Ep. 28: The Low Fat Diet BUSTED for 5 Reasons

The Fed+Fit Podcast | Nurturing a Healthy Mindset for a Healthy Lifestyle

We’re back with our 28th episode of the Fed+Fit Podcast! Remember to check back every Monday for a new episode and be sure to subscribe on iTunes!

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Episode 28 Topics:

• News Real from Cassy Joy and Charissa [2:09]
• Types of fats reviewed [16:50]
• Do we need fat? [21:46]
• The 5 reasons why we NEED fat
• Kasandrinos Olive Oil
• Skintervention Guide by Liz Wolfe
• Fed: How Cassy Joy adds fat in her diet [40:59]
• Fit: Charissa’s go-to quick workout [44:08]

We would LOVE some feedback, so feel free to leave a review in iTunes, comment below, or even give us a shout on social media!

Ep. 28: The Low Fat Diet BUSTED for 5 Reasons

This is the Fed and Fit podcast starting your week off with motivational thoughts on real food and fun fitness activities with Cassy Joy Garcia and co-host, Charissa Talbot. Remember our disclaimer; the information and opinions shared in this podcast are solely those of any given individual, and not a substitute for medical advice. Here are the ladies.

Today we’re going to talk about how we BUSTED the Low Fat Myth for 5 Reasons; my personal go-to fats; and a quick gym workout.

1. Cassy’s News Real [2:09]
2. Charissa’s News Real [9:45]
3. Today’s topic: the low fat diet myth [16:50]
4. Number 1: Do we need fat? [21:46]
5. Number 2: will low fat get you the body of your dreams [25:04]
6. Number 3: will it regulate your blood cholesterol? [29:54]
7. Number 4: Balancing the plate [32:08]
8. Number 5: Maintaining longevity of health [34:09]
9. Fed: How Cassy does fat in her diet [40:59]
10. Fit: Charissa’s go-to quick workout [44:08]

Cassy Joy: And we’re back with another episode of the Fed and Fit podcast! Can you believe we’re on episode 28, Charissa?

Charissa Talbot: I’m having, I was just; so every Wednesday I walk with a girlfriend of mine, Sarah. We try to do every Wednesday because we’re both so busy and we have to schedule time to catch up. And we were just walking this morning going, is there really basically only 5 months left in this year? How did this happen? We were both listing off things we really want to get accomplished this year that we haven’t, and we’re like, how are we going to do this. {laughs} So it’s like this year, it’s like, hello, it’s July! What happened?

Cassy Joy: {laughs}

Charissa Talbot: We started this in January. It’s crazy how fast this last 6 months have just gone. They’re just gone. I’m like {laughs} wait a minute, what’s happening!

Cassy Joy: Oh man. Not that you’re asking for it, but I would prescribe some meditation. {laughs}

Charissa Talbot: Yes.

Cassy Joy: Yeah, it’s tough. It’s tough to watch the calendar tick by. I’m in a slightly different mindset, because I want it to tick by faster almost.

Charissa Talbot: Right.

Cassy Joy: Because I want to be married!

Charissa Talbot: Yep.

1. Cassy’s News Real [2:09]

Cassy Joy: I want to marry my best friend. And that’s going to happen this October. Which takes me right into today’s news real. So the first update I have for you guys is that we’ve chosen some flower girl dresses, and they are sparkly. I’m so excited about it. If you want to see a picture of it, I posted one, a sneak peak on Instagram.

Charissa Talbot: It’s like any little girls dream dress!

Cassy Joy: {laughs}

Charissa Talbot: Or even adult girl. Oh my gosh.

Cassy Joy: Yeah, there were a lot of people who saw the picture, because I put one in there #iwantoneinmysize. I’m not even kidding. Charissa, when these things came in. You know the saying, doing unto others as you would have them do unto you, right, that’s classic.

Charissa Talbot: Right.

Cassy Joy: Clearly I would want someone to deck me out head to toe in blush colored sparkles.

Charissa Talbot: Oh my gosh.

Cassy Joy: But, I also believe there’s a lot of merit of doing unto others as they would have you do unto them, right?

Charissa Talbot: Right.

Cassy Joy: Switch it up a little bit. And I just so happen to be blessed with 4 little flower girls. One of them we haven’t, we want to ask her in person because she’s the oldest, and she’d really get it, you know, if we sat down and talked to her about it.

Charissa Talbot: Yeah.

Cassy Joy: So we get to ask her in August, and give her the dress then. But, I’m just so lucky that these 4 little girls who are all nieces, they happen to love sparkles, as well. So everybody wins. And I’m just so excited. But when these things came in, I literally held one up in front of me, looking in a mirror thinking, yeah, yeah, this would look really cute. {laughs}

Charissa Talbot: Yep. I think what you might have to; I don’t know. I see you and your sister totally rocking these. I think you do need to get them made in your size and wear them. {laughs}

Cassy Joy: That would be so fun. You know, and actually I wore a rose gold sparkly sequined maxi skit for our …

Charissa Talbot: For your engagement photos!

Cassy Joy: Mm-hmm, for our engagement photos.

Charissa Talbot: Yes!

Cassy Joy: So there is kind of a thread. None of this is planned, you know?

Charissa Talbot: Right.

