This week we're gonna tackle some common questions that just keep coming up over and over again
So let's try to get some actual answers vamonos
It's a very common idea seems like there's a study out there for every possible position
So I guess every opinion is worth the same and everything's meaningless. So I'll just leave whatever I want
Of course that's based on a misunderstanding nutrition science is not decided by individual studies in a vacuum
I actually just recorded a podcast where I discussed this exact topic with the hosts at length
So I'll add a link to the description below if you want to check it out
The bottom line is we got to look at all the evidence what we call the preponderance of the evidence in nerd speak
To see to be able to see the trends to see where the errors are generally pointing to that's how the experts come up with
The guidelines they have to go over hundreds thousands of studies
They don't pluck out one study randomly from the literature and then they all disagree and they all battle to the death or something
Although that would be a lot more fun to watch if this is a little confusing if it's not quite making sense
Here's an example during the 20th century when scientists were studying tobacco and lung cancer
the vast majority of studies
Showed a link but a couple didn't so does that mean that tobacco and lung cancer is still a controversial topic?
That any opinions valid. No, it means that when you run a thousand studies some are not gonna be statistically significant
That's just inherent to the variability. Maybe they didn't have enough people. Maybe they didn't follow them long enough
There's a thousand explanations
The bottom line is we need to look at all the evidence to be able to see the trends not pluck out one
observation and extrapolate makes sense
next
If we go by media headlines it does look like that sometimes but up
That's how they get their clicks if the headline was scientists agree broccoli is a really healthy food
Nobody's reading that it's not surprising. So the news makers have to look for shock value cancer linked to Brussels sprouts
Your coffee may be giving you Alzheimer's or their absolute favorite new study shows everything you thought you knew about X is wrong
That's not science. That's salesmanship the fleshy headline
That's what spreads like wildfire the correction the nuance the clarification nobody cares
So the truth is nutrition experts are an agreement on 95 percent and nutrition advice
Doesn't change that much a little bit here and there as we learn more but not fundamentally
The fundamentals have been essentially the same for years and actually a lot of it for decades
Saturated fat
Raises our cholesterol levels and our risk of heart disease that's established and I've made videos covering that in detail now a few years ago
A couple studies came out that claimed saturated fat made no difference
Obviously the media jumped all over it and that created a lot of confusion
Bottom line is saturated fat raises your risk of heart disease
But it's not the only food that does it so it depends what you replace it with
If you lower your saturated fat and you eat more fruits and vegetables, yeah
Your risk of heart disease is going to come down. But if you swap your saturated fat for
Twinkies
You're not gonna see a benefit. They're both bad. So any study that doesn't make that distinction
It just lumps everything together can be misleading when that distinction is made. The difference is clear
So bottom line is we do want to go easy on the saturated fat, but we want to replace it with healthy food
Not other bad stuff make sense next
There's nothing special about eggs, there's nothing fundamentally different they're an animal source food
So they're gonna be relatively high in cholesterol and saturated fat now. There's nothing in eggs that we can't get somewhere else
So we definitely don't need them. But that fact alone doesn't necessarily tell us that they're bad. So are they good or bad?
Well, it depends what you compare them to it's just like saturated fat
They're not the healthiest food out there by any stretch of the imagination. They're not the best
Breakfast option but they're also not the worst. So if we're talking boat meal and fruit, yeah, that's gonna be more health promoting
but if we're talking sausage and bacon
You're probably better off eating your eggs
To be honest the amount the frequency also plays an important role if you eat eggs once or twice a month
That's not gonna be a big deal physiologically because your body has time to rectify the peak of cholesterol and whatever else goes up
But if you eat eggs three times a day, that's a whole different story. So everything in nutrition is relative
It depends on your goals and your risk tolerance
The short answer is yes studies have clearly shown that effect but the exact magnitude the exact size of the effect
Varies from person to person just like anything else now
There are some studies out there
funded by the egg industry that have a lot of people confused one trick they use is they look at people who already have very
High blood cholesterol levels from the get-go so adding one more extra egg on top
It doesn't make much of a difference this led to this general idea
You see sometimes out there in the blogosphere that the cholesterol you eat has nothing to do with your blood cholesterol levels
That's smoke and mirrors eating cholesterol raises your blood cholesterol up to a high level where it starts to plateau
It starts to level off like you don't want to be in those ranges
Anyway, by the way saturated fat does the exact same thing but even stronger than the dietary cronut cholesterol
So the more saturated fat you eat the higher your blood cholesterol level up to that very high
Range where it starts to level off
So the truth is if you have a cholesterol issue then cutting back on the eggs and other animal foods that are rich in cholesterol
and saturated fat helps
The experts are in agreement that raising our HDL what people call our good cholesterol doesn't really help doesn't lower risk of heart disease
I've made videos on this before going over the details
So a food that raises both your bad cholesterol your LDL and your good cholesterol
Your HDL is just bad news. So we want to go easy on those. I
Used to have this exact same question and I actually ate meat most of my life into my 30s
the truth is we don't we can be very healthy without meat or
even any animal product at the same time if I choose to eat some animal products, that doesn't
Automatically mean I'm unhealthy depends on a number of factors the type the amount the frequency my genetics other lifestyle factors
Etc. Some people can get away with more than others that's life. So it's a choice
Don't let anybody tell you that you need to eat meat
Otherwise you'll wither away and you'll crumble to dust and your limbs will fall off. There's no science behind that
There's no nutrient in meat that we can find somewhere else. We'll talk more about risks in a minute, but it is absolutely a choice
Protein is everywhere every animal food has protein every plant has protein
I've made several videos covering protein requirements and amino acids and all this stuff in detail. So unless you're in a very specific
Situation like very old person frail with impaired appetite or if you're starving. You're just not getting enough calories
Unless you're in a very specific class like that
You're getting more protein than you need
Whether you choose to eat animal products or not the vast majority of people in our society get more protein than they need
It's just not a concern. It's ironic that we're all running around yanking your hair out worrying about protein
Am I getting enough protein? Where do you get your protein?
