Fats... Diet... heart disease...

Another 2010 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that a reduction in saturated fat intake must be evaluated in the context of replacement by other macronutrients, such as carbohydrates.

    When you replace saturated fat with a highercarbohydrate intake, particularly refined carbohydrate, you exacerbate insulin resistance and obesity, increase triglycerides and small LDL particles, and reduce beneficial HDL cholesterol. The authors state that dietary efforts to improve your cardiovascular disease risk should primarily emphasize the limitation of refined carbohydrate intake, and weight reduction.
In a nutshell, eating fat and protein does not make you fat—carbohydrates do.



I firmly believe the two primary keys for successful weight management and reducing your risk for diabetes, heart disease and other weight-related health problems are:
Severely restricting carbohydrates (sugars, fructose, and grains) in your diet, and
Increasing healthy fat consumption
According to last year's Report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the top 10 sources of calories in the American diet are:
Grain-based desserts (cakes, cookies, donuts, pies, crisps, cobblers, and granola bars) 139 calories a day
Alcoholic beverages
Yeast breads, 129 calories a day
Pasta and pasta dishes
Chicken and chicken-mixed dishes, 121 calories a day
Mexican mixed dishes
Soda, energy drinks, and sports drinks, 114 calories a day
Beef and beef-mixed dishes
Pizza, 98 calories a day
Dairy desserts
Looking at this list, it plain to see that CARBS—i.e. sugars (primarily fructose) and grains—are the primary sources of our weight- and health problems, not saturated fats.
(As an update, you've often heard me state that soda is the number one source of calories in the US diet, which it was—based on the 1999-2000 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The updated NHANES survey above covers nutritional data from 2005-2006, placing grain-based foods in the top two slots. Still, soda comes in at number four, and I still believe a lot of people, particularly teenagers, probably get a majority of their calories from fructose-rich drinks like soda.)
Fats can be confusing, but you can generally divide fats into four types:
Saturated fats, from animal fat and tropical oils
Monounsaturated fat, such as olive oil
Polyunsaturated fat, such as omega-3 and omega-6 fats
Trans fats, such as margarine
Sources of healthy fats include:
Olives and Olive oil
Coconuts and coconut oil
Butter made from raw grass-fed organic milk
Raw Nuts, such as, almonds or pecans
Organic pastured egg yolks
Avocados
Grass fed meats
Palm oil
Unheated organic nut oils
Having the proper balance between omega-3 and omega-6 fats is also very important for optimal health. So in addition to increasing your omega-3 (which most people are sorely deficient in), you also want to decrease your consumption of omega-6, found primarily in:
Corn oil
Soy oil
Canola oil
Safflower oil
Sunflower oil
The ideal ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 is 1:1 to 1:3, but the typical American diet is more like 1:20 in favor of omega-6. The overabundance of these oils in processed foods of all kinds explains our excess omega-6 levels.
The other fats you want to avoid are the trans fats. Trans fats are formed when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil during food processing in order to make it solidify. This process, known as hydrogenation, makes fats less likely to spoil, so foods stay fresh longer, have a longer shelf life and also have a less greasy feel. The end result of the hydrogenation process is a completely unnatural fat that causes dysfunction and chaos in your body on a cellular level.
Saturated fats from animal and vegetable sources provide a number of important health benefits. In fact, your body cannot function without saturated fats! Saturated fats are needed for the proper function of your:
Cell membranes
Heart
Bones (to assimilate calcium)
Liver
Lungs
Hormones
Immune system
Satiety (reducing hunger)
Genetic regulation
So please remember, you do need a certain amount of healthy fat, while at the same time you'll want to avoid the unhealthy varieties. The easiest way to accomplish this is to simply eliminate processed foods, which are high in all things detrimental to your health: sugar, carbs, and dangerous types of fats.
After that, these tips can help ensure you're eating the right fats for your health:
Use organic butter made from raw grass-fed milk instead of margarines and vegetable oil spreads. Butter is a healthy whole food that has received an unwarranted bad rap.
Use coconut oil for cooking. It is far superior to any other cooking oil and is loaded with health benefits. (Remember that olive oil should be used COLD, drizzled over salad or fish, for example, not to cook with.)
To round out your healthy fat intake, be sure to eat raw fats, such as those from avocados, raw dairy products, and olive oil, and also take a high-quality source of animal-based omega-3 fat, such as krill oil.