Cassy Joy: A friend of mine, when you’re planning a wedding, or you’re decorating a house, and I might have mentioned this here before, but it can be difficult to think about, because it’s a really complex thing. How do you pick a theme, and how does everything stick to the theme? You can either look at choosing things for the wedding, or choosing a dining room chair or whatever it is and worry about how it fits into your theme, which can be stressful and worrisome and whatever. Or, you can look at it and thing, is this my taste or not?

My friend Steven, who was in a former life an interior decorator; he told me, Cassy just pick things you enjoy, and it will all work together in the end. You know what; I did not pick these flower girl dresses because they matched the skirt I wore in our engagement photo, I just happened to like it and it all happens to work out in the end.

Charissa Talbot: Aww!

Cassy Joy: It’s exciting. Moving on, number 2. Update on my Fed and Fit garden. I know some of you enjoy hearing about this, because you tell me.

Charissa Talbot: {laughs}

Cassy Joy: My cucumbers are rocking it. I have more cucumbers than I know what to do with. My spaghetti squash kind of kicked the bucket. I’ve got one out of 6 left that’s still blooming, so I’m not sure what happened there. I did manage to get 4 or 5 squash off of it before it went caput.

Charissa Talbot: Awww.

Cassy Joy: But the biggest update of all, everything is thriving. My nightshades are doing so well. My tomatillos are blowing up, my little honeybees are loving it. I’ve got my first purple blossoms on the eggplants, it’s all gravy. But the war with the caterpillars over my cabbage patch; you know, the kales and the collards, I’ve officially waved the white flag. I surrender.

Charissa Talbot: Aww!

Cassy Joy: I surrender! I can’t do it anymore. We’ve been through a couple of rounds, and I read online for organic gardening, what you have to do is you have to go out, lift up all the leaves, squish all the eggs, and there could be as many as a hundred eggs on each leaf and I planted 15 each collard and kales.

Charissa Talbot: {gasp} Uh-huh.

Cassy Joy: So it’s like, an amazing number of little caterpillar eggs, and it was the grossest thing I’ve ever done in my life, squishing these things. So eventually I was like, forget it, because you have to squish them all, make sure they’re clean, you water them, I’ve read with molasses water and then you install row covers to keep the moths off of them from laying more eggs, and I just didn’t move fast enough and I was like, uncle. So they all got a very nice organic garden lunch.

Charissa Talbot: {laughs}

Cassy Joy: {laughs} And I’m going to think about doing something else. And the last thing on my update, I’ll try to move more quickly. I had forgotten about this, but Charissa reminded me about the call. San Antonio magazine, which if you’re not familiar with me, that’s where I live, in San Antonio, Texas. They reached out to me not to long ago; what, a couple of weeks ago now? And asked if I would be willing to participate in their upcoming tastemaker magazine edition. It’s a print magazine, I think its monthly now, and it’s really well done. I was like, yeah, that sounds great, I’d love to! I was thinking it might be a little thumbnail feature on one of the pages, and honestly I get a lot of magazine requests, especially for recipe stuff.

Charissa Talbot: Yeah.

Cassy Joy: And you just kind of crank out, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and they send me a magazine and I’m excited and surprised, I almost forgot.

Charissa Talbot: {laughs}

Cassy Joy: Well, this one they wanted to interview me, and that was really sweet, and then I get on the interview with this gal, and she spends 30-45 minutes chatting with me. I was like, wow this is a lot of information for a little blurb. {laughs}

Charissa Talbot: Yeah.

Cassy Joy: And then she confesses it’s kind of a larger feature, and when can we schedule the photo shoot for the piece.

Charissa Talbot: Wow. So exciting.

Cassy Joy: I was like, oh that’s so fun! So it gets even better from here, Charissa. So then, the photographer reaches out to me, and says, hey, calling to schedule the photo shoot, we’ve got to get it done ASAP, yadda, yadda. You know, those time lines for print publications are pretty aggressive.

Charissa Talbot: Mm-hmm.

Cassy Joy: And he says, you know, I was looking at your blog, and I thought it would be really cool, and he says I have these crazy ideas, feel free to shoot me down. I’m not easily offended. But I have this idea, what if you and your dog Gus are in the photo together, and the two of you are sitting at a table having a meal together like he’s a like a person? {laughs} But he’s got his dog bowl in front of him.

Charissa Talbot: Aww! So cute! I love Gus.

Cassy Joy: I just about fell out of my chair. I was like, heck yes, where do I sign.

Charissa Talbot: Yes. Heck yes.

Cassy Joy: And so we did it. Gus, in order to get him in the chair was a feat.

Charissa Talbot: Ok, if you understand how big Gus is, you’ll understand.

Cassy Joy: {laughs}

Charissa Talbot: I can’t wait to see what it turns out like for the final. Oh my gosh; he’s huge!

Cassy Joy: He’s enormous. He’s a really big boy. Actually, behind the scenes, I haven’t posted this anywhere else, but at the photo shoot we’re sitting at this table together, and they had to put 2 pillows under me so Gus wasn’t towering over me.

Charissa Talbot: {laughs} Right.

Cassy Joy: {laughing} It turned out really well, so I’m excited about that. I’ll post a picture, I know not everybody is going to be able to get San Antonio magazine, so I’ll post a picture when it comes out. I think it’s going to be August. So keep your eyes peeled for that!

Charissa Talbot: That’s awesome.

Cassy Joy: That’s all I’ve got.

