Trans Fats, Heart Disease and Alzheimer’s

Recent research is pointing to the link that heart disease also increases your odds of developing Alzheimer's disease.
To oversimplify, the basic premise is that vascular damage predisposes your brain to increased plaque buildup. Plaque buildup in your brain is the hallmark of degenerative brain disease.
It has been thought for decades that saturated fats have been the culprit for heart disease. As it turns out, saturated fat was never the culprit in heart disease. Dr. Fred Kummerow, author of Cholesterol Is Not the Culprit, has researched fats and heart disease for eight decades, and he was the first researcher to identify which fats actually cause clogged arteries.
Dr. Kummerow’s research found that trans fats are the enemy. Trans fats are found in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. Partially hydrogenated vegetable oils are largely used in commercially baked cookies, crackers and baked goods, but also MANY other commercially made foods that you eat every day. Partially hydrogenated oils give products longer shelf life, but drastically reduce your life. You can find out if the food you are consuming contains partially hydrogenated vegetable oils by reading labels.

Sound Research

At 100 years old, Dr. Kummerow is still an active researcher and writer. Some of his most recent research shows that there are two types of fats in our diet responsible for the formation of heart disease:
1.    Trans fat found in partially hydrogenated oil. Trans fats are synthetic fatty acids. (They are not present in either animal or vegetable fats.)
2.    Oxidized cholesterol forms when polyunsaturated vegetable oils (such as soybean, corn and sunflower oils) are heated. This oxidized cholesterol (not dietary cholesterol in and of itself) causes increased thromboxane formation—a factor that clots your blood.
"The problem, [Dr. Kummerow] says, is not LDL, the "bad cholesterol"... What matters is whether the cholesterol and fat residing in those LDL particles have been oxidized...
[He] contends that the high temperatures used in commercial frying cause inherently unstable polyunsaturated oils to oxidize, and that these oxidized fatty acids become a destructive part of LDL particles. Even when not oxidized by frying, soybean and corn oils can oxidize inside the body."

The Detrimental Effects of Today’s Diet

Unlike our ancestors, we do not consume a high amount of saturated fats and vegetables. We do consume a diet full of highly processed foods including carbs and sugars. Much of what we eat today is genetically engineered (GMO). The long term effects of GMO’s on today’s health has yet to be determined. It is a misnomer that saturated fats need to be avoided. The brain needs healthy fats to function properly.

Avoid Processed Foods

Good news! According to Dr. Kummerow, your body can eliminate trans fats in about a month.
Bad news! Sadly, 95 percent of the food that most Americans eat is processed. Protect your health, your heart, your brain, and your gut, avoid as many processed foods as possible (including most restaurant food).
1.    Cook at home.
2.    Avoid sugar, and processed fructose. (Most processed foods)
3.    Eat a diet of whole foods, (organic whenever possible) Including: large amounts of vegetables (without sauces and butter), low to moderate amount of protein, healthy fats.
Healthy fats include: Avocados, Organic butter, Raw dairy, Egg yolk, Coconut and coconut oil, UNHEATED nut oils, RAW nuts, Grass-fed meats.