Issue 3  1st December 2022

Saturated Fat: Good, Bad, or Just Plain Ugly? [podcast]

Saturated fat, and whether it is healthy, harmful, or neutral, is a hotly debated topic with extreme views on either side of the debate.

I have written extensively on the topic and the evidence suggests that, in the context of a healthy diet, saturated fat isn't a particular nutrient of concern. However, many proponents of the harms of saturated fat take issue with this stance, particularly because some of the research which concludes a nil effect of saturated fat on mortality in particular corrects for lipids, which might obscure the true role of saturated fat on mortality as basically removes LDL as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease from these analyses. They also make the point that substitution analyses which fail to find any benefit when saturated fat is reduced in favour of monounsaturated fats and carbohydrates is due to not differentiating between 'quality' carbohydrate sources and sugars and other highly refined carbs. Finally, they suggest that migration studies showing poorer health outcomes when people move to new countries and begin eating more saturated fat, and public health interventions that suggest people reduce saturated fat, resulting in improved cardiovascular outcomes, combined show that it is a problem on a population-scale.

In this podcast, Dr Simon Thornley, an epidemiologist and biostatistician at Auckland University and George Henderson, a researcher at Auckland University of Technology discuss these common rebuttals, providing an interesting spin on the saturated fat debate that is quite different to the usual nutrition narrative.

Health Coaching Science & Psychology: Key Concepts

The field of health coaching is rapidly evolving. It bridges the gap between behavioural psychology and applied health practice and so draws on aspects of behavioural and positive psychology, and other evidence-based practices for achieving the best client outcomes and for encouraging the creation and maintenance of health habits, which I think we'd all agree is the most difficult part of being in practice. And that's why it is such a powerful modality, either as a stand-alone health practice or as an addition to an existing medical, physio, nutrition, naturopathic, or other health practice.

Two key concepts in the process of health coaching are

Client self-determination Clients are not 'broken' (and they don't need 'fixing'!)

Neuroplasticity & Behaviour Change: Key concepts of health coaching

Neuroplasticity and behaviour change is a key concept of health coaching as the 'shifts' in the way that neurons 'fire together' is the fundamental physiological underpinning for new behaviours. Many years ago, when I first started studying the structure and function of the human body as part of my undergraduate qualification, the prevailing wisdom was that as adults aren't particularly neuroplastic and thus, it was considered to be very difficult to drastically change habits and behaviours. We now know that is incorrect and while we may be resistant to neural changes and we are ‘wired’ into certain patterns, we are soft-wired, not hard-wired. So, not only can we change the way our neurones communicate, but we can also create new neural tissue!