2. Charissa’s News Real [9:45]

Charissa Talbot: Well I’m back on another Whole 30, and if you guys were listening to our podcast earlier this year, the last time I did a Whole 30 was like a big wake up call for me, and I realized that I had just kind of gone way far off the rails of paleo, and so it was good. Now this time, this Whole 30 I’m not having any symptoms, so far knock on wood, and it’s been smooth, and it’s a good thing. I’m happy to be doing it again. It’s a good little break.

The main reason I’m doing it is because in 30 days from tomorrow I am actually going on a weeklong vacation in Panama, which I’m really excited about.

Cassy Joy: Wohoo! You are a vacationing diva. That’s awesome.

Charissa Talbot: Well, I had an opportunity, and normally I wouldn’t take so many vacations.

Cassy Joy: Oh, I support it.

Charissa Talbot: I haven’t in a long time, and it’s like, I feel like, alright I’m going to go on some trips. But I’m excited, I’m excited. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be backpacking and a lot of hiking, but it’s good because it’s going to prepare me for my little trek with you later this year, so that will be fun.

Cassy Joy: Yeah!

Charissa Talbot: An interesting thing happened to me the other day, and I don’t know, maybe if you guys can comment in the show notes, if you guys have experienced this or what your thoughts are on this. So, when I was on my vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, I bought a donut and ate it. And I did not have a very severe reaction, like nothing was awful, right?

Cassy Joy: Mm-hmm.

Charissa Talbot: Then the other day, I went out to lunch with a friend, and within 20 minutes, significant difference, and I knew that I had been glutened. But here’s the thing; it’s very strange that when I made the decision to eat that donut, I wasn’t doing it, I had consciously decided I was going to eat that and it was going to be ok, right? And here, I went into a restaurant, and I had a severe reaction. So I don’t know, it just made me think about food, and how we think about food when we’re eating it, and how big of an impact that actually has. I don’t know, it’s interesting. It’s interesting to think about that side of things, you know?

Cassy Joy: Mm-hmm.

Charissa Talbot: It was just weird. It was just weird.

Cassy Joy: That is interesting. You know, and I think I totally agree. I think mindset has more to do with how we react maybe than is really apparent or that we automatically want to associate; but there also could have been other things in whatever you ate recently.

Charissa Talbot: Who knows, yeah.

Cassy Joy: Yeah. There is some new research coming out that folks that; ohh, and it’s ties in well with today’s topic. But folks who have avoided trans fats and other dangerous vegetable oil type fats for a long time, and have really started to feel great.

Charissa Talbot: Mm-hmm.

Cassy Joy: When they kind of get that, let’s call it the canola oil exposure.

Charissa Talbot: Yeah.

Cassy Joy: Unintentional, the reaction sometimes can be just as bad, if not worse, than a gluten exposure to somebody who is gluten intolerant, opposed to having a severe allergy.

Charissa Talbot: Yeah. Who knows.

Cassy Joy: There’s also monosodium glutamate. That could have an been an MSG exposure. Austin, bless his heart, his favorite Thai restaurant in town in 5 minutes from our house, and he loves their Panang curry, and he wants, if I’m having a really long day he’ll try to be really sweet and go get us dinner, from there, and I’ll eat it knowing that for the next 5 days I’m going to have an MSG bloat. {laughs}

Charissa Talbot: Yeah, I mean who knows what exactly it was, but definitely interesting.

Cassy Joy: That is really interesting. Something to chew on.

Charissa Talbot: One last little tidbit before we break into; and I love you Cassy. You made a comment about the Jurassic World movie.

Cassy Joy: Oh {laughs}.

Charissa Talbot: That I thought was so cute. And I have to tell, I went to go see the new Terminator; and amazing. Does not disappoint. If you are a fan of the Terminator movies, this movie ties all the movies together in one pretty little bow. Arnold is great in it, he’s funny. They were very crafty with the writing. The story line, within the first 10 minutes you’re like, oh, this is what it’s going to be? And then it turns it all around and it takes you on this ride. If you’re a fan of the movies, go see it. It will not disappoint. I was stressed because I was like, is this really going to be good? It was good. But Cassy, you may not want to see it. {laughs}

Cassy Joy: I probably shouldn’t. To fill you guys in, because you probably, I’m probably not personally friends with all of you on Facebook, because I posted on my personal account, if you’ve seen Jurassic World, you’ll know what I’m talking about. I am such a goober; I go to these movies, and my sister came with us, me and Austin last night. I have my movie bag, and in my movie bag is my big comfy blanket, and I like to just get wrapped up. We go to this placed called Alamo draft house.

Charissa Talbot: That’s where I go too, yeah.

Cassy Joy: It’s my favorite. We get dinner, and it’s so much fun. I got a glass of wine. Anyway, I wrap myself up in this blanket, and the movie was so stressful, to me, I watched half of it with the blanket pulled over my eyes, and I kept asking Austin {laughs} I was like, oh my gosh is that part over yet? I can’t handle it. This is not a spoiler alert, there are little sweet dinosaurs get hurt in this movie, and I know it’s not real, it just bothers me so much. Oh my goodness! And then we’re going home, we’re in the car on the way home, and I can’t help but lean over; Austin is driving, I lean over to see how fast we’re going because I want to make sure that we’re going over 50 miles an hour, because apparently that’s how fast a raptor can run. {laughing}

Charissa Talbot: {laughs} I know. I was like, oh I love this woman.

