg" has a ratio of 20 to one.

In order to ensure you obtain adequate amounts of omega-3 EFA it is advisable to take fish oil supplements as described above. Even though flax oil also contains omega-3 it is in a form that requires the body to convert it to a form the body can use. But omega-3
contained in fish is high in two fatty acids crucial to human health, DHA and EPA, which don't require conversion. These two fatty acids are essential in preventing heart disease, cancer, and many other diseases, and are essential for creating cholesterol in the body.

During the summer months, when you are exposed to plenty of sunshine that makes Vitamin D by contact with the skin, you can take plain fish oils containing Omega-3; take 3,000 mgs. per day. But in the winter months in regions that don't get much sunshine take cod liver oil or halibut liver oil containing Vitamins A, D and Omega-3 EFA; take at least 1 tablespoon per day.

By: Bee Wilder

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/candidasupport