Go to Hulu and watch the movie Fat Head. It explains how the "Lipid Hypothesis" - the idea that heart disease is caused by saturated fat and cholesterol - is a total fraud. Or you can just Google Lipid Hypothesis and I'm sure you'll find some informative stuff.

Lies
All Diets are high fat diets

Google:

• Insufficient evidence of association is present for intake of … saturated or polyunsaturated fatty acids; total fat … meat, eggs and milk. Mente A, et al. A systematic review of the evidence supporting a causal link between dietary factors and coronary heart disease. Arch Intern Med. 2009 Apr 13;169(7):659-69.

• There were no clear effects of dietary fat changes on total mortality or cardiovascular mortality. Hooper L, et al. Reduced or modified dietary fat for preventing cardiovascular disease. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2011 Jul 6;(7):CD002137.

You will see we are in the midst of a paradigm shift in our thinking about fat. Best wishes to you!

Also, here's a little clip from 'Fat Head' that addresses your concerns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8WA5wcaHp4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The blood lipid most correlated with heart disease, and what they see in animal models of heart disease is something called small dense LDL.

Its a form of cholesterol, but a specific type. High carb diets and sugar increase small dense LDL. High fat diets decrease it, instead producing lots of safe light fluffy LDL.

There may be other factors, like stress, and general body inflammation(such as perhaps that from plant oils high in omega 6 and margerine), but a low fat, high carb diet because it raises triglycerides, lowers HDL and increases small dense LDL, it seems most likely it will increase heart disease.

http://chriskresser.com/i-have-high-cholesterol-and-i-dont-care

If you like reading, buy the book "Ignore the Awkward: How the cholesterol myths are kept alive" by Uffe Ravnskov, or "The Cholesterol Delusion" by Ernest N. Curtis MD.

Ignore the Awkward is a good book.

There's some concern about chlorine in drinking water causing heart disease. Also, it's known that a very high carb diet increases small dense LDL, which once oxidized, can lead to inflammation and heart disease. Also excess free calcium is known to cause issues.

It turns out that high fat foods, are high in saturated and mono-unsaturated fats, which are inert, and won't cause issues, while PUFAs, or trans-fats, once oxidized are problematic.

One theory is the lipid hypothesis which says that saturated fat is bad for you, and can be measured by the cholesterol in your blood. It is just a theory.

Another theory is that saturated fat in and of itself it not bad for you, in fact can be good for you by protecting your tissues and improving digestion and nutrition. The problem instead is inflammation, blood sugar, and the hormones that go along with them. This is also just a a theory.

We would all love to know the definitive answer for which is correct but we might not ever, since like most theories can't be definitively proven.

Given the number if people eating diets consistent with the lipid hypothesis who are extremely unhealthy, at a minimum one should think that there is something wrong with either the theory or how it is followed.

There are lots of people who abandoned that theory and adopted the second theory and made enormous improvements to their health.

To me, this all adds up to the second theory being worth a shot, and also the possibility that the first theory might be completely wrong.

I eat 6 eggs every day. An usually some bacon or sausage. OMG, my heart just done 'SPLODED!!!

Had three of these for dinner the other day. Heart feels fine :)

(I've even got the lab tests to prove it: HDL 74, TC 190, Trig. under 50, Glucose 88, BP 110/70)

(recipe here)

As to: "Of course high fat foods are the risk factors for heart disease as well as many others, eat healthy products, keep a balanced diet and everything will be fine!"

Here's a Balanced diet: a little bit of arsenic, a little bit of rat poison, a little bit of drain cleaner. There you go: balance!

You want to read the "Diet Delusion" by Garry Taubes (called "Good Calories Bad Calories" in America). It explains where the lipid hypothesis came from (fat and saturated fat = heart disease) and why this conclusion is incorrect. He's a very intelligent science journalist and it is a very detailed account of the science (but it is relativly simplified for an intelligent layman so don't be too intimidated).

Hi Ducky,

Here are some answers to your question. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/high-fat-diet-healthy-safe/

Don't stress about paleo perfection, just try to improve your diet one step at a time as best you can by eating whole, real foods and avoiding processed foods as much as possible.

Here's a great semi-technical article explaining the alternative hypothesis that has the most evidence to support it in my view http://www.cholesterol-and-health.com/Does-Cholesterol-Cause-Heart-Disease-Myth.html

I am a follower of paleo nutrition. It will be interesting to see longitudinal studies of other fellow paleo adherents . Hopefully we are right, lol!

Since I get lots of blood work done because of my diabetes, since going Paleo about 3 years ago, my numbers have been outstanding- so much that my doctor warned me that I might not be labeled diabetic if my numbers get much better. Thank God for all the Fat I eat and the tests don't lie. BTW- if I'm declared not to be diabetic- I lose test strips, my small amount of metformin and blood tests aren't covered. And I would not of course be cured, and pay thru the azz for this compamny coverage.

No matter how many times I was told the science behind this, I struggled to change a lifetime of being told bacon, eggs and sausages will kill me slowly and painfully. It wasn't until I realised that I had also been told to eat 6 servings of grains a day that I realised 'the man' might have got the whole thing quite wrong. If you feel great by removing grains, then my recommendation would be to trust your experience so far and just try it.

If you are really nervous, then keep up regular checks with your doctor. My doctor is actually 100% behind me going Paleo and is amazed with the improvements in my blood results over the last few months. I was previously a very ill person and am now fighting fit, the picture of health!

I'm not suggesting to go in blind, Paleo has been likened to a cult too many times for my liking given the amount of research backing it up. But for me, it was as radical as suggesting that jumping off a cliff wouldn't hurt, so at some point I had to just try it.

hello newbie... There are lots of books and lots of information out there, they might be a good place to start.