Butter (or ghee) makes everything taste better…I eat several spoonfuls of ghee every day! But there was a LONG time in my life that I feared (and avoided) fat, like butter, like the plague…
Do YOU remember the first food rule or judgment you made about food?…
I was 10, turned over a food label on a bag of Doritos and decided that, if I wanted to lose 10 pounds, I needed to cut out fat….Out with the Doritos, Oreos, cheese sticks and butter in my mom’s mashed potatoes…In with the lettuce, fat-free turkey, pretzel sticks, apples, baby carrots….and sometimes not eating at all (ie. fasting).
That was only the beginning of a roller coaster 15-years of Food Rules to come…
And the more food rules I made, the MORE unhealthy and disconnected (from my body) I became—brittle hair and nails, dark circles under my eyes, skin breakouts, fatigue, anemia, heart palpitations, extremely low blood sugar, osteoporosis, chronic bloating and constipation….
It took about 6 months for my parents to realize something was up, when they took me to my pediatrician thinking I had “mono” or the flu…come to find out I had “anorexia”—a word I had never heard before. And, before I knew it, “treatment” and therapy and nutrition appointments began against my will. Instead of dance or basketball practice, I attended group therapy and weekly weigh-ins at my doctors.
I’ll never forget my first nutritionist “Fat is good for you” and telling me to “Just eat butter” (and inwardly laughing at the idea, thinking: “Are you kidding me?!”).
My oh my, how the tables have turned, and now, as a nutritionist myself, I often say the same things and eat LOTS of fat with every meal.
Why is fat good for you? Hormone health, brain clarity and mental focus, boundless energy, digestion and absorption of other nutrients, a revved metabolism (like a fiery furnace), blood sugar balance, satisfaction at meals, and of course…taste!
My faves? Paleo Mayo , coconut butter, coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, avocado (& guacamole), Kalmata olives, and butter/ghee! .
Join me on my journey this week as I continue “the story” of what happens when your norm doesn’t have to be your norm