Truth is it's one of the nutrients you need to worry the least about as long as you eat enough calories
You're getting enough protein. It's that simple same goes for amino acids, by the way
You don't need to worry about combining any special foods
you can get all the amino acids you need from plants or from animals your call if you choose to avoid animal products just make
Sure, you're eating a variety of plants as unprocessed as possible
Ideally whole plants from all the groups
Legumes whole grains nuts and seeds fruits and vegetables and you're gonna get all the protein you need and all the amino acids you need
No need to worry
Same with calcium you can get it from animal products like dairy or you can get it from plants your coal
In fact, some of the richest sources of calcium are plants things like kale collard greens
They have more calcium than milk, and it's actually more bioavailable more absorbable
So if you eat dairy that's gonna give you plenty of calcium
If you're somebody who's avoiding animal foods just make sure you're eating a variety of plants ideally
Unprocessed whole plants and have some leafy greens in there things like kale collard greens. You're gonna get all the calcium you need
Exact same thing with iron surprise-surprise. You can get it from animals or plants plenty of iron in both
Now there are some things we need to be aware of on each side people who eat animal products
They should be aware of heme iron about 40% of the iron in red meat for example is heme iron
Heme iron is a pro-oxidant that's been linked to a number of diseases like heart disease diabetes and some types of cancer
So just be aware of that and don't lean too
Hard on the heme iron rich foods on the other hand
If you don't eat animal products, you need to be aware of absorption
Especially if you're a woman women need more iron than men Iren is in all types of plants legumes grains
Greens seeds chia seeds and sesame seeds a baton
Try to have some source of vitamin C with your meals like fruits or vegetables
It increases absorption of non heme iron and avoid tea and coffee during meals also onion and garlic
Help with absorption of non heme iron as well
now if you're a vegetarian you should be aware that eggs and dairy are not good sources of iron so you're actually going to be
Getting most of your iron from the plant foods
So bottom line, you can get plenty of iron from animal foods or plant foods your call
Just be aware on the caveats on each side and play with that. All right next
They can be extremely healthy lifestyles
We all understand that just because somebody is a vegetarian or vegan doesn't automatically mean they're healthy
It also doesn't automatically mean they're deficient in any nutrient either those are misconceptions
As long as you're eating a variety of unprocessed plants of all groups
You're going easy on the vegan junk food and all that processed stuff and you're covering some basics like b12. Yes
There can be an extremely healthy lifestyle
No
you're not going to be deficient in any nutrients and
You may be at lower risk for some common diseases like heart disease diabetes and Alzheimer's for example
If you don't eat animal products you need to be aware of b12
Even if you eat animal products, you should still be aware of it
B12 deficiency is surprisingly common even among people who eat animal products, especially above a certain age
there's three basic sources of b12 animal foods fortified foods and
Supplements and they're all equally effective. They all get you more b12 than you need. It's a personal choice
I
Know if you're watching the headlines it can seem sometimes like scientists hate meat or they have something personal against it
It's nothing personal truth is the majority of scientists eat meat. It's not like they're sitting there plotting ways to trash animal products
It's just that red flags. Keep coming up over and over
cholesterol saturated fat heme iron
We've talked about those more recently something called TMAO and there's many others
So the science just keeps revealing new risks associated with consumption of animal foods now
It's impossible to tell somebody
Specific you can eat these many steaks in these many eggs before it's a problem
And before that you're totally safe science doesn't give us that info because there's a fair amount of variability
But what seems consistent is that as the amount and frequency of consumption of animal products Rises the risk of disease
Also Rises, so that's why nutrition scientists are generally in agreement in recommending whole plants
Now some people will go all the way and be 100% plant-based the plant exclusive
Others will have a lot of unprocessed plants and will have some animal products here and there that's your call
What's important is that you try to get the bulk of your nutrients and the bulk of your?
calories from whole plants
So that podcast I recently did covered this topic as well we talked about this for like 20 or 30 minutes
Bottom line is the associations are concerned because they consistently point in the same direction
But the main problem is that all types of science all types of experiment both Association type and intervention type
point in the same general direction
So the general picture is pretty clear
Which is why the recommendations are so consistent
To favor fruits and vegetables and legumes and whole grains and go easy on the saturated fat and the cholesterol and the ultra processed foods
I
Hear this one all the time, so I actually made a bunch of videos covering this in detail
now the good news is it's exactly what we've been talking about go easy on the saturated fat and the cholesterol and
Some of the heavily processed foods and your cholesterol will come down. That's it in a nutshell basically
There are a couple more tricks and nuances and you can check out the videos if you want more detail
Alright, hope that helps let me know if you have other questions that I didn't get to write them down below and maybe I'll do
Another one of these in the future. That's it for today. I'll see you on the next one