30 Day Paleo: Day Seventeen – Fill Up on Healthy Saturated Fats

Looking to make healthier choices? Perfect! This is Day 17 of 30 of my 30 Day Paleo Plan. For more information on 30 Day Paleo as well as 30 Minute Paleo, check out the get started page. Post each day on your 30 Day Paleo journey to Twitter or Instagram and show me by tagging me with @dranthonygustin — get after it! 

After removing fillers such as processed food, grains, beans and legumes, a lot of people wonder – “what is left?!” Well, there is plenty left! It is important to replace all of that fluff and unnecessary filler will some substantial fat. And believe us, there are such things as healthy saturated fats!

Your body is primed to run on a high fat diet. There is no need for a massive amount of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are nonessential – meaning your body can make them from other components if it doesn’t get them. Carbohydrates will kill you if they remain in your bloodstream so your body reacts to remove them. Your carbohydrate gas tank is typically always “full” so where does this excess go? The remainder gets stored as fat cells, of course.

Dietary fat is a different story. Your body needs it to make new cells, secrete hormones, repair inflammation, and for basic brain and nervous system function. These are all very clearly important things. Why would you ever want to be on a diet that skimps on all of those things? Healthy fats don’t just include oils either. There are healthy saturated fats as well.

And don’t worry – there is actually NO evidence that high fat or saturated fat diets lead to any type of cholesterol hike or heart problems. This is a completely unsubstantiated and incorrect claim that has been passed down for years without any science to actually back it up. Your body NEEDS healthy fats.

The sourcing of fats is the important factor. If you are eating poorly sourced animals or fats, then yes, it can be bad for you. Refer to our quick list below for fats from healthy sources.

Oils – Olive oil, almond oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, macadamia nut oil

Nuts and Seeds – Walnuts, cashews, pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds and flax seeds

Plants – Avocado, coconut, olives

Animals – Grass-fed butter, ghee, grass-fed meats, wild fatty fish, pastured eggs yolks, raw whole milk (if you can tolerate dairy)

Replace everything you’re taking out in your diet with healthy saturated fats that will help your body grow and recover, and you’ll be a much happier and healthy human!

Add in fats from each of the categories from above. Enjoy this process, and eat the healthy fats that taste good to you.

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/…/01/13/ajcn.2009.27725.abstract

http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i1953e/i1953e00.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20071648