I was just amused because a hamburger or similar with every meal was more or less a staple of my weight loss. (Eating high levels of fat = heart issues is a myth, it’s quite the opposite.)
You might be thinking that these guys are inappropriately encouraging consumption of saturated fats, given all the hype about it being related to heart disease. On careful inspection of the scientific literature, however, the widespread belief that dietary saturated fat is harmful turns out to be an out-dated paradigm based upon flawed reasoning.
Yes, we know that this looks like an outrageous statement. So here is a brief summary of the details. Current evidence shows no association between dietary saturated fat intake and cardiovascular disease (CVD)[50, 51]. There is, however, a consistent pattern of increased risk for CVD[52-55] and diabetes[56-58] associated with increased amounts of saturated fat circulating in the blood. It is a common mistake for people to assume that your intake of saturates is what determines your blood level of this much maligned nutrient, but this is incorrect. Particularly in the keto-adapted state, fat is being burned at a much higher rate, and this is particularly true for saturated fat. In two recently published studies we showed that a low carbohydrate, high fat diet significantly decreased circulating levels of saturated fat[23, 59]. It’s hard to imagine how dietary saturated fat can be problematic when it is promptly burned to carbon dioxide and water.
Phinney, Stephen; Volek, Jeff (2012-06-15). The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance (p. 71-72). Beyond Obesity LLC. Kindle Edition.
23. Forsythe CE, Phinney SD, Fernandez ML, Quann EE, Wood RJ, Bibus DM, Kraemer WJ, Feinman RD, Volek JS: Comparison of low fat and low carbohydrate diets on circulating fatty acid composition and markers of inflammation. Lipids 2008, 43(1):65-77.
50. Jakobsen MU, O’Reilly EJ, Heitmann BL, Pereira MA, Balter K, Fraser GE, Goldbourt U, Hallmans G, Knekt P, Liu S et al: Major types of dietary fat and risk of coronary heart disease: a pooled analysis of 11 cohort studies. Am J Clin Nutr 2009, 89(5):1425-1432.
51. Siri-Tarino PW, Sun Q, Hu FB, Krauss RM: Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease. Am J Clin Nutr 2010, 91(3):535-546.
52. Miettinen TA, Naukkarinen V, Huttunen JK, Mattila S, Kumlin T: Fatty-acid composition of serum lipids predicts myocardial infarction. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1982, 285(6347):993-996.
53. Simon JA, Hodgkins ML, Browner WS, Neuhaus JM, Bernert JT, Jr., Hulley SB: Serum fatty acids and the risk of coronary heart disease. Am J Epidemiol 1995, 142(5):469-476.
54. Wang L, Folsom AR, Eckfeldt JH: Plasma fatty acid composition and incidence of coronary heart disease in middle aged adults: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis 2003, 13(5):256-266.
55. Yamagishi K, Iso H, Yatsuya H, Tanabe N, Date C, Kikuchi S, Yamamoto A, Inaba Y, Tamakoshi A: Dietary intake of saturated fatty acids and mortality from cardiovascular disease in Japanese: the Japan Collaborative Cohort Study for Evaluation of Cancer Risk (JACC) Study. Am J Clin Nutr 2010, 92(4):759-765.
56. Patel PS, Sharp SJ, Jansen E, Luben RN, Khaw KT, Wareham NJ, Forouhi NG: Fatty acids measured in plasma and erythrocyte-membrane phospholipids and derived by food-frequency questionnaire and the risk of new-onset type 2 diabetes: a pilot study in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Norfolk cohort. Am J Clin Nutr 2010, 92(5):1214-1222.
57. Wang L, Folsom AR, Zheng ZJ, Pankow JS, Eckfeldt JH: Plasma fatty acid composition and incidence of diabetes in middle-aged adults: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. Am J Clin Nutr 2003, 78(1):91-98.
58. Warensjo E, Riserus U, Vessby B: Fatty acid composition of serum lipids predicts the development of the metabolic syndrome in men. Diabetologia 2005, 48(10):1999-2005.
59. Forsythe CE, Phinney SD, Feinman RD, Volk BM, Freidenreich D, Quann E, Ballard K, Puglisi MJ, Maresh CM, Kraemer WJ et al: Limited effect of dietary saturated fat on plasma saturated fat in the context of a low carbohydrate diet. Lipids 2010, 45(10):947-962.