Women and Fat

I have always been intrigued with the subject of food and diet, so I’ve ready plenty of books and even watched a few documentaries on the subject. This book Why Women Need Fat is just another book that confirms a lot of what I’ve already seen and read.

I enjoyed reading about the history of women’s shapes and sizes from 50 years past as well as the differences in omega-6 and omega-3 fats. It was helpful to read that a lot of our omega-6 consumption is found in very over-processed corn and soybean oil. Corn and soybeans are vegetables and vegetables generally contain little fat, so it’s surprising to find that there is so much polyunsaturated (unhealthy) fat in these oils. 

While this book discusses why women need fat, primarily for child bearing, many studies and comparisons used in the book were about men or women in other countries. There was a study of interest to me even though the only people in the study were men. It showed how men who are overweight and put on a limited calorie diet do tend to lose quite a bit of weight quickly, however, after a few months the weight loss trails off, the subjects became depressed, and all they could think about was food. When the subjects were able to eat whatever they wanted they ended up eating more than what they used to eat before they went on the diet causing them to gain back all the weight they had lost as well as more in very little time. I’ve actually seen this happen to friends that I know who have been on all sorts of diets.

I also found it a bit irksome when the author compared us to our “ape cousins.” What? There is no way we are related to or did we evolve from apes. That’s just nonsense. I think that whole comparison was an unnecessary part of the book and could have been taken out all together.

All in all I think this book was an okay read for those who don’t know much about natural fats, diet, and food, but for me it was all stuff I’ve already heard.

This is a paid review by BlogHer Book Club, but all opinions expressed about this book are mine.