Cassy Joy: I’m a very sensitive person, apparently, and I shouldn’t see anything above G rated.

Charissa Talbot: No. Don’t watch the Walking Dead.

Cassy Joy: Probably shouldn’t.

Charissa Talbot: Don’t do it. No.

Cassy Joy: I haven’t, I really liked, what was the zombie apocalypse movie? Zombieland.

Charissa Talbot: Oh, Zombieland. Ok.

Cassy Joy: I really liked that movie.

Charissa Talbot: Well maybe you could.

3. Today’s topic: the low fat diet myth [160:50]

Cassy Joy: Ok, sorry. Let’s get to it. You guys are being so patient!

Charissa Talbot: We’ve gone off track. This is a good one today.

Cassy Joy: It is. Charissa and I were throwing around some show ideas, and this one kept coming back and I think it’s a good one. Because I’ve been getting some questions, and there are some folks who are following a paleo/grain free lifestyle, and they’re running into some health road blocks. I’ve found upon talking with them and sitting down and really asking them what they’re eating, it seems like they’re really not taking in enough fat. And the reason why they’re not taking in enough fat is because of this subconscious programming that went on when the low fat diet really started to pick up speed in the media, and you started seeing all of these success stories. When that started to pick up speed, it just really imprinted on a bunch of folks that fat is bad, and if I’m trying to be healthy, I should probably try to reduce fat.

So some of these people I’ve been working with, we’ve upped their healthy fat intake; asterisk over that, healthy fat intake, and all of a sudden, if they were trying to lose weight, some of the weight comes off a little bit easier that they’re supposed to be losing. Or they’re sleeping better, or they’ve got more energy. It’s just amazing the wonderful things that fat does for your body.

Charissa Talbot: Yeah.

Cassy Joy: So that’s what we’re going to talk about today, and I’m pretty pumped about it. Before we get to the 5 reasons why we’re busting up that low fat myth, I just want to do some background information so everybody is kind of on the same page. Because it can get a little confusing when we’re talking about fats.

Charissa Talbot: Yeah.

Cassy Joy: There’s a bunch of different fats about there, and there’s a bunch of different rabbit holes that we can go down, but we’re really only going to talk pretty top level here, so we’re going to try to keep it as basic as possible, and then we’ll save for another episode the omega-6/omega-3 battleground; really what does that mean?

Charissa Talbot: Right.

Cassy Joy: So we’ll talk about that later, just so you know. Today, we’re going to talk about the fats that… go ahead.

Charissa Talbot: There’s the main 3, right?

Cassy Joy: Right, the main 3 fats we’re going to be talking about today are going to be unsaturated, saturated, and trans fats. Ok, so those are the ones that we’re addressing today. Just to cover our bases, unsaturated fats, which include both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated typically come from plants. They come from olive oil, corn, canola oils, which we know in our paleo/antiinflammation game that canola and corn oils actually promote inflammation due to an omega-6 balance. So anyways, they are an unsaturated fat, which unsaturated tends to be touted as healthier, right?

Charissa Talbot: Mm-hmm.

Cassy Joy: Than saturated fats, which is why canola oil and vegetable oil consumption was on the rise. So moving on; saturated fats, which typically come from animal products such as meat and dairy, and there are other plant based saturated fats; avocado and coconut are some good examples. The myth in the past was that they increased the risk of heart disease because they raise the bad LDL cholesterol in the body. This is false; we’ll talk about why in a little bit. I actually think it’s pretty interesting, the National Institute of Health recommends that 10% or less of your daily calories should be from saturated fats, and the American Heart Association recommends even less, like 7%. And this is pretty interesting stuff; if you want to spend a good hour Googling things, and being shocked at the way some of these organizations are run and some of the research that’s really not backed up with these claims, I recommend it.

Charissa Talbot: Right.

Cassy Joy: So that’s saturated fat, unsaturated fat, and then lastly trans fats, which are found in products like margarine and shortening, and then therefore found in a lot of those shelf stable baked goods, like cookies, cakes, pies, cupcakes, and all those things. That’s where you’ll find the trans fats. And trans fats are created when a food manufacturer tries to change a liquid fat into a more solid fat, which is where we get the hydrogenated oils, that word comes from, and what the reason for that is to increase the shelf life of packaged food. And whether you’re following a low fat diet, a paleo diet, whatever it is, any kind of honest to goodness probably well intentioned diet plan out there is going to recommend that you avoid trans fats.

Charissa Talbot: Right. It’s kind of like the black sheep of the three.

Cassy Joy: It is. We’re talking about fat is good for you.

Charissa Talbot: Right.

Cassy Joy: Even having said that, we do not recommend trans fats or other highly processed fats like vegetable oil, corn, and canola.

4. Number 1: Do we need fat? [21:46]

Charissa Talbot: OK, so, Cassy, do we actually need fat?

Cassy Joy: We do. Reason number 1 why we’re busting the low fat myth; your body actually needs dietary fat to survive. Fats, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and saturated fats all play a critical role in the various metabolic processes that go on in our bodies. And when your fat is coming from good, healthy sources, I want you to think of the calories associated with that fat as good calories. Yes, there are more calories per volume in a fat versus a carbohydrate, so you may not get that full feeling than you would from eating a cup of, I don’t know.

Charissa Talbot: It’s a different kind of full feeling, though. It’s like, when you have more of these good types of fats, you feel satisfied with a smaller amount of food, and you don’t feel stuffed, but you feel satiated, right?

