Don't Fear Animal Fats!
Hello there! And thanks for reading! One of my biggest passions in life outside of my family and the ranch is health and nutrition. I've loved incorporating that passion into our ranch and what we feed to our animals, and of course, feeding the rancher and the two little cowhands we've got. I'm excited to be able to share this passion with you on this blog!
Today I want to talk about the benefits of eating healthy fat. Fats have gotten a bad wrap in our modern society, especially animal fats. The common fear is that if you eat fat you will become, well, fat. However, this is far from true. In her article "Animal Fats: Essential For Well-Being" found the Mary Janes Farm magazine, Dr. Laura Koniver, MD, explains why fats, saturated fat, in particular, are absolutely vital for growing children and adults. I wish I could hand deliver everyone a copy of this article because it is that good! But since that isn't very realistic we'll just cover the basics here!
She starts her article by explaining that fat is crucial for brain health, development, and growth. Also, our hormones depend on fat to grow and function properly. We start our lives ideally getting all of our nutrients from breastmilk, which is high in saturated fats. I haven't seen very many obese babies so maybe there's something to that. However, ever heard the term baby fat? That's because infants need that healthy fat to grow properly in all aspects.
Dr. Koniver says in her article, "not only do children need more saturated fats to literally grow their bodies, but they also burn saturated fats more quickly than adults, running through their fat intake faster...kids also require saturated animal fats to create the hormones they need to regulate growing...hormones affect how we grown, how we function, how we feel, and how we think. We all need healthy hormone levels or we just don't feel right. Children also need healthy saturated fats to grow their brains and adults need healthy saturated fats to protect their brain volume and function as they age."
Did you know that over half of your brain is made of fatty tissue? Crazy huh. I didn't until I read this article, but that tells me just how important healthy fats are for our brain health. Also, there are vitamins that the body needs that are soluble through fat, such as vitamins A, D, E, and K.
One of the big reasons why fat is still discouraged is that it has been accused of being inflammatory to the body causing serious health problems like cardiovascular disease, strokes, and diabetes. There are actually types of fat that help reduce the body's inflammation. Again Dr. Koniver explains this saying, "Not only are fats healthy, but they're actually healing and anti-inflammatory. In particular, omega 3 fatty acids, which are absolutely essential for our health." We actually can't synthesize omega-3's on our own so in order to get them into our bodies we have to eat them, and here comes the kicker.
There are three types of omega-3's, ALA, EPA, and DHA, and the two most important omega-3's that our bodies require come only from animal products, DHA and EPA. Our bodies can convert ALA, the fatty acid found in plant sources, into DHA and EPA but not close enough to get the amount our bodies would need. A person would need to eat around twenty times more of the plant source to get the same amount of omega-3's that you would need from an animal source.
Some great sources of healthy fats and omega-3's are eggs, whole-fat dairy products, and of course beef! That's one reason why we love to feed sprouted barley to all of our animals because it makes the eggs, milk, and meat higher in omega-3 fatty acids. Cool, huh!
Well, thank you for reading along. I hope you enjoyed it! Feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, and have a great day!
Sources:
"Animal Fats: Essential For Well-Being" by Dr. Laura Koniver, MD Mary Janes Farm June-July 2016 "Fresh Egg Overture" pg 56-57.