Incredulous as it is, people nowadays are actually worried about not getting enough “good” fat.  So they go out of their way to add olive oil to what would otherwise not have been junk.  And now they are putting junk in their mouths (see Blog of 1/4/15).

“Good fat,” “bad fat,” “Omega 6000 fat,” “essential fat” – all fat – has one thing in common:  it is calorie dense and nutrient light (actually, dietary fat is nutrient “vacant”).  Remember what that means?  Right!  It’s junk.

To be sure, some fat is worse than other fat.  Not all bad stuff is created equal.  Lard is worse than olive oil.  As is butter.  As is bacon fat.  You know that.

But just because saturated animal fat, and saturated plant-sourced fat, are worse than olive oil fat, that doesn’t warrant the designation “good fat!”

Dietary fat is not your friend, no matter what Omega number it is.  Yes, of course, your body needs some dietary fat – maybe 10 percent of total calories.  You don’t need more than that.   And you can relax.  It is all but impossible to get less than that in dietary fat without starving to death.

If you eat at all, you will get ample fat.  If you deliberately add any concentrated fat to your food – like oil, for example — you will get way too much fat for your own good.  Most devotees of the SAD (standard American diet) are getting in excess of 40 percent of their daily calories from fat.  If you’re wondering how that can be, take a look at these choice specimens from the SAD:

Item                             Percent of Calories from Fat

Cheddar Cheese                    72 percent

Hamburger                             58 percent

Fried Chicken                         54 percent

Boiled Egg                              62 percent

Trust me, you are getting ample fat from your diet right now – and “ample” for dietary fat would be around 10 percent.  Chances are pretty good that you are getting three to four times as much fat as you can safely handle.

Fat is fat.  It’s not “good.”