Cassy Joy: Right, satiated is the word I was going to use. It’s exactly right. It will last you longer, essentially is what that means. So just remember that your body really needs dietary fat to survive. They do a lot of good into it; I’m not going to get into the weeds of what exactly it does, but it can do everything from help to promote cardiovascular health, brain health, liver health, and I’m talking about saturated fats there.

Charissa Talbot: Yeah.

Cassy Joy: That’s usually the one that gets the boot from a lot of low fat diet promoters; they say avoid all saturated fats and really saturated fats do a body good.

Charissa Talbot: And I would challenge any lady out there who is may still kind of; because I would say there’s a good amount of women, and I say this because it’s been drilled into our head for so long, that fat’s bad, right? So, like I remember when I first started trying to increase my fat, and it just made me really scared. It’s very nerve wracking, because you’ve been drilled for so long; fats are bad, you shouldn’t have too much fat. But I will tell you, even if you add a little bit of butter to your coffee in the morning, or cook your morning eggs in butter, or something, just a small thing like that, you’ll notice your cognitive thinking is better, you’re clear, you’re more focused. So you’ll feel the difference. It’s really nice. You just have to get over that fear bump, right? {laughs}

Cassy Joy: Totally, yeah, exactly. Your body needs it, and you’re right, it’s apparent. When you start taking in more healthy fats, pay attention to yourself. And that’s what we talk about in the Fed and Fit project, we really focus on paying attention to how our body reacts to certain things, and when you do start eating, let’s say, a quarter of an avocado in the morning with breakfast, and you’ll like, wow! I had the most productive morning, you know?

Charissa Talbot: Mm-hmm.

5. Number 2: will low fat get you the body of your dreams [25:04]

Cassy Joy: There’s a correlation you can draw there. Ok, number 2 reason why we are busting that low fat myth; you will not, by pursuing a low fat diet, get the body of your dreams. Ok, and that’s usually what draws people in.

Charissa Talbot: Right.

Cassy Joy: So let’s definitely tip our hat to it. If you’re looking and you’re seeing these transformation photos of people who went low fat or whatever, they’re on some new low fat supplement and you see this picture of them from 100 pounds overweight to now they’re ripped and shredded and have very low body fat percentage; realize that A) that’s not real. They probably did some other things, and they probably can’t sustain that low body fat percentage for very long. But what actually happens on a low fat diet is, it can cause you to hang on to excess mass and inflammation, especially around your midsection. So the reason why a low fat diet works for some people short term is because it significantly reduces their caloric intake. Right?

Charissa Talbot: Right.

Cassy Joy: There are calories associated with fats, and when people, let’s say, from a very basic standpoint, if someone is taking in way more calories than they need. Charissa and I do not promote calorie counting, but if someone is taking in, let’s say, 3 times as many calories than they need and those calories happen to be coming from…

Charissa Talbot: Poor sources.

Cassy Joy: Poor sources, exactly. What we’re talking about that is trans fats, hydrogenated, canola oil, whatever. Then you have a double whammy. You’ve got way too many calories, to the point where you’re body cannot process them all and you’re going to start to pack on excess body fat, and B) it’s going to cause extra inflammation so your body can’t process what you’re taking in, as well.

Charissa Talbot: Right. Really, everyone should be on a low bad fat diet; meaning keep all your good fats up there, and the bad ones, all the processed foods, that should be low, you know?

Cassy Joy: Yep.

Charissa Talbot: That’s a once in a while thing.

Cassy Joy: I actually wrote that in a bullet, Charissa. {laughs}

Charissa Talbot: Oh, good! I didn’t even see that.

Cassy Joy: It’s ok. {laughs}

Charissa Talbot: My bad.

Cassy Joy: It’s ok, you’re right. You’re dead on. I’m glad it’s all coming together. So that’s exactly it.

Charissa Talbot: Charissa, will you stick to the show notes, please. {laughs}

Cassy Joy: {laughing} I think it’s funny. I’m glad everything is coming together. So when people are taking in; also keep in mind that when you start to cut out fats, you’re going to have to replace it with something, right?

Charissa Talbot: Yeah.

Cassy Joy: And so when we cut out fats, and just like Charissa said, you may not feel as full but it satiates you for longer.

Charissa Talbot: Yeah.

Cassy Joy: That feeling becomes a hole to us, and we want to fill it with something. So what we wind up filling it with when we’re avoiding fats is we start filling it with carbs.

Charissa Talbot: Mm-hmm.

Cassy Joy: Too many carbs. And usually, really refined carbohydrates because we want to make sure that we’re not taking in too many calories. So the low fat often goes hand in hand with a low calorie diet is what you’ll find.

Charissa Talbot: Right.

Cassy Joy: There was a time when I did that. I pursued that, girl! I went so far, and you guys stick with me here, this was 6-7 years ago when I was just at my wit’s end, it was before I discovered real food, before I pursued a degree in nutrition, I was so hypersensitive of how much fat and calories I was taking in that I would go down the baby aisle, the baby food aisle, and I bought those little cereal puffs to eat, because they filled my tummy with volume, but they have essentially no calories.

Charissa Talbot: Mm-hmm.

Cassy Joy: Babies eat them because good for chewing and learning things, but I would eat those things. So I’m taking in these super refined foods, I was severely calorie restrictive, my body was inflamed, I was not taking in enough fats, and I didn’t understand why that wasn’t working.

