She’s been telling me that I’m going to die because I’m not getting enough fat. She says I need to eat oil like olive oil or something. She read somewhere you need like 30 grams of fat per day to just have basic function.
Edit 1: Apparently Okinawans got 6% of their calories from fat and did pretty well. That’s like the lower limit. It’s pretty hard to get below 6%.
Edit 2: Saturated fat is a much bigger concern than overall fat intake. Assuming a [handful of nuts](https://s30386.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/nuts-hand.jpg.optimal.jpg) is 1/4 cup, a handful of almonds is 1.25g saturated fat, a handful of walnuts is 1.25g saturated fat, a handful of peanuts is 2.5g saturated fat, a handful of brazil nuts is 5g saturated fat. From my memory 10g saturated fat per day puts you at significant risk of heart disease. Maybe someone can bring up some hard data on that. But until then I recommend keeping your intake at or below 2.5g. So a handful of the lower fat nuts per day is probably okay and would give the good health benefits of those nuts (walnuts are apparently especially good).
Edit 3: Just thought I should share this nice [post](https://www.wholefoodsplantbasedhealth.com.au/resources/faq/recommend-low-fat-diet/) that goes over a lot of wfpb history and some info about fat intake, oil and nuts. They settled on a calorie balance of 70-80% carbohydrate, 10-15% protein and 8-15% fat.
I told her that the cultures that live the longest don’t produce or eat any oil, and that historically no one would have thrown away gallons of good olives just to get a few cups of nutrient-deficient oil. Not to mention I think many long living cultures had no such highly oily vegetables to begin with. Avocados, olives and seeds are only available to us year round because of the industrial revolution and trans-continental trade.
by northrojpol
26 Comments
Tell her that she is correct: you do need fats. However, you don’t need fat in the form of oil.
In my experience, no matter how many times I explain it or tell her to stop repeating bullshit, doesn’t help. She has to figure out in her own, I just had to ignore her or not call for a while. She wouldn’t stop asking if I was ”eating enough protein” for months. It took her 65 years to learn too much protein can be bad. You don’t have to justify your diet or body to anybody. People who would nag me about this stupid shit never thought to google it themselves or read about different diets. People who 300 pounds still try to tell me what to eat even after being told Im Sick of explaining it and don’t want their advice. They’re trying to be helpful but it’s annoying as fuck. Good luck.
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edit: mother wouldnt stop repeating “humans need a certain amount of oil”, so god damn dumb and incorrect
This link from the sidebar is a great place to start:
[http://www.plantplate.com/Guide/Detail?GuideID=1009](http://www.plantplate.com/Guide/Detail?GuideID=1009)
Whole foods naturally provide all the fats the human body needs, there is no reason to add empty calories from oils. For millions of years, not a single animal consumed oils, yet here we are today, still alive and kicking.
You can’t convince somebody with a closed mind. Just use the grey rock technique when she tells you to eat more fat. If you’re living at home, then cook your own food. Believe me, you will save yourself lots of aggravation if you stop trying to convince her.
Fat is essential for good health. You need it to absorb fat soluble vitamins and to maintain your own healthy lipids like cholesterol. She is correct. You don’t need a lot, but you do need it. Cultures that have high intakes of olive oil are considered the ideal for health. -registered dietitian for a decade with a masters in nutrition.
Ask her if sugar is healthy. Most people will say no. Acknowledge that and say that even though the refined sugar is devoid of nutrients, “empty calories” as it were, that’s because refined sugars are derived from something else and have the nutritious part thrown away. Beets, corn, or molasses have real nutrition in them, but it’s discarded in the refining process and it leaves only the high-calorie and low-nutrient part behind.
Basically, oil is to fat as sugar is to carbohydrates. To make oil, you take a whole food like olives, you throw away the fiber and a lot of the other nutrients, and you leave behind most of the calories. It’s the opposite of what most of us need and want in the modern age. There’s nothing that’s in oil that isn’t in the whole foods oils are derived from.
