Fats and Brainpower
9 January 2020 | By Sam Fisher
| Although the subject of dietary fats has become friendlier in recent years with most health experts becoming more lenient toward their necessity in the human body, most Americans are still quite paranoid of consuming fats. In mainstream medicine, fat facts primarily center around heart health, cholesterol, and whether or not to consume saturated or unsaturated fats. Meanwhile fringe groups—and individuals—studying the impact of fats on brain health report truly eye-opening findings. No news here, fringe movements are almost always leagues ahead of the mainstream. Nora Gedgaudas, a widely recognized speaker and author on what is popularly referred to as the “Paleo diet”, spoke of this in her emotional opening at the Dr. Al Sears’ Confidential Cures Summit last month. She showed pictures of her mother with Alzheimer’s, adding the emphatic statement: “Alzheimer’s is preventable and almost reversible . . . and it is NOT a genetic disease.” Wow! Speaking of flying in the face of convention. She said 2/3rds of Alzheimers’ patients are women. About 1.5 million have it now and within a few years, 14 million will. Right now 1 in 4 seniors die with it. She shared a study publicized by the National Institute on Aging: ” .. . Emerging findings suggest that dietary factors play major roles in determining whether the brain ages successfully or experiences a neurodegenerative disease.” Her basic premise was that while we are all different, we are far more alike than unalike. “We have different fingerprints, but we all have fingers,” she said. The brain is 73 percent water, but structurally, it’s 67 percent fat. Of that, 20 percent is DHA which is exclusively animal sourced. “No vegan diet can supply this, either directly or indirectly—EVER. Vegan diets have NO DHA. “Most damaged brains I’ve worked with are vegans,” she said. She completely opposes eating grains, of any kind. She said the human brain has shrunk as more grains are consumed, versus its size when consuming far more animal fats. Breast milk offers infants all of these essential fats and our brains deteriorate if the fats and ketones (dietary fats in the absence of glucose) don’t stay high. What’s more, Vitamin K, that elusive and most recently discovered of all the essential vitamins, is found exclusively in animal foods IF the animals are on pasture. What’s the best brain food? Pastured pork fat. After that, fatty fish, then coconut oil, then avocado oil and real olive oil. A diet high in carbohydrates equals an 87 percent higher likelihood for dementia; a high animal fat diet equals a 46 percent lower likelihood for dementia. 2019 will be known as the year veganism went mainstream. Interest in a way of life in which people eschew not just meat and leather, but all animal products including eggs, wool and silk, is soaring, especially among millennials. The fat impact as pointed out by Miss Gedgaudas puts a different twist on veganism, changing it from a so-called alternative view to a vicious attack on cognitive function. Those of us whose brains are still being nurtured correctly need to step up our game and call veganism what it is: an insulting and direct attack on cognitive health. It’s the new anti-brain choice. In all honesty, the unprecedented rise in veganism bothers me, and it’s not because of my occupation in animal agriculture. The fact that many young people choose a vegan lifestyle for the sake of preserving animals is understandable, given the atrocious abuse and industrialization prevalent in animal agriculture and the suspicious barrier between it and the public eye. However, to eschew all animal products from the human diet is throwing out the baby with the bath water, not to mention perilous to the intellect of future generations. And that’s the View from the Country. |
| Quote Worth Re-Quoting – “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex. It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.” ~ E.F. Schumacher |