Charissa Talbot: Right. I know; same thing. I was on the low fat, and I was a personal trainer at that time, and I was doing 6 small meals a day, low fat, healthy whole grains, all that thing. You know? And it wasn’t working.

Cassy Joy: No, it doesn’t work. It will not get you the body of your dreams.

Charissa Talbot: No. Whatever that may look like.

Cassy Joy: Whatever that may look like!

Charissa Talbot: It will not give you optimal health.

Cassy Joy: The reason I worded it that way, the body of your dreams, is because what often draws people into a diet isn’t necessarily because they’re trying to get a healthier blood profile, it’s because they want to look a certain way. I just want to let you know that you are not going to get there from here.

Charissa Talbot: Yeah.

6. Number 3: will it regulate your blood cholesterol? [29:54]

Cassy Joy: That’s a whole nother can of worms in a lot of other directions, but there we are. The reason why we’re busting the low fat myth; speaking of blood panel, it will not actually help you regulate your blood cholesterol levels like you might think.

Charissa Talbot: {gasp} What? Wait a minute?

Cassy Joy: Yep.

Charissa Talbot: Are you serious?

Cassy Joy: I am totally, I am dead serious. There is very little evidence actually showing a correlation between saturated fat intake and blood cholesterol levels. So, just the cholesterol that you actually consume through your mouth and you chew it up coming from animal products and other things like that does not automatically convert into blood cholesterol. The cholesterol that shows up in your blood work is manufactured by your body.

Charissa Talbot: Yeah.

Cassy Joy: Ok? So just kind of keep that in mind. It’s not one for one. It’s not like for every piece of cholesterol I eat doesn’t equal the cholesterol in your blood work.

Charissa Talbot: Right.

Cassy Joy: However, there is emerging evidence that suggests that high cholesterol, and typically when we talk about high cholesterol we’re talking about LDL cholesterol, is related to inflammation.

Charissa Talbot: Mm-hmm.

Cassy Joy: Right? So the more information your body has, or is undergoing, typically that will contribute to an imbalance in blood cholesterol levels, which has its own myriad of health impacts. So, instead of focusing on limiting dietary cholesterol; i.e. dietary fat because the two often go hand in hand, maybe we should start focusing on an antiinflammation diet. And, if you have not heard the most popular antiinflammation diet/lifestyle out there, it’s called paleo. And that’s really the purpose behind paleo.

Charissa Talbot: Yeah.

Cassy Joy: It’s not so that we can live like cavemen.

Charissa Talbot: Like cavemen {laughs}.

Cassy Joy: Exactly. It’s not because we’re trying to get back to our days of Thor or whatever.

Charissa Talbot: I don’t want to be dragged around by my hair. No.

Cassy Joy: No. That’s not what it’s like. It just so happens to be called paleo, but really it’s the pursuit of trying to reduce as much inflammation as possible.

Charissa Talbot: I’m a glamping girl, I don’t know. {laughs}

Cassy Joy: Oh, A to the men. We’re going to glamp our little hineys off in September.

Charissa Talbot: I’m excited.

Cassy Joy: Ok.

7. Number 4: Balancing the plate [32:08]

Charissa Talbot: Number four.

Cassy Joy: Number 4 reason why we’re busting the low fat myth, is that it creates an unbalanced, unhealthy plate. We already kind of touched on this before, how we start consuming more carbohydrates, but it’s really true. When fat is off the plate, when we’re afraid of avocado and we’re afraid of coconut because, heaven forbid, it’s got that horrible saturated fat in it, what’s left for your plate? Avocado and coconuts and butter from grass-fed cows are so rich in wonderful nutrients.

Charissa Talbot: Yeah.

Cassy Joy: And when we take those out of the equation what we’re left with to look at our plate is going to be less nutrient dense. Ok, so if you’re really trying to get healthy, and you’re trying to be and feel and maybe even look awesome, I’m not going to demonize people who want to look a certain way.

Charissa Talbot: No.

Cassy Joy: But if that is really your goal, you’re not going to get there by eating a non-nutrient dense plate.

Charissa Talbot: No.

Cassy Joy: And also note, I think it’s a good note to make, that consuming disproportionate amount of carbohydrates, meaning our fat to carbohydrate ratio is much higher on the carb level, long term, because you can do anything for a short while and it’s going to be fine. But long term, that much carb can actually stress your liver to the point that it raises your blood triglycerides. So, just kind of keep in mind; there is a reaction to everything you do to your body, and if you’re trying to cut corners, you’re trying to lose weight. You’re looking at your plate and you’re like, what has the most calories on my plate. Oh, it is the fat. That means I’m done with fat because I’m trying to cut corners, I want to lose weight because I want to reduce my calorie intake. Just remember that there are consequences in other parts of your body.

8. Number 5: Maintaining longevity of health [34:09]

Charissa Talbot: Last but not least.

Cassy Joy: Last but not least. The reason why the low fat diet myth is being busted today is because the long term health implications are no bueno. They’re not good. Low fat diets can really wind up causing a myriad of not great health problems. If you find yourself, if you’re sitting there, and you’re wondering, hmm. I wonder if I’m taking in enough fat; I wonder if this applies to me? You know what, I’ve been pursuing a really healthy lifestyle, but I don’t’ feel like I’ve got enough energy, I’m always hungry, I can’t seem to lose the inflammation around my belly area and I’m working out and I’m eating great, maybe you’re not taking in enough fat.

