Foreword | p. 15 |
Acknowledgments | p. 17 |
Introduction | p. 19 |
Chapter 1 Good Things About Fat | p. 23 |
Stored Energy | p. 23 |
Hormone Production | p. 24 |
Cell Membrane Material | p. 25 |
Padding | p. 25 |
Insulation | p. 26 |
The Immune System | p. 27 |
Protection from Toxic Substances | p. 28 |
Sexual Attraction | p. 28 |
Fat-Free People | p. 29 |
Chapter 2 What is Fat, Anyway? | p. 31 |
Triglycerides Deconstructed | p. 31 |
Fatty Acids Deconstructed | p. 32 |
Saturated, Monounsaturated, and Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids | p. 33 |
A Separate Case: Trans Fatty Acids | p. 36 |
Why All the Fuss about Saturated Fats? | p. 36 |
Chapter 3 How Your Body Digests and Uses Fat | p. 37 |
First, the Stomach | p. 37 |
Next, the Intestines | p. 38 |
Getting through Intestinal Walls | p. 39 |
Transportation to Tissues | p. 39 |
Unabsorbed Fats: The Laxative Effect | p. 40 |
Substances along for the Ride | p. 40 |
Digestive Speed | p. 40 |
The Food-to-Fat Conversion: When You Eat More Than You Need | p. 41 |
The Food-to-Energy Conversion: When You Eat Less Than You Need | p. 42 |
Fat as Fuel for Sustained Exercise | p. 43 |
Chapter 4 What Your Fat Cells Do | p. 45 |
The Anatomy of Fat Cells | p. 45 |
Fat Cell Numbers | p. 46 |
Fat as a Hormone Producer | p. 46 |
Hormones Worth Special Mention | p. 47 |
Fat Depots (Storage Areas) | p. 48 |
Apples, Pears, and Other Fat Storage Arrangements | p. 49 |
Visceral Fat versus Subcutaneous Fat | p. 50 |
Visceral Fat and Diabetes | p. 51 |
Visceral Fat and Exercise | p. 51 |
Visceral Fat and Stress | p. 52 |
Health and Fat: It's Not What You Think | p. 53 |
Chapter 5 Who Says You're Too Fat? | p. 55 |
How We Got the BMI | p. 55 |
Calculating BMI Using a Math Formula | p. 56 |
Consulting a BMI Table | p. 56 |
Using a Web Site Calculator | p. 57 |
Interpreting the Results | p. 58 |
Maybe the "Overweight" Are Healthier | p. 58 |
Waist-Hip Measurements as Health Predictors | p. 60 |
Maybe the Overweight Are Happier | p. 61 |
An Alternative Set of Guidelines | p. 61 |
Ways to Measure Body Fat | p. 63 |
Methods Available at Health Facilities and Gyms | p. 63 |
Methods for Home Use | p. 64 |
Who's Fat and Who's Thin? | p. 65 |
Chapter 6 Why Your Body Wants to Keep Its Shape | p. 67 |
Fighting Our Genes | p. 67 |
Blame the Cave People | p. 68 |
A Second Opinion | p. 70 |
Insulin Resistance | p. 71 |
Genetic Predisposition to Obesity | p. 72 |
How Those Fat Genes Work | p. 73 |
The Role of Microorganisms | p. 75 |
Wait-There's More | p. 77 |
More Still to Come | p. 79 |
Chapter 7 Cholesterol Controversies | p. 81 |
Why Our Bodies Need Cholesterol | p. 82 |
What Are LDL and HDL? | p. 83 |
Now, about Those Cholesterol Numbers | p. 84 |
High Cholesterol as a Predictor of Cardiovascular Disease | p. 85 |
Questioning the Role of Dietary Cholesterol in Heart Disease | p. 86 |
What about Those Clogged Arteries? | p. 88 |
Size Matters | p. 89 |
Effects of Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs | p. 90 |
Side Effects of Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs | p. 92 |
An Epidemic of Diagnoses | p. 93 |
Chapter 8 Saturated Fats: Healthful Food | p. 95 |
Fat Mixtures: Saturated with Unsaturated | p. 95 |
Mixed-Up Molecules | p. 97 |
What about Cholesterol? | p. 99 |
Saturated Fat and Heart Disease | p. 100 |
A Persistent Myth | p. 101 |
Nutritional Benefits of Saturated Fats | p. 102 |
Chapter 9 Oils: Essential and Otherwise | p. 105 |
Monounsaturated Oils | p. 106 |
Polyunsaturated Oils | p. 107 |
What Does "Omega" Mean? | p. 108 |
What's Essential | p. 109 |
Essential Oils in Meats and Dairy Products | p. 111 |
Why All the Fuss about Omega-3 Oil | p. 111 |
Dangers of Polyunsaturated Fats | p. 112 |
Choosing Oils | p. 113 |
Olive Oil Terminology | p. 114 |
How Cooking Affects Fats | p. 115 |
Storing Fats and Oils | p. 116 |
Making Your Own Mayonnaise | p. 116 |
Chapter 10 What's Wrong with Trans Fats | p. 119 |
How Trans Fats Are Made | p. 119 |
Trans Fats in Our Diets | p. 121 |
The Problem with Human-Made Trans Fats | p. 122 |
Trans Fats at the Market | p. 123 |
Trans Fats at the Restaurant | p. 124 |
How to Identify Trans Fats on Food Labels | p. 124 |
Natural Trans Fats | p. 126 |
Lumping the Good with the Bad | p. 127 |
And Now, a New Trans Fat Substitute | p. 127 |
Chapter 11 The Problem with Low-Fat Diets | p. 129 |
Where's the Beef? | p. 129 |
Some History | p. 130 |
Faulty Food Pyramids | p. 131 |
The Latest Pyramid | p. 133 |
The Problem with Refined Carbohydrates | p. 134 |
The Importance of Glycemic Levels | p. 136 |
Low-Fat Milk-Better Think Twice | p. 136 |
Low-Fat Diets and Mental Health | p. 138 |
Weight-Loss Diets Compared | p. 139 |
Low-Fat Diets Laid to Rest-I Wish | p. 140 |
Chapter 12 Diversity and Balance | p. 141 |
Variations in Diet/Gene Responses: Some Examples | p. 141 |
Nutritional Genomics | p. 143 |
A Balance of Fats | p. 144 |
The Importance of Balancing Omega-6 and Omega-3 Oils | p. 145 |
The Consequences of an Omega-6 and Omega-3 Imbalance | p. 146 |
Why the Imbalance | p. 147 |
Striking the Essential Oil Balance | p. 148 |
Our Balancing Mechanisms | p. 149 |
Chapter 13 Fat, the Farm, and Family | p. 151 |
Rivers of Corn Syrup | p. 151 |
Mountains of Corn | p. 152 |
Spoonfuls of Broccoli | p. 153 |
Solo Snacking | p. 154 |
Ounces of Leaves | p. 155 |
Toddlers on the Bandwagon | p. 156 |
Poorer yet Fatter | p. 157 |
Intervening in the Schools | p. 158 |
Programming Babies | p. 160 |
Old-Fashioned Eating | p. 160 |
Finding Real Food | p. 161 |
An Evolution Solution | p. 162 |
Appendix A Chemical Substances Produced or Activated by Fat Cells | p. 165 |
Appendix B Determining Your Body Fat Using Girth Measurements | p. 167 |
Appendix C Fat Content of Foods | p. 171 |
References | p. 179 |
Bibliography | p. 213 |
Index | p. 215 |