The Miracle of the Oil (and other Fats)

The winter holiday of Hanuka starts next week on December 11. Among other things, the holiday celebrates a miracle of olive oil: one little vial lasted 8 days, keeping the ceremonial candelabra in the ancient Temple lit. Jews mark the holiday by lighting candles every night for the eight days of the holiday, one more each night, and give due attention to the role of oil in the story by eating fried foods for eight days. There is then a several week recovery period for our gallbladders.

As I was contemplating the upcoming holiday, I naturally began to think about oil... and other fats. Despite the constant drone about how people are eating too much fat (and getting too fat), I find the piece of dietary advice I give most often to my patients is to eat MORE fat. Better fat that is!

There is a lot of information out there about fats, much of it contradictory. For some interesting information countering the popular notion that saturated and animal fats are terrible for you, I direct the interested reader to the Weston Price Foundation, and especially the book Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. I was very impressed by the overview of the so-called 'lipid hypothesis' in Michael Pollan's latest book, In Defense of Food. The lipid hypothesis is the theory that fat makes you fat, that fat clogs your arteries, causes heart attacks etc. It is in this book that Pollan lays out his controversial but compelling health claim: EAT FOOD. I couldn't agree more.

When it comes to fats, quality is key. 'Bad fats', which have been transformed in the factory farm or the laboratory from food to fiend, are very damaging. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, different people in different circumstances will benefit from differing types of fats in different amounts, depending on their constitution, lifestyle, and stage of life. Eating enough good quality fats is important for everyone, and promotes skin and hair health, healthy brain function, and hormone balance.

Good quality fats are expensive, but a little goes a long way. They enhance to flavours of all foods, and help our bodies access the fat soluble vitamins found in many vegetables. Here's my fatty favourites, in a nutshell (groan.)

1. Good quality fats are minimally processed, fresh, and kept cold and dark. Look for cold-pressed oils, grass or pasture fed animal fats.

2. Eat foods. A piece of fish is preferable to a fish oil supplement in my opinion. The one 'fat supplement' I will recommend to people (especially vegetarians) having trouble getting fats, is Udo's Choice Oil. I prefer people to pour it over their food rather than take the capsules. Digestion begins in the mouth when we taste and smell our food.

3. Try some different fats: avocado, coconut oil or cream, nut oils and butters like almond and tahini (sesame seed butter), organic ghee (clarified butter).

4. Completely avoid hydrogenated fats: margarine & shortening. Not food!

5. If you have been eating a low fat diet, don't suddenly increase your fat intake. That can lead to painful symptoms and even risk of gallstones.

6. Minimize seed oils. They make up a much larger part of our diet than ever in history, and are often highly processed and refined. These include canola, sunflower and safflower oils.

7. Eat vegetables with a little fat. The flavour, and nutritional benefit, of the veggies will be enhanced. Saute greens in a little olive oil or pancetta, drizzle some cold pressed nut oil over your steamed veg or salad (salad dressing is a health food!).

8. Fats are a concentrated food. That one little vial at the first Hanuka made it eight days! To meet an average person's requirements is only 5 tablespoons of olive oil - that's if everything else you ate was zero fat.

As always, my philosophy, echoed by the sages of TCM old and new, is 'all things in moderation, including moderation.' Enjoy your latkes and other fatty holiday goodies, and if you feel the need, check out this older article on Janurary 'detoxing'.