Charissa Talbot: Yeah.

Cassy Joy: So those are kind of the benign side of health impacts, meaning not having enough energy, enough mental focus like Charissa alluded to before; but on the other end of things, if you find yourself not being able to regulate your body temperature well, right? You’ve got chills, or you’re really sensitive to hot and cold. That could be a sign you’re not taking in enough dietary fat. If, ladies, you have lost your menstrual cycle, that is a long term consequence of pursuing a low fat diet for too long. Which is just a really major flag you can wave, but the other sneaky, less apparent hormone issues you may not realize are going on, but if you find yourself, let’s say you’ve got a major lack of a sex drive. Or other things are going on, and hormones in general has to do with so much, it’s such an intricate system.

But there are some things you can look at and pay attention to. If you have an irregular cycle, no sex drive, whatever it is, you’re not sleeping well at night, you’re not handling stress and other things that pop up in your life as well as you think you could, it could be a sign that you’re not taking in enough dietary fat. If you constantly feel hungry, that’s definitely a sign. When people are on my Fed and Fit Project for the first 2 weeks we do that feel good reset, and it’s so easy, when you’re coming from, let’s say the Standard American Diet, most people aren’t. Most people are eating what they think is healthy.

Charissa Talbot: Right.

Cassy Joy: But if you’re coming from a Standard American Diet full of whole grains and other things to constitute the majority of your meal, when you pitch those, it’s a mental reset to think about, well what actually should be on your plate? Because I want you to still take in enough food.

Charissa Talbot: Right.

Cassy Joy: And some folks, in the first couple of days decide that they’re still constantly hungry; when we look at their journal and see what they’re actually eating, they’re not taking in enough fat.

Charissa Talbot: Right.

Cassy Joy: And then lastly, if you find yourself with chronically dry skin. Dry skin, and this is something that Liz Wolfe talks about in her Skintervention Guide, which if you’re not familiar with that, I’ll link up to it in the show notes. But she constantly says that healthy, beautiful skin comes from the inside, not from the outside. It’s nourishment based. There are certain things you can do from the outside, like how you cleanse your skin, how you moisturize, the makeup you wear that can have an impact on your dryness profile, so to speak, but it mostly comes from within.

Charissa Talbot: Right.

Cassy Joy: And when you’re taking in enough healthy fats in addition to other awesome nutrients, your skin will start to look better. More supple, more moisturized. So long term health impacts. So the takeaways, to quickly summarize, number 1 – I highly recommend that you do not split hairs when it comes to being over analytical about your dietary fat intake. Ok. The reason I say that is because it’s so easy to become obsessive about the grams of fat you should be taking in on a daily basis, how much of that is unsaturated, how much is saturated. I say, because the majority of people listening are not high level athletes that have to really fine tune their nutrition profile, and if you are that person you probably already know what you need to be taking in. but for the rest of us, who just want to feel good, look good, have awesome energy, and have a great mindset, don’t split hairs. Be a nutrient seeker. Try to enjoy foods across all spectrums, and you’ll be fine.

Charissa Talbot: Yeah.

Cassy Joy: Good fats, just quickly to go over them, include: butter from grass-fed cows, ghee also from grass fed cows is a great option, coconut oil, avocado oil, avocados, nuts and seeds, but not to excess, and the other foods thereof. So coconut oil, meaning coconut meat, the butter, the milk, all that stuff. All those are good fats, so who cares. And then also the fats that come from healthy animals are good. Right? The fatty cut of steak from a no hormone, no antibiotic, grass fed cow. The fat found in that cut of meat I would consider that to be a healthy choice, as well.

Charissa Talbot: Yeah.

Cassy Joy: So don’t think of that as bad. And then lastly, just like Charissa said earlier, gave us a preview, trans fats are not created in nature and therefore should be avoided. If anything, if you’re trying to wrap your mind around this whole low fat thing, where does trans fat fit in, think of yourself as on a non-trans fat diet

Charissa Talbot: Yep.

Cassy Joy: Ok, so avoid the Hostess cupcakes; anything that is baked and is sitting on a shelf, and it was probably made a month ago plus, I guarantee it has trans fats in it. So flip the label over, give it a read.

Charissa Talbot: Yeah.

Cassy Joy: That’s kind of it. We can also expand that to say fats that were not created in nature; be anti those. That would include canola oil and other vegetable oils. Those are highly processed.

Charissa Talbot: Yep. And also, we’ll link in the show notes to our buddy Tony, because even though olive oil is a healthy oil, you also want to have the best quality, and if you want to know more about olive oil, check out the show that we had him on. Because we talk a lot about fat in that one, too. A lot of great information.

Cassy Joy: Yeah, exactly. There’s a lot of hairs we can split, but I hope this was helpful for some people who were just trying to figure out; wait, I thought fat was bad? You know? There are some bad fats, but there are mostly good fats out there, and good fats do really good things for your body.

9. Fed: How Cassy does fat in her diet [40:59]

Charissa Talbot: Yes. For sure. Alright, Cassy, did you want to get us into our Fed segment for this week?

