What a weekend. First, my girlfriend and I went to a house warming party in a swanky Boston suburb Saturday night and I actually didn’t want to kill myself. Yay me. Who knew rich people love to eat cheese and drink red wine while playing Nintendo Wii? High Five!
Second, I pitched a no-hitter Sunday in my over-30 adult baseball league. Granted I’m pitching against guys with mullets who haven’t seen their junk since 1998 because they have beer guts the size of Kansas, but whatever. I totally dominated and I’d like to thank my teammates for playing an awesome game.
Anyways, lets talk about fat loss and how beta oxidation can be sub-divided into HOLY SWEET MOTHER JAZZ HANDS………..why hello Jessica Simpson! Normally I’m not a fan of girls who have had sex with John Mayer, but how can I hate on someone who wears an awesome shirt like this?
Apparently the shirt pictured above caused quite a controversy last week with some people, not to mention made me realize how much I wish Tony Romo was me.
According to PETA, women who eat meat support animal abuse, steal food from starving children, and are fat.
“All the saturated fat and cholesterol in chicken wings, pork chops, and steak eventually leads to flabby thighs and love handles. I hope the upcoming “Jessica Simpson’s Intimates” line comes in plus sizes! Going vegetarian is the best way to get slim and stay that way.”
Hmmm, I thought the whole notion that “dietary fat makes you fat” has been debunked numerous times? While I won’t deny that it’s common knowledge among health professionals, as well as the general pubic that excessive consumption of saturated fat (animal based fats) poses greater health risks than unsaturated fat (think olive oil); to say that saturated fat/cholesterol alone will eventually lead to flabby thighs and love handles is a bit of a black/white statement.
I mean, take Dr. Jeff Volek’s latest book, The TNT Diet, which is based entirely off the research he and his colleagues at the University of Connecticut have done over the past several years concerning dietary (specifically saturated) fat. In short, saturated fat isn’t the enemy that it’s normally laid out to be.
Again, I realize that there are inherent health risks to excessive saturated fat and I’m not advocating that people go out of their way to include more in their diet. All I’m saying is that saturated fat is often stigmatized unfairly, when in fact there are several important benefits.
1. Saturated fat constitutes at least 50% of the cell membranes in our body, which gives them necessary stiffness and integrity. This in turn helps protect us from viruses and maintains a healthy immune system.
2. They play a vital role in the health of our bones. For calcium to be effectively incorporated into the skeletal structure, at least 50% of dietary fat should be saturated.
3. They are needed for the proper utilization of essential fatty acids. Elongated omega-3 fatty acids are better retained in the tissues when the diet is rich in saturated fats.
4. The Framingham Heart Study, started in 1948 and still on-going, is one of the biggest research projects on heart health. In 1992, study leader Dr William Castelli wrote in Archives of Internal Medicine: “In Frammingham, Massachusetts… the people who ate the most cholesterol, ate the most saturated fat, ate the most calories, weighed the least and were the most physically active.”
5. Saturated fats are commonly blamed for raising cholesterol levels. But they raise both the levels of good HDL cholesterol as well as the so-called “bad” LDL cholesterol.
Furthermore, in regards to dietary cholesterol- the liver produces far more cholesterol (up to 2000 milligrams per day) than most individuals would ever consume. Additionally, when dietary cholesterol intake increases, the body will automatically down regulate its own production. Conversely, when dietary intake decreases, the body will up regulate cholesterol synthesis. All in all, this supports the contention that dietary cholesterol generally has little impact on blood cholesterol levels.
I’m sorry but real women do eat meat. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that real women also know how to make a killer roast beef sandwich and understand that whenever Star Wars is on, that they need to use their “inside voice,” and only speak when spoken to. Who says I don’t understand women? Oh look, Episode IV is on. “Hun, can you go make me a sand……………….wait no, not the pepper spray again!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”
