Today I starved.

I ate an entire plate of food...salad, beef, sweet potatoes, heck, even a bit of kugel...and I experienced what I am sure is one of the keys to the obesity epidemic in this country. I talk about it all the time, but this time I got to experience it, first hand. If you don't include healthy fats in your diet, you are going to be hungry. And you are going to eat more than if you did. I was a speaker at a conference today, and I got to have lunch. It was a great conference, a well-meaning conference with lots of people doing great things for the Earth and for people.  I had a great time. I taught a great workshop. And I starved. I was still hungry after eating. How is that possible, you ask? I ate an entire plate of food and I was still hungry. Some of the food was local; I don't know if any of the food was organic. But I do know that even though I ate an entire plate of food, I WAS STILL HUNGRY after eating it. What was the problem, you ask? THERE WAS NO FAT IN THE MEAL. No butter, no cream. No yogurt, no cheese. Heck, just good old butter from pastured cows would have solved the problem. There was no fat in the meal. (Margarine was offered and non-dairy creamer, but you know how I feel about those "food products"...they are not real food, and they will not satisfy the need for good, healthy fats! and you won't catch them on my plate!)

I was amazed, folks. As I mentioned, I talk about this all the time. Heck, I teach about this all the time. When you eat nutrient-dense foods with healthy fats, YOU EAT LESS. The human body needs nutrient-dense foods AND HEALTHY FATS in order to be well. Not to mention the fact that you cannot absorb the nutrients in the food without fats. It wasn't that the food wasn't pretty good as REAL food goes...salad, mashed potatoes (mashed with what? there was NO BUTTER or sour cream or yogurt in there, folks. How could they be mashed potatoes without BUTTER?!!) sweet potatoes, beef roast, turkey...it's just that IT WASN'T SATISFYING. I ATE AN ENTIRE PLATE OF FOOD AND I WAS STILL HUNGRY. STARVED, IN FACT. BECAUSE THERE WAS NO BUTTER.

So here's my point if you haven't caught it already: failure to include healthy fats like butter from grass-fed cows, coconut oil, ghee, lard, beef tallow, duck fat in your diet leads to hunger. And so we'll eat more. And more. And more. Because the body is not getting enough healthy fat. And just a little goes a long way, folks. So stay off the "obesity scale" and eat as much good butter and nutrient-dense food as you would like. Serve your family and yourself good, grass-fed butter or other healthy fat with your veggies and everything else you eat. You will eat a lot less than if you don't. Guaranteed.