Customer Reviews

Fats that Heal Fats that Kill

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book provides a good overview of the different types of fats and oils there are and how much of each of them we should be eating and which fats we need to avoid. In short, we need to eat lots of different types of natural fats and avoid heavily and carelessly processed fats and oils and unnatural trans fats.

This book is a good place to start in learning more about fats and oils.

The author explains:
- An oil is not just healthy or unhealthy, how old it is and how it has been processed and how it is packaged matters. Oils should not be exposed to lots of heat and light in processing and should be sold in dark glass bottles (brown bottles are better than green, and oils sold in clear bottles should be avoided.)
- How to choose the best oils and fats at your local supermarket. This book is not a sales pitch for the author's excellent 'Udo's oil' product and in fact the author also recommends getting lots of your daily fat intake from fresh (and/or freshly ground) seeds and nuts rather than any of the oils you buy in bottles.
- The term 'cold pressed' is meaningless. It just means that heat wasn't applied while the seeds or fruits were being pressed. Look for oils which say that they are unprocessed. Unrefined and mechanically pressed oils are best.
- When buying olive oil all you need to look for are the words 'extra virgin' and possibly organic.
- Freezing oils is okay.
- We have come to believe that oils should be tasteless, but properly pressed oils should be full of flavour.
- Never heat oils above 160 degrees C and 320 degrees F. Do not heat expeller pressed oils at all and only use them to dress cooked foods.
- We need to eat omega 3 and 6 oils in a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio.
- Don't buy ground flaxseeds. Grind your own but always consume them no more than 15 minutes after grinding.

The author of FTHFTK is quite opinionated and believes that animal foods are not really all that good for you. There is an anti-animal foods and animal fats bias that unfortunately runs all through every part of this book. There is also a huge bias against saturated fat and cholesterol containing foods which is also not backed by science. This seems to stem mostly from a vegetarian bias. I feel this unscientifically supported personal bias lets the otherwise very high quality of this book down a bit. These problematic biases are NOT supported in Mary Enig's book, which is one of several reasons why it is superior. Mary Enig also presents more solid information on canola oil and soy oil and why these are not healthy choices.

Erasmus actually lists soy oil as one of the healthiest oils you can possibly eat, it is listed third in a list of healing oils while eggs and and even fresh pressed oils are listed roughly 13 and 11 places down respectively. A list that places eggs at the bottom and not far above foods like margarine just has to be at least a bit 'off.' Instead of just stating the obvious fact that butter is better for you than trans fat filled margarine, the author goes through them point by point!

There is probably also a too big bias towards flax and hemp oil in this book, with the author even claiming that such oils are far better than fish oils for their EPA and DHA content which just doesn't tally with other experts on this issue. (This claim is commonly made by those with a strong vegetarian bias, but not by those that have no bias either way.)

Coconut oil, one of the healthiest oils there is, is barely mentioned in this book. It is not really recommended by this book either, but perhaps this is due to the age of the book and the fact that most coconut oil products were hydrogenated at the time the book came out? This seems at least a possibility. (Or it may be further evidence of the author's bias against saturated fats.)

Erasmus's stance is contradictory on some issues such as the link between cholesterol levels and their impact on health. In one chapter he says that in the future cholesterol level blood test may be seen as very unimportant, and that today the importance of this test is vastly overstated and is just a big health fad. But at the same time how eating each oil affects cholesterol levels is mentioned again and again in the book, which sends a message that cholesterol levels are one of or even the most important issue when looking at dietary fats. The author could be a LOT clearer than he is on why the dietary saturated fat and cholesterol = heart disease hypothesis is wrong. Cholesterol levels are talked about endlessly in this book. Saturated fats are not 'sticky' and your body needs saturated fats and cholesterol to be healthy!

The author also claims that a grain based diet and a diet made up of almost 70% carbohydrate calories is a good choice for maintaining a healthy weight and treating obesity (again see Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health (Vintage) for information on why this isn't true), that female gender protects against heart disease and that saturated fat intake is linked with cancer and raises cholesterol levels as well (see The Great Cholesterol Con: The Truth About What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid It and Fat: It's Not What You Think for the facts on this) and that 15 - 25 % of calories from fat is an adequate amount for us all - which many authors (such as Mary Enig and Sally Fallon) would strongly disagree with.

(Erasmus's website now states that fat intake of between 15 - 60% is probably ideal, which is interesting.)

If you're very interested in this subject you can get an even more well-rounded fats and oils education by reading this book along with Gary Taubes' book Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health (Vintage) and of course Know Your Fats : The Complete Primer for Understanding the Nutrition of Fats, Oils and Cholesterol by Mary Enig plus perhaps also Eat Fat, Lose Fat: The Healthy Alternative to Trans Fats and The Coconut Oil Miracle (Previously published as The Healing Miracle of Coconut Oil).

Udo Erasmus's book is of a high quality but if I had to choose between this book and Mary Enig's book then I have to say that Know Your Fats : The Complete Primer for Understanding the Nutrition of Fats, Oils and Cholesterol would win hands down. Mary Enig has a Phd in lipid (fat) chemistry and Erasmus does not.

Erasmus's book is also almost 20 years old.

Having said that, the significant amount of information that Erasmus's book also contains on the causes of disease such as poor nutrition levels and overburdened detoxification systems and how what matters is the cause of a disease rather than its labels is very well done. The section on health vs. political and financial interests is also very good. This part of the book contains such important information that many readers may learn a lot from and may not read in many other health books.

