I just listened to Episode 277 and it does a fantastic job of distilling nutrition advice into relatively straightforward and actionable ideas. I have one question as it relates specifically to coconut milk. In the podcast, I believe you mentioned a preference for most fats to come from plant sources and also not to be overly concerned with the fat content of dairy. (I believe Dr. Baraki indicated in a different podcast that there is a hypothesis that dairy is less harmful due to a potential mechanism related to calcium intake).
Given all that, should we be concerned with the saturated fat content of plant sources like coconut milk as it pertains to CV risk? Granting it’s a plant source, but also that “milk” is a misnomer and it doesn’t really have much calcium like cow’s milk.
For context (if it matters): I’m a male with a higher-than-average genetic CV risk. I’ve been trying to increase my plant intake in my diet and have found that I like to use coconut milk for satiety in dishes like curries, stir-fries, and occasionally a smoothie.
Coconut products’ saturated fat falls closer to red meat in terms of risk as I understand it. I don’t think it needs to be eliminated from the diet like trans fats, but I wouldn’t eat it with reckless abandon either.
I think if your total sat. fat intake is ~ 10%, your lipid parameters look normal, and you’re body composition is good, then I’m cool with the coconut milk being consumed at your current level. Individuals may have unique responses do different sources of fat, but you can’t really tell without looking at a lipid panel, adjusting the diet, testing again, and so on.
If I may, I’d also like to ask a question in regard to saturated fats and health. I think it fits within the context of this thread and doesn’t warrant opening a new one.
Over the past few months I’ve started to pay more attention to my nutrition, trying to fulfill dietary recommendations. Reaching my calorie goal while eating mostly clean isn’t easy for me as I’m not a particularly good eater. But I still want to gain weight, and reaching my targets is manageable when I resort to drinking milk (~500 mL), eating lots of nuts (45-60g), 100% hazelnut butter (30g), and greek yogurt (10% fat content, 100g) each day. Red meat usually stays below 300-400g or so per week.
However, the high amounts of dairy and nuts usually put me at more than 10% of calories consisting of saturated fats. Do you regard this as suboptimal and would advise for different ways to reach my calories or should I not worry that much as long as my diet looks fine overall?
Bonus question: Do peanuts count as nuts or legumes?
Regarding your question, I can’t calculate the % of Calories coming from SFA without knowing your energy intake, what kinds of nuts, amount of greek yogurt, and so on. Doing so is probably outside the scope of a simple forum reply anyway, but I can’t really see how this adds up to > 10% of daily Calories outside of maybe full fat dairy. In that case, I do not really worry about more saturated fat in the diet if it comes from dairy.
If it falls closer to red meat, is it a problem to consume coconut oil every day? I put 25ml of coconut oil per 1kg of peanut butter, which gives approximately 2.5ml per day, since I consume 120g of peanut butter per day. Is this a problem?