Give us each day our daily fat

In the book of Genesis, we are told one of the most beautiful stories ever narrated, at least if you are a Christian. It is the story of two brothers, Cain and Abel. We all know how the story unfolds. Cain, was the first born and a farmer by profession. His younger brother Abel was a shepherd. The brothers made sacrifices to God, each with their own produce. The story goes on to tell us that God favoured Abel’s sacrifice and vehemently rejected that of Cain. Remember the rejection of Cain’s sacrifice turned him into a murderer and a fugitive. This beautiful story (it’s worth reading again), tells us that Abel’s sacrifice was favoured by God because it was of the ‘fattened’ animals. God was angered, not because of the vegetables Cain presented, but the poor quality at which the veggies were. God smiled on Abel’s fattened sacrificial animals. Is God fond of fat? The King James Bible mentions “fat” a hundred and five times across the scriptures. Why is fat so important? Christians swear by the bible as the living “word of God”. But one is also shocked by the mere fact that following the very same word has proved difficult in today’s Christians. Latter-day Christians seem to be fearful of fat consumption. The Master Creator has designed a body in a very special way. If there is one being who can tell us whether fat is good or bad for us, then it should be Supreme God of the Universe himself. Among the many scriptures that refer to fat as the most important part of our diet, is yet another story of two brothers. Although their names were never mentioned, but we know that the eldest was obedient and always adhered to the rules of his father. The youngest was a different case. He rebelled against his father and finally left the household to pursue his own interests. He later came home following a thorough beating from the world lessons. Ngoana’ lehlasoa a boela hae (the prodigal son returns). In Luke 15:22-22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his fee. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.’ Is it therefore coincidental that the rise of obesity and many of the metabolic diseases we are facing today rose at the same time our health “experts” warned us against consuming dietary ‘fats’? I doubt that. We were told that the consumption of fats will raise our cholesterol so much that our arteries will be clogged and this could lead to heart failures and ultimately to our untimely death. This is all horse-load, a bogus statement meant to vilify and demonise fat for purposes of promoting products that will rake in profits. Digging deeper into some scientific journals, you will find that there is no correlation whatsoever between cholesterol and the anticipated heart disease. Dietary cholesterol, is not at all the problem as shown in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The truth is, if we eat a lot of cholesterol, our bodies make a less of it. If we eat less cholesterol our bodies make more of it. We should remember that cholesterol is one of the most important molecules in the human body. In fact, without this fat-like substance we would die very quickly. In his beautifully written book ‘Cholesterol Clarity’, Jimmy Moore shows that “cholesterol is used to make hormones like estrogen and testosterone, is transported into the adrenal gland to aid in hormone synthesis, repair nerves and make bile for fat digestion.” No wonder so many young men have lost their ‘mojo’, the testosterone levels have plummeted; and it is all thanks to the fat-fear driven by profit hungry corporations. And, oh yes! Cholesterol also improves memory and boosts levels of serotonin, the chemical that makes us happy. If the consumption of fat was as bad as it has always been suspected, the Maasai people of Kenya (cattle farmers) would have died out a long time ago due to rampant heart diseases. Empa joale re bona ho fapaneng. Theirs is a different story. Each member will drink two litters of full-cream cow’s milk every day and “when they celebrate, they do so with an orgy of meat and blood consumption, with each person eating more than 1kg of meat in a sitting” noted Dr George Mann who studied the Maasai people in the early 60’s. Despite this diet, high in saturated fat, Maasai tribes have the lowest cholesterol readings ever measured, on average half that of an adult of Western diet. It is only in the era of fat-free, low-fat and non-fat that our health took a nose dive. Animal fats were replaced by hydrogenated or trans fats, masked as vegetable oils. These are very toxic and highly corrosive or inflammatory. Why does the food industry need to ‘hydrogenate’ fats? Well, they want to turn healthy liquid fat into solids and prevent them from becoming rancid. They have also shown to prolong their processed foods shelf life. They are cheap to make and therefore make good return on investments for their producers. Unfortunately, they are very expensive when it comes to your health. When you look into food labels, you should always avoid food with hydrogenated fats, trans fats or partially hydrogenated oil. These are not the fats God has instructed His children to consume for a better life. They are ‘Frankeinfats’, man-made to maximise profits. They have a high price tag to our health. Some of which cause cancer, heart diseases, lead to blindness, Parkinson’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, allergies and asthma, reduce cognitive ability and degrade man’s ability to have children. “Bring your father and your households and come to me; I give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land,” Genesis 45:18. Maybe it is time to retrace our steps when it comes to the kind of fat we should be eating for the optimisation of our health. Good fats, from well raised animals are key to our health. Avoiding dietary fats has come with some dire consequences, first it was the introduction of vegetable oils touted as “heart-healthy” but have proved toxic. The second and probably the harmful consequence on our diet was the replacement of fats in our diet with carbohydrates. Replacement of healthy fats meant their place was taken by either toxic oils or highly refined carbohydrates. In her book, “The Big Fat Surprise”, Nina Teicholz shows that diets high in fat have been shown, again and again in a large body of clinical trials, to lead to improved measures for heart disease, blood pressure and diabetes and are better for weight loss. “And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things…of things full of marrow,” Isiah 25:6. Is not the time to ask God for our daily fats instead of bread? l Tšepang Ledia is a Public Relations Officer at Lesotho Electricity Company. He writes in his own capacity. For feedback, send to: mrledia@gmail.com Tšepang Ledia