Are saturated fats healthy? What if it has a poor omega-3 to omega-6 ratio?

The following question is very astute, and so I wanted to answer this not just for Mary, but for all of you. She writes:

In looking at a chart for "good" and "bad" oils, nuts, fruits and greens, I see that coconut oil is listed as 'terrible,' having a whopping 91% saturated fat content... as well as listed as a pure omega 6 oil.

My cousin is heavily into the Dr Mark Hyman diet, using low carbs, detoxing smoothies, etc. She has been advised through him and a professor to cook with coconut oil. They say it has loads of health benefits. They indicate that the real culprits are non-organic foods, and especially those with high sugar content.

May I ask someone's opinion on this matter? I do have coconut oil and like the light sweetness it adds to some dishes. I have not used it a lot, however.

Incidentally, I also saw where almonds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds have super high omega 6 ratios. I always thought these were super healthy in their raw state.

Thanks so much for your time!

Sincerely,

Mary

Hi Mary,

Your question is quite complex. To start, let me give you the simple answer. Yes, the worst culprits on the shelves are proceeded foods and genetically modified foods. If the ingredients are not whole foods, then don't eat it. If it is conventional, don't eat it. That is some of my most simple and basic advice.

Now, let's answer the more sophisticated part of your question.

Every single plant food has some fat, some carbohydrate and some protein. Every plant food has all of the essential amino acids, although some levels are so low that we couldn't detect their presence in the early 1900s, leading to the faulty "complete protein myth".

Like with amino acids (the building blocks of protein), every oil has a mix of saturated fats, polyunsaturated fats and/or mono-unsaturated fats.

Is coconut oil a fad? Is it healthy? Is it bad?

Whether or not the oil is good for you is going to depend highly on the following factors:

1. Your overall diet
2. The freshness of the oil
3. The source of the oil
4. The method the oil was extracted in
5. How you plan to use the oil (cooking versus raw)
6. What you combine the oil with

For example, flax oil may be perfect for you, fresh, well sourced, extracted correctly... but it'd still be terrible for you if you cooked with it.

When it comes to coconut oil, a little is good for most people. A little is about a teaspoon per day. Why do I say that?

A lot of saturated fat is generally not a good idea. Very few people can metabolize large volumes of saturated fat. It is called "saturated" because it literally is saturated at the molecular level. It is densely packed long "bars" of carbons, and those bars of carbons don't come apart easily in your digestive system. It takes a lot of of the lipase enzyme which you release from your gall bladder in the bile. This bile digests the fat in your intestines. You can only produce so much bile and lipase per day, and if you exceed the amount of fat you can digest, then you can become constipated or wind up with severe flora imbalances due to bacteria digesting the food that you can not digest.

When it comes to the omega-3 to omega-6 ratio, virtually all nuts, seeds, grains and beans are terrible. The only exceptions to that are flax, chia and hemp. When it comes to the calcium to phosphorous ratio (important for bones), all nuts, seeds, grains and beans are terrible except for sesame seeds and spice seeds such as fennel and celery seed.

What can we learn from this? That our diets should not consist primarily of nuts, seeds, grains and beans!

While these foods are healthy and provide many great benefits, they are not intended to make up the bulk of the diet. Imagine a whole plant. It has a lot more roots, stalk, leaves and flowers than it does seeds.

Look at a whole raspberry bush. The leaves, berries and seeds are all edible. Imagine you ate all the edible parts of the bush. If you imagine the raspberry bush leaves in a bowl, the berries in a bowl, and the extracted seeds in yet another bowl, you'll find the bowl of leaves about fifteen times as large as the bowl of berries, and the bowl of berries about fifteen times as large as the bowl of seeds.

That is an accurate demonstration of how nature provides exactly the right balance that our bodies need. Because if you look at the nutrition of that, that ratio of greens to fruit to seeds will work marvelously for all ratios in our diet.

At the least, consume a pound of leafy greens per day. Leafy greens contain ample protein, healthy fats, a great omega-3 to omega-6 ratio, a great calcium to phosphorous ratio, a great potassium to sodium ratio and so on. Leafy greens are perfect for humans in all ways. You virtually can't eat too many of them.

In conclusion, have a teaspoon or two of coconut oil when you cook or in your raw vegan desserts. Have a little refrigerated cold-pressed flax oil or hemp oil or chia oil on your salads. And focus on eating fresh fruits and leafy greens.

For more detailed information about healthy eating, sign up for my free e-course on the bottom right of this page.

Can our bodies recycle nutrients? Which nutrients can we recycle?

Question: "Since our body can go 20 days with water alone without danger, it seems that nutrient depletion is going at a very slow rate. I am sure that some nutrients do go faster than others. I would like to know which ones we really need to get more often and what frequency, and quantity. A more important question would be which ones are necessary for keeping our more important organs healthy... It seems so complex, animals bodies are so complex, but it seems that all wild animals find easily their ideal diets while we are still wondering and counting calories."

You raise excellent questions! I'm so glad to hear something other than "Where do you get protein?" for a change!

Protein, incidentally, is something we can recycle a lot. So is vitamin B12. However, our ability to recycle minerals, proteins, vitamins, etc, is hampered by toxins. So if you live in a standard chemical-filled home in America, wear conventional clothing, ride in vechicles, spend time in cities, etc, then you're exposed to a lot of toxins constantly.

To deal with those toxins you need a lot of antioxidants, which is why so many people get so much benefit from adding antioxidant-rich foods to their diet (such as blueberries and goji berries).