You can get healthy fats from some nuts and avocados if you don’t want to eat oil.
You don’t need to eat oil, but she is right on the fact that fat is a vital nutrient.
just show her this subreddit
Health authorities recommend 20-35% fat in a diet according the the academy of nutrition and dietetics. You don’t need oil but nuts, seeds, avocados are all good sources of fat. Depending on your age you may have different, paediatric fat intake guidelines.
I’m literally just restating the stuff in the sidebar and getting downvotes.
13.5g per day seems too low to me. You need fats to absorb fat soluble nutrients
I get 30-50g on WFPB easy
Flaxseeds, walnuts, almonds, chia seeds, sunflower seeds
Personally I wouldn’t use BMI for targets
I don’t really eat avocados either
Oil is needed. Mom is correct
In my world, oil is a topical application.
>historically no one would have thrown away gallons of good olives just to get a few cups of nutrient-deficient oil
There is evidence of olive oil production and use as far back as 4000 BC. Looking it up, the remaining olive pulp can be used for animal feed, compost, or a fuel source.
I get almost 30% of calories from fat, via nuts and nut butters, seeds, and yes some olive oil. 5% calories from fat sounds absurdly low and quite probably not healthy…
>Edit: 5% of calories from fat seems to be a good target. For my BMI, that’s 13.5 grams of fat per day.
I think that will lead to an excessively restrictive diet. I think you would need to be a fruitarian to get that low.
There is a happy medium between adding excess oils, and the other extreme of low fat fruitarian.
Just eat a variety of whole food vegetables, fruit, grains, and legumes, and you will probably land somewhere in the 12-20% range, which is fine.
Link her to Hench Herbivore ; P
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opWIQE8IYxc&ab_channel=HenchHerbivore
It should be noted that in small quantities (measured in grams, not tablespoons) some oils can be incredibly healthy. Fresh flaxseed oil has a great omega-6:omega-3 ratio and can be anti-inflammatory, and support heart and brain health.
Most other oils have the opposite effect. Oils used improperly can be toxic – when olive oil gets to its smoke point, it creates trans fats, for example.
Nutrition can’t be brute forced. Nuance is required.
And oils have been used for thousands of years.
I am confused. Does she mean oil or fat?
Considering how closely tied to our identity diet tends to be for most people, I would recommend very strongly against wasting time and emotional distress or energy in trying to change your mom’s mind. Just as your belief on this issue is pretty much set firmly in stone, it’s likely hers is too. You both have access to all the same information that is in the world on diet so it’s unlikely you’ll change her mind with any argument, based in science or otherwise.
Life and familial relationships become a lot easier when you stop wasting energy to change their mind and start hearing her concern for what it is, caring about your health, reflect back that you appreciate she cares for you and assure her you are making dietary choices that work for you and make you feel good and that you don’t want to feel you need to justify or explain your decisions. There is no need to agree on the facts and details, it’s enough to agree that you both care for your health and appreciate one another others care.
You don’t have to convince your mom of anything. Do your thing and let her do hers.
I don’t get where you are coming from. Food needs to taste good and there is nothing inherently wrong about using some oil. Same as using some sugar or salt or MSG.
One thing I hate about dietary advice is the extremism. I personally eat plant based but I have no problems with using whatever else is required to make it taste good.
Fair enough if you have significant health problems and you need some special diet but geez if the whole world went 80% whole food plant based climate change would be significantly less of a problem and our collective health would improve significantly. I doubt moving the world from 80% to 100% would make much of a difference.
You can ask your mom about what they think about the fat content of things like avocado, nuts, seeds, olives as you have them with your food.
you are multitasking by getting nutrients and fat all at the same time, while she gets no nutrients from oil
You are wise – fat is far from important
Lots of plants have oil already in them.. but your wrong that the culture who live the longest don’t have oil, the Adventist and that island in Greece both eat oil.