It is for this reason that I give this book four stars overall. Three for the information on fats and oils and an extra star for the bonus health information it so passionately imparts on nutrition and detoxification and their role in disease prevention and treatment.

Jodi Bassett, The Hummingbirds' Foundation for M.E.

I have been always puzzled by numerous kinds of fats mentioned in many health related books and conflicting information pieces provided in there. I bought a couple of medical books to understand fats, but they were too tough to read for the poeple like me who are in non-medical fields. And then I found this amazing book. This book explain almost everything about what fat is, how it is metabolized in our body, all the different kinds of fats, how fats are related with our health, and etc. And it does not simply explain to us. The book explains using chemical symbols. So there are a lot of chemical diagrams of all kinds of fats:

3HC-C....C-COOH stuffs.

If you didn't take General Chemistry course in College, this book is a tough reading. However, the author says that you can skip such chemistry part without losing any flow of the book, which I agree. However, I think that it is that chemistry part which makes this book shine and stood from any other books that simply say the confusing results or incorrect information.

I thought that I had quite a good amount of information regarding general nutrition and fat in particular, since I read good amount of books available. After I read this book, I realized that I was misunderstanding or had misinformation on fats, which is the most important nutrient. Understanding fat is not simple. And I think that understanding fat is very important, before we plan our healthy diet. I would recommend this book anyone who would like to understand fats and who are interested in health in general.

You can be the general surgeon or the average man concerned about his health. This book, easy to understand, breaks down the facts on fat and covers the topics people want to know such as...cholestrol, butter vs. margerine and more. As an athlete, I have benefited from this book and improved my eating habbits as well as my overall life style.

Fats That Heal Fats That Kill is a highly recommended book. The chapters are broken down into small sections and written in understandable terms. Let's face it, the mass of the population are not scientifically trained and Udo has taken on the task of bridging the gap between the laboratory findings and the average person who's health will benefit greatly from reading Fats That Heal Fats That Kill. On the otherhand, if you ARE interested in furthering your knowledge of what happens with fats in the body and the differences between them on a scientific level, the diagrams and explainations are excellent. I have come across much research in the last few years that supports Udo's findings. Very exciting!

I applaude Udo Erasmus for taking the time to research a topic that the average person would not take the time to do, but that is of such importance to the health of all people. I believe that what makes science valuable to us, is that there exists someone who is able to take the information out of the lab and give it to the mass of the people in a way that makes sense and is applicable. For this reason, Udo Erasmus, I thank you very much for the energy you put into this insightful book. Incidentally, I have come across much research over the last few years that supports the information you share with us. Very exciting!

This is one of the best nutrition books I have ever read. Dr. Urasmus shows in great detail how processing oils makes them bad for us. The book only covers dietary fat use, but that is one of the most important aspects of diet. It is also one of the most neglected. Most of the oils eaten by us today are unhealthy. If you have a chronic disease or are just interested in improving your diet you should read this book.

This is a landmark work in the study of fat. Yes it is a "relatively" easy read given that the author starts you off on a crash course in organic chemistry. Nevertheless it is rather heavy going in places and I believe it is more useful as a reference book than as a cover to cover health read. This is a book you will want to keep handy as you will refer to it again and again.

It is true that Erasmus does include a push for his own oil product. It is, however, well known that his involvement in EFA oil production came AFTER the bulk of his studies and research ie the product is in response to an exposed need. This book was certainly not written to sell his oil. The references to his own product are few.

This is a well written, well organised, objective text.

I've been reading about Dr. Budwig's research on the role of fats in the body and found this book to be a wonderful complement to that information. Mr. Erasmus' book explains the difference between fats and the methods used to obtain them (I learned what "expeller pressed" means) and how the fats industry makes its money by manipulating natural fats to prolong their shelf lives--processes that are not very conducive to anyone's health, by the way. What I most liked about Mr. Erasmus' book, however, was the fact that, although he does speak about his own oil blend, he encourages people to read and think for themselves, which is what it's all about. This book is not the 'definitive' book on the subject, but it is written in such a way as to be extremely helpful in deciphering all the jargon. This book is a wonderful tool, and I highly recommend its use as such.

This is the book I buy for other people who are interested in nutrition. It gets VERY indepth but there is plenty of accessible information to make it worth your while. You will finally understand the whole mono/saturated/poly/unsaturated thing, not to mention the actual effect of various vitamins and what purpose they serve.

This book should be required reading in every high school health class. Why? For way too long, even those who are health conscious with the best intentions have made critical mistakes in choosing our fats and oils. For example, for years I purchased unrefined oils of "macrobiotic quality", packaged in a clear bottle and used them at high heat...a critical mistake! Read this book and find out why!!

Even worse are those who are consuming fats that are "illness by prescription"--and don't know it. Learn the truth, corroborated with good science, get informed, use the information.

This book is THE quintessential one on making one of the most vital decisions in your daily cuisine. Erasmus has a gift of taking the complex and making it an easy read. More importantly, one can, after reading this book, use the information to reach for your maximum health potential.

If you have a desire to be as healthy as your genetics will allow, then do not skip this book---it is as critical as anything you do, including check-ups and medical tests.

I feel most fortunate I got my hands on it before I did more damage. I wish it were published at the beginning of the century. Many of the degenerative diseases would have been greatly diminished.

Finally, to his credit, Erasmus does not use the book to promote his propietary oil, Udo's Choice, manufactured by the top of the line Flora Company. Rather, he gives you the information to decide how to purchase the best oils