Fat Must Accompany Protein for Hydrolysis

Here is a topic that usually gets me in arguments with many folks.   Sometimes I feel like an alien in this world because of the way I think.  I like to challenge everything.  I debunked the calorie thinking years ago and now I want to challenge the dietary fat theory.   If something doesn’t make sense I will not prescribe to it.  For example,  throwing away the egg yolk and eating only the whites is ridiculous to me.  Yet, this is what  unconscious America is taught.  It is believed that by throwing away the yolk  you are doing a “healthy act” reducing the risk of high cholesterol and heart disease.  This is ludicrous!!! What people don’t know is that if you eat egg whites without fat (yolk) it doesn’t get converted as protein through the liver it actually gets converted into sugar.   High levels of sugar in the blood is one of the key factors for increasing cholesterol levels.  Eating healthy fats that the body has been able to digest for thousands of years is not the killer.  The egg is the most complete food on the planet.  

Proteins and fats must be joined together to sufficiently be hydrolysized through the liver.  Without getting too deep into the scientific breakdown of chemistry, here is a simple way of understanding this concept.  It is known that dietary fat contains fat soluble vitamins A,D,E,K.  I feel that these vitamins are stored in fat to help protect them from the digestive enzymes produced during the digestive delivery sequence. Dietary fat produces the most energy yielding 9 calories per unit of enery per gram.  Fats are comprised of hydrogens that are split up during combustive processes in the digestive tract and muscle cells.  When a dietary fat is digested, fatty acids are produced.  One fatty acid, the essential linoleic acid helps the body absorb fat-soluble vitamins and minerals.  I believe that one reason why fat yields so much energy is because it helps moderate the combustion of food in the mouth, stomach and intestines, to allow vital nutrients to get transported into the bloodstream safely.    The stomach acids are highly concentrated and breakdown everything we eat.  If the body didn’t have such a remarkable system for breaking down food, the human species would  exist.  There has to be a powerful mechanism to help digest dense foods for human survival.   Even though fats contain more energy and hydrogens than proteins and sugars they eventually breakdown into smaller constituents to enter into aerobic and anaerobic metabolism. 

I feel that fat is a major cofactor in the delivery process of proteins, vitamins and minerals.  Protein which is another complex nutrient contains active enzymes that are alive. I believe that protein and fat must coexist in order to keep the protein enzymes alive. All meat has fat combined with it because the enzymes interact with the fat soluble vitamins.  The enzymes have to survive in order to be useful in the body.  If the enzymes suffer or starve they will die which results in malnourishment for the body.   Proteins by themselves entering the stomach are too sensitive to survive without fat protection.  It is like George W. Bush walking into Bin Laden’s camp by himself.  The outlook wouldn’t be good for the former president.  But if he had lot’s of secret service agents, and military personnel he would have a better chance of survival.  (I realize the analogy is a little obscure but it is all I can come up at this time with to illustrate my point).  

Protein must be accompanied with fat to withstand the digestive acids and to be able to be hydrolysized through the liver for proper transport into the bloodstream.  If protein is ingested without a fat present then the protein will not survive the enzymatic reactions through the stomach and intestines.  By the time the protein gets to the liver it is in the form of sugar and will proceed to enter the bloodstream as sugar.  High sugar can result in hyperinsulinemia, fat storage and high cholesterol.  It is very important to combine fats with proteins.  Throwing away good fat or avoiding it altogether is a big mistake.   If you have any questions regarding today’s post please email me at dconant2004@yahoo.com, and I will gladly respond to you.  Now go scramble up some eggs in sweet butter–yummy!!!

Daryl Conant, M.Ed