The Cellulite Investigation

Since this is a blog about cellulite, the subject of fat is bound to come up in the course of conversation. And what a confusing subject it is! There’s regular fat and then there’s cellulite fat, there’s dietary fat and body fat, not to mention saturated fat, unsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, monounsaturated fat, trans fats… It’s easy to see why so many of us struggle with this most hated of fleshly elements.

At the outset of her cellulite investigation, ANALYST assumed that the fat in food goes straight to your thighs (and thereby to your cellulite). Yet the healthiest non-industrialized societies examined during the “diseases of civilization” studies ate over ten times the amount of fat-soluble vitamins than are found in the average American diet. How did they eat so many fat-soluble vitamins? They ate FAT. Fat from animal products, nonetheless. One particularly robust society in the Swiss Alps even built a sanctuary to honor “the presence of Divinity in the life-giving qualities of butter.”

Some nutrition experts hypothesize that copious amounts of fat-soluble vitamins were a primary reason why the “diseases of civilization” were virtually non-existent in non-industrialized societies. They even claim that saturated fat is good for you when sourced from livestock raised in the traditional manner –meaning they are allowed to graze on open pastures instead of confined to factory farms. These rebel nutritionists assert that saturated fat is an essential source of the fat-soluble vitamins (vitamins A, D, E, and K) that are glaringly missing from the American diet. Despite the fact that America is fatter than ever before, over eighty percent of Americans suffer from essential fatty acid deficiency. Could this deficiency be contributing to the cellulite epidemic, as well? Conjugated linoleic acid, commonly found in the fat of grass-fed beef, butter, and raw milk, is the active ingredient in many anti-cellulite treatments.

This alternative theory on fat is easy enough to test for oneself, and that is exactly what ANALYST did. After six months of filling her diet with whole-fat yogurt, raw cheeses, organic butter, and goose fat by the jar (only in the UK!), she didn’t see a single extra pound on the scale. Could it be true?!

What do you think of the so-called “lipid hypothesis,” as it is known in nutritional circles. Do you think that eating saturated fat makes you fat? If so, why? If not, why not?