Archive for the ‘Cat’s Fats’ Category

Adulterated or Fake Olive Oil

Sunday, January 3rd, 2016
Sicilian olives

Sicilian olives

by Catherine Haug, Jan 22, 2014; updated & re-published Jan 3, 2016 (Photo, right, from Wikimedia Commons)

Tonight (Jan 3, 2016), CBS News: 60 Minutes had a segment on the Mafia’s involvement in every aspect of the food business – including olive oil from harvest to table – and what young Italian olive growers are doing about it. One of those interviewed asserted 75 -80% of the olive oil sold in America, is fake or at best diluted. You can view the segment on 60 Minutes Overtime (9) or see below.

Read on for the video and my original article from 2 years ago.  (more…)

Butter vs margarine

Tuesday, August 12th, 2014
Stick of Butter (Western Pack)

Stick of Butter (Western Pack)

By Catherine Haug, August 12, 2014 (Photo, right, from Wikimedia Commons)

I recently wrote a post: Butter (and other saturated fats) is a health food!, something which I have firmly believed for over 40 years, and now that belief is finally accepted by the medical and scientific communities. Yet people still encourage using margarine instead of butter, in a belief that animal fats are bad for human consumption. These people just don’t realize how really really bad margarine is.

Now the Alliance for Natural Health has put together a great flow chart to outline the chemical process by which margarine is made; and I put together another flow chart to outline the process by which butter is made. After reviewing these, do you still think margarine is better for your family’s health? (more…)

Butter (and other saturated fats) is a health food!

Monday, June 23rd, 2014
Stick of Butter (Western Pack)

Stick of Butter (Western Pack)

By Cat, Jun 23, 2014 (Photo, right, from Wikimedia Commons)

Headlines around the world are announcing “Butter is Back” after articles published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine (1) and Medical News Today (2) in March of this year were lauded in Time Magazine (4), and now, on the NBC’s Today Show (5, includes video). These follow the publication of an article in the New York Times (3) by researcher Dr. Fred Kummerow, who has been studying the effect of different lipids (including fats and cholesterol) on health for 80 years. He was the first to alert people to the problem of trans fats in margarine and vegetable shortening, in 1957!

I’ve been writing for a long time about the misunderstanding concerning saturated fats in general and butter in particular, since the late 1970s – there are several articles on this blog (see list below) and on my personal website about this as well.

One caveat: To be most healthful, butter should be from the cream of grass-fed/pasture-raised cows. Most national brands feed their cows grain/soy feed that is likely GMO. The best butter is homemade, from the raw or cultured cream of grass-fed cows.

So, where did ‘science’ go wrong in pointing the finger at saturated fats, and why? (more…)

Unhealthful common foods to avoid

Sunday, June 16th, 2013

by Catherine Haug, June 16, 2013

Dr. Mercola lists 9 common foods you should never eat. I heartily agree with his assessment. If you avoid processed foods, use unrefined sea salt, and buy Organic produce (or locally-grown food from growers you trust), you will mostly avoid the bad foods on the list. The 9 common foods are: (more…)

Demonized foods: truth or lies?

Saturday, February 23rd, 2013

by Catherine Haug, February 20, 2013

Mainstream media and even your doctor tout certain foods as ‘good for you’ and others as ‘bad for you,’ but is there truth in their admonitions?  Mercola and several other health sites (1,2,6) have recently identified 10 or so foods that are popular in the media as either good or bad for health, and then discuss the truth (or lack thereof) of the assertions. I’d like to focus on a few of these; call them my ‘nutritional pet peeves.’

Demonized:

  • Eggs
  • Fats, especially saturated fats
  • High protein diet, especially animal protein

Praised:

  • Milk
  • Vegetable oils (soy, canola, etc.
  • High-carb diet

Read on for discussion and detail on these food issues. (more…)

Soap Scum in your Supplements, Pills?

Wednesday, June 27th, 2012

by Catherine Haug, June 25, 2012

You know what soap scum is – that white gluey stuff that appears in your bathtub, shower stall, kitchen sink and washing machine, especially if you have hard water, and it’s especially hard to wash off these surfaces. It can also leave a thin filmy coating on your hair after shampooing, or your skin after bathing.

But did you know that it is an ingredient in most encapsulated or tablet supplements and prescriptions? The manufacturers of these medications add magnesium or calcium stearate to the medication powders as a lubricant so the powders will pass more readily through the processing machinery. This additive isn’t removed before packing the powders in capsules or pressing them into pills, so remains in the product you buy.

What is magnesium or calcium stearate? Soap scum. What’s the harm? What can you do? Read on.

(more…)