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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2002
I first learned of this book about two years ago when listening to The People's Pharmacy on National Public Radio. Dr. Enig was the special guest that day and talked with hosts Joe and Terry Graedon about Knowing Your Fats and its recurring themes revolving around the essential roles that fats and oils can play in our daily diet.
One of her themes was that diets have been so badly stereotyped in the West that many Americans, including nutritionists and physicians, have come to propose that the only healthy diet is that of a strict vegetarian. She then stated that,in contrast to this widely held opinion, the typical diet in China, where the citizens are regarded as typically healthy by these same individuals advocationg strict vegetarianism, is far from free of animal products and by-products. She said that, in fact, a main cooking additive in the Chinese diet is lard, a fat that has been labeled, perhaps mislabeled, as a contributor to heart disease and obesity.
Dr. Enig then continued that consumer activists who are trying to eliminate animal fats and coconut oils from food products either have been or still are misinformed. She stated that many of these advocates, despite their good intentions of contributing to a healthier American population, want the food manufacturers to replace animal fats with partially hydrogenated oils and fats that, according to the studies of her and her colleagues, are even more harmful than the former. For instance, their findings concluded that trans fatty acids from partial hydrogenation can further contribute to heart disease in the following ways: 1. decrease the amount of HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol), 2.increase the amount of LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol), and 3. hamper one's ability to keep insulin levels under control.
All in all, the above are just a few of several topics well-detailed in Knowing Your Fats. Included in the book are charts that categorize the types of fats and oils that can be used in cooking and how each can be beneficial and/or harmful for one's health.
Dr. Enig has done an excellent job with this book. I highly recommend it.
One of her themes was that diets have been so badly stereotyped in the West that many Americans, including nutritionists and physicians, have come to propose that the only healthy diet is that of a strict vegetarian. She then stated that,in contrast to this widely held opinion, the typical diet in China, where the citizens are regarded as typically healthy by these same individuals advocationg strict vegetarianism, is far from free of animal products and by-products. She said that, in fact, a main cooking additive in the Chinese diet is lard, a fat that has been labeled, perhaps mislabeled, as a contributor to heart disease and obesity.
Dr. Enig then continued that consumer activists who are trying to eliminate animal fats and coconut oils from food products either have been or still are misinformed. She stated that many of these advocates, despite their good intentions of contributing to a healthier American population, want the food manufacturers to replace animal fats with partially hydrogenated oils and fats that, according to the studies of her and her colleagues, are even more harmful than the former. For instance, their findings concluded that trans fatty acids from partial hydrogenation can further contribute to heart disease in the following ways: 1. decrease the amount of HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol), 2.increase the amount of LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol), and 3. hamper one's ability to keep insulin levels under control.
All in all, the above are just a few of several topics well-detailed in Knowing Your Fats. Included in the book are charts that categorize the types of fats and oils that can be used in cooking and how each can be beneficial and/or harmful for one's health.
Dr. Enig has done an excellent job with this book. I highly recommend it.
