The importance of good fats, with Pierre Haddad

3:00 - Is it necessary to grow old with difficulty walking, without energy, in poor health?

It depends on each of us and what kind of deck of cards life gives us. Starting with an average deck of cards and how we play those cards, we will have a game that will last more or less long.

Indeed, we have everything we need to live well, but we live in a world that puts us to the test. The life we ​​lead can be very stressful; managing family, work, children. In addition, with the "commercialization" aspect, we are bombarded in terms of technology but also in terms of food offers that taste very good and have a texture that pleases the palate, but which are not necessarily the right choices.

4:00 - Good Fats, Bad Fats, and Metabolism

It's a question of choices we make in life in relation to that. It's very difficult because the body is made to like things rich in energy because not so long ago, we lived cycles of hunger and fullness, in the time of hunter-gatherers. Although it has been tens of thousands of years, evolution does not happen by shouting scissors at the level of genetic changes for the adaptation of species.

So we're in a similar situation. Our intelligence has allowed us to create tools and machines to make our lives easier, but these reduce the need for physical activity.

Not only is there plenty of junk food, but you don't even have to leave your living room seat anymore; food comes straight to your door!

6:30 - What is metabolic syndrome or how can we see poor metabolic health setting in?

The body is well-built. Excess calories are stored as fat. This is why foods rich in fat taste good and are pleasant. Our bodies are programmed to like this precisely because they are dense energies that we can accumulate and store.

Indeed, abdominal fat has been found to be metabolically more "dangerous" than other fat deposits. We are still trying to understand the full ramifications of this.

Metabolism, in general, is “what goes in and what we do with it.”

We need all three macronutrients: proteins, fats, and sugars. And of course, there are all sorts: good proteins and less good proteins (assimilable or less assimilable), good fats and less good fats, good sugars and less good sugars too.

8:10 - Let's talk a little about fats

Fat is a denser energy source that is used by the body. There are several types.

To illustrate this, we need to understand a little about the structure of molecules. These are carbohydrates.

Glucose is shaped like a circle (which resembles the Desjardins logo) with carbons, oxygens, and hydrogens. These are fast, primary energies and the brain's preferred source.

Fats are more like hair, strands of different lengths. We hear about saturated fats and unsaturated fats.

For saturated fats, there is as much hydrogen as possible on the carbons. This is a very flexible thread that can be rolled up to make small balls.

As for unsaturated fats, they have less hydrogen, which makes the double bonds between the carbons much more rigid. Thus, the "hair or thread" remains much straighter.

Throughout our body, cells are surrounded by a membrane to separate themselves from each other. Nature is brilliant! How can we do that? Well, we're going to use fats! Fats and water don't mix; it's brilliant for nature to have made membranes with fat to separate each cell. Good fats are more rigid, so they can align to form a layer, a membrane around the cells. This is one way to explain what good fats are for.

It's everywhere in our body, and it allows all our receptors and everything for the cell to perceive what the body needs. It will work better if the membrane contains the right proportions of saturated and unsaturated fats.

13:10 - Bad Sugars vs. Good Sugars

It's simple sugars versus complex sugars. For example, legumes are complex sugars. Cereals, rice, and white bread are very simple sugars, so they're absorbed very quickly, causing glucose spikes. These glucose spikes cause the pancreas to freak out and produce a lot of insulin to react to this sudden influx of sugar.

Complex sugars are absorbed much more slowly, giving the pancreas a chance to react and insulin a chance to act and use that sugar rather than freaking out and trying to store it as fat. Insulin encourages the storage of excess sugar as fat. This is also what makes us gain weight, along with all the excess calories in our diet.

14:25 - Good Fats and Bad Fats

We come back to what was explained earlier in relation to saturated and unsaturated fats in terms of "hair that can curl up" and "hair that is straighter".

Unsaturated fats (straighter hair):

They've been shown to prevent, for example, atherosclerosis, which is a narrowing of the blood vessels. This happens when fat builds up underneath the wall. There are cells there to remove it, but when there are a lot of them, they end up getting bigger, sending a signal to the body that something's going on there. In response to repair, the body sends immune cells, then creates inflammation to try to get rid of it. This just exacerbates that. So the muscle around the arteries thickens, and then there are actual fatty deposits.

As an example, let's think of a garden hose with deposits in it. If "junk" accumulates inside it, it will reduce the size inside the hose.

This will reduce the size of the blood vessels, creating problems that can block up to 90%. And at that point, it only takes a small clot to cause, for example, a heart attack.

That's really what it's all about when we talk about good fats and bad fats.

As I said earlier, oil and water don't mix, so in our body, in order to transport lipids everywhere, they are not left free in our blood, because that would create lipid droplets. So, they are bound to proteins. These are the famous lipoproteins.

When we talk about cholesterol, it's actually proteins that carry fats, and cholesterol is one of them, but it's a different type of fat than the fatty acids I talked about.

Good fats help reduce this buildup in the walls and better manage the distribution and action of fats in the body. They also help cell membranes.

17:45 - QUESTION: Even if I am sedentary, should I eat good fats?

Absolutely!

The nutritional dogma of reducing fats and avoiding fatty foods is still deeply entrenched. However, it is increasingly accepted that this is not true, that it is a better solution, that sugars are much more harmful than fats. However, we must ensure that these are the right fats.

18:30 - Where are unsaturated fats (good fats) found?

We find unsaturated fats in plant products, oils, and fatty fruits like avocados.

19:20 - The more of these little threads there are in free circulation, called free fatty acids, this unfortunately greatly promotes insulin resistance. This makes our tissues react less well to insulin and therefore the cycle described earlier with the spikes and poor energy management in the body will become more pronounced. It's a bit of a vicious circle.

We need to eat protein, fats, and sugars. However, fast and processed sugars are not the good sugars. That's what we find everywhere. Let's go back to taste! Sweetness is something that is within us and that we need to detect when we eat.

Bitter things - for medicinal plants, I like them a little because they're active! - but the majority of the population will have an aversion. We don't seek out bitter tastes unlike the sweet and salty tastes we're programmed to like.

23:15 - Hydrogenated Oil

When we see "hydrogenated oil," it's a transformation of good fats into bad fats, for texture. Saturated fats have this appearance. In food technology, these are fats that are useful for texture, for palatability.

24:40 - Is the butter good?

It is high in saturated fat.

Butter is not bad for your health as such, but it's all about moderation.

I prefer cooking with olive oil and vegetable oils.

It's also a matter of taste.

25:20 - Vary!

If we are always in a eating routine and bad things creep into it because they are things we like to taste...

So, varying and adding color to your plate will help a lot, as well as a good variety of proteins.

* This live transcript is intended to help you easily find the topics that interest you and the information you are looking for. Maison Jacynthe disclaims all liability. All information contained on this page is not intended to replace justified allopathic treatment or to override the expertise of the medical profession. It is up to each individual to take charge of their own health, to inform themselves, and to make the necessary changes to improve their condition. Therapeutic supervision by a qualified health professional is obviously suggested.