Cassy Joy: Sure. I’ll try to speed through it, I know we’re going a little bit over this. Ok, so Fed. My go-to fats is what I want to talk about today, and I want to talk about them in the context. I want you guys to keep in mind, this is not me on a whim on something I just made up, and decided to research it, and tell you guys about it. My health transformation was over 5 years ago, and was when I went from a size 12/14 to now I’m roughly a dress size 2/4, but I only lost about 5 pounds in that whole process. I built up a lot of muscle, I got really healthy, I went from it being painful to walk, my joints hurt so bad, and now I feel like I have boundless energy. I’ve got a new lease on life. I can also take extended breaks from working out without major consequence. I can get back in there and workout and feel awesome, and I never feel depleted. So I wanted to set the stage there so you know this is real, honest to goodness, long time in the making advice.

So my go to fats; number one, and this is honest. I just prefer these things. I use ghee, grass fed ghee, for cooking. And ghee is just clarified butter. It means that the milk proteins, the casein and other things, have been skimmed off and you’re just left with that golden goodness. It’s shelf stable so you can keep it on your counter top, and I use it for everything from frying eggs to making, oh goodness, stir fries and other things. And I’ve been buying mine from Tin Star, and I’m not affiliated with her, I just really, really like her product so much.

Number two, grass-fed butter for baking. That’s my favorite. I like to buy Kerrygold butter. It is, I would say based on how the cows live, the most nutrient dense out there. And I really like butter in baked goods. I will also use coconut Oil for baked goods. Especially if I’m baking for somebody who has a dairy intolerance.

Number 4, I use coconut milk for cooking, for baking, for anything that calls for milk, you can use coconut milk. I like to buy the canned coconut milk. I can’t remember the name of it off the top of my head, but it’s the green one I buy from Whole Foods. And pro tip, did you know that if you go to Whole Foods and you buy 12 of something, they’ll give you a case discount.

Charissa Talbot: Nice.

Cassy Joy: I also mix it into my coffee when I want a treat. My next favorite fat when I want something to really eat and chew, not drink or cook my eggs in, I love avocados. That is really my favorite. We will keep avocados in the house pretty regularly. I like to buy the little ones, little organic ones, and Austin and I will split it half and half. I will dust it with salt and pepper and eat it with breakfast.

My last go to fat, not that I’m against it, it’s just the one I turn to the least, are nuts and seeds. And, the reason I look to those last is because they are really difficult to digest for a lot of people, myself included, and they also don’t necessarily promote a super balanced omega-3/omega-6 profile, Meaning, antiinflammation. But those are my favorite fats.

10. Fit: Charissa’s go-to quick workout [44:08]

Charissa Talbot: Like it. Like it a lot. Alright, so, what I did for you guys this week, and you can let me know by commenting in the show notes, is letting us know what you think of this. So what I did was I did a workout video for you guys this week. What I did is, this is my go to work out when I’m going into the gym and I just want to get something done quickly and get out. This is the one I always do. So we’ll attached the video there for you guys. What it is, I do 5 rounds of this, and I try to do it without taking a break, so just constantly moving through the 5 rounds and get it done quickly. So it’s 5 push-ups, however, if you’re doing full pushups or on your knees, whatever modification you’re at, then I do 10 weighted step-ups, so I get a nice high step and then I’ll normally do 12 or 15 pounds on each side and do nice and slow and controlled, and really try to think about keeping my core tight the whole time, so keeping yourself upright and just really clean and slow versus going really fast. And then lastly I do 15 kettlebell swings, a nice heavy kettlebell. And then just running through that 5 times with little break, it’s a good little workout. And you’re in and out of the gym.

Cassy Joy: That sounds like a great workout.

Charissa Talbot: Yeah, it’s nice. And it gets everything. It’s like 3 movements that really get your complete body, and I like that one. But I’ll link a video for you guys that I did, see how you like that.

Cassy Joy: Perfect. That sounds great. That’s actually a workout very similar to what I do from home.

Charissa Talbot: I love it. It’s simple.

Cassy Joy: Awesome. Well, thank you guys so much for sticking with us for this long episode. I hope that you were able to get something out of it. I realize, too, side note to the main topic of the conversation that we talked about today, I realize that most of our listeners, most of you guys know all of this stuff already. I know that this is stuff that you probably are very familiar with, very comfortable with. You realize that low fat is not the way to go. What I really have been trying to think about doing is trying to provide you guys with a tool to help you share the knowledge that you have. So if there’s somebody in your life that you really wish could realize this information, the reason we put some of these shows out there is so that you can share this with them.

Charissa Talbot: Yeah.

Cassy Joy: And hopefully it will help them. So, I think of you guys as an army {laughs} really, out there to cause awesome change and health in the world. I realize that we’re partners in all of this. I hope that, maybe it does help you, but even more so I hope it gives you something to help other people with.

Charissa Talbot: Yeah, for sure.

Cassy Joy: So, awesome. Well, we won’t keep anymore of your time but thank you so much for listening today. If you have any questions or any feedback for us please leave a comment on the blog post or on social media, and if you have not done so already, here’s another quick call to action. Please go into iTunes and leave us a review. It means the world to us to see those reviews, and also the more reviews we get, the higher we are ranked in iTunes and the more and more people will be able to find us. It will be easier for them to find our show.

Charissa Talbot: And we read every single review, we love them.

Cassy Joy: We do! I really do read them all the time.

Charissa Talbot: Yes.

Cassy Joy: Even though I’ve already read all of them numerous times, I’ll go back and reread them all. Ok, awesome, thank you guys again for joining us, and we’ll be back again next week.