If you go out into nature far away from cell phone towers, traffic, drywall, paint, cigarettes, and so on. If you sleep under the stars wrapped in an organic-cotton sleeping bag... You'll find your need for nutrients diminish dramatically.

When I travel by airplane I pack a huge sack full of apples, oranges, celery, pomegranates, kiwis and so on, and I eat the entire time. If I stop eating for more than two hours I start to feel sick, exhausted, drained, and dizzy. That is because airplane travel is so toxic to our bodies. That is the main reason why people need so much time to recover. The time difference thing really doesn't affect people nearly as much as being in oxygen-deprived areas and exposure to jet fuel fumes.

The other factor in recycling nutrients is what your body is used to. While the human body can thrive on only 25 grams of protein per day, you'll seriously hurt yourself if you dropped from 110 grams to 25 grams out of the blue. It takes your body time to adjust. Also, the more the protein comes from leafy greens, the better your body will be at recycling the protein and building muscle with it.

As for what organs are most important and what nutrients fuel those organs best... There really isn't an answer. Every organ is inter-dependent. For example, your kidneys make your bone marrow. Without healthy kidneys, your bones will degrade.

Your liver is responsible for what toxins make it to your colon versus your kidneys versus being stored in your fat. Without a healthy liver, your kidneys can be compromised, which in turn will compromise your bones and teeth. If your heart isn't circulating blood well, then you may not get nutrients to your extremities very well, resulting in problems in your feet, hands and vision.

If your stomach isn't producing enough acid, then food may go into your intestines not digested, causing bacteria and worms to eat the food instead, which can lead to severe flora imbalances which affect which nutrients you absorb, which can lead to not getting enough B-vitamins, which will make you feel depressed.

You see how low stomach acid can cause depression and how a weak liver can lead to cavities in the teeth? It may seem far-out, but it is true. In fact, cavities themselves are so stressful on the body that they can cause adrenal fatigue, leading to thyroid problems which lead to excess weight. It all goes in circles because every organ depends on every other organ. Nutrients work the same way — they all depend on one another.

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Vitamin D2 versus Vitamin D3

A friend asks:

I'm puzzled about vitamin D. I have been taking D₃, as widely recommended, but now I hear I should be taking vitamin D₂. What's the story?

As far as science knows at this time, our body treats D₂ and D₃ exactly the same. The only difference is that D₃ comes from animal sources, such as sheep fat, and D₂ comes from plant sources, such as mushrooms or algae. (Note, only a very specific and specially raised mushroom contains D₃.)

With many vitamins, the number at the end can signify an entirely different purpose. Vitamin K₁, for example, coagulates blood. Vitamin K₂ directs where calcium is stored in the body (making the difference between hard arteries or healthy bones). So K₁ and K₂ are entirely different!

With vitamin D, the actual function in the body is the same as far as science can tell right now, it is just that D₂ is better for the environment and doesn't contribute to animal cruelty.

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Is soy good or bad for digestion?

Is soy healthy?

The natural soy bean, sometimes known as edamame, has been used to treat menopause and hormonal imbalance for thousands of years in Eastern medicine. The soy bean, like any natural plant edible to humans, is healthy as part of a diverse diet. Just like the natural cane stalk is a healthy plant when eaten in its natural unprocessed form.

Yet you undoubtedly know that white sugar, beet sugar and corn syrup are all highly detrimental to your health. Yet raw, organic, corn on the cob is a very healthful addition to the diet, and so are beets. (Conventional corn is almost always GMO, and cooked corn is hard for most people to digest.)

While poppy seeds are often added to bread and quite healthful, the juice of the poppy flower can be refined into heroin, an addictive and dangerous substance.

Soy, like cane stalks, poppy seeds, corn cobs, and beets, is a perfectly viable food source. Unlike kidney beans, which are toxic when consumed raw, the soy bean can be eaten raw and fresh. One might even call that an indicator that soy is a safer food than kidney beans.

Yet nobody makes "kidney bean burgers" or "kidney bean protein extract" or "kidney bean tofu". The refined versions of soy are refined. There is nothing wrong with soy. There is something very wrong with the refinement process.

Beans are hard to digest

As an aside to that, all beans are quite hard to digest because of their complex mix of protein, starchy carbohydrates, a bit of fat, and enzyme inhibitors (sometimes known as "anti nutrients"). The enzyme inhibitors are released through soaking and rinsing the beans thoroughly prior to cooking. To make beans even more digestable, sprout them slightly before consuming them raw or cooked.

While all foods have some fat, some carbs and some protein, most foods do not also have so much starch as beans, and starch and protein are hard to digest together because they require enzymes with opposing pH levels which neutralize each other in the stomach, causing beans to take 6+ hours to digest for most Americans. With a compromised digestive system (acid reflux is one symptom of a compromised digestive system), digestion of beans can be downright hazardous, as I know from personal experience.

If you suffer from any digestive problems (colon cancer, constipation, acid reflux, upset stomach, heart burn, irritable bowl, etc), then I don't recommend beans in general. For more information on this topic, read "The Shocking Truth About Beans".

Instead, eat more raw leafy greens, celery, cucumber, bell peppers, broccoli and cauliflower as raw as possible and as often as possible, and chew thoroughly.

If you don't suffer from any digestive problems, then enjoy organic soy products in balanced proportion to every other healthy food that makes up your diet.

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