In fact the entire anti-fat campaign was based on inconclusive studies and after years of nutritional detective work, the truth about saturated fats have finally been revealed.

But I know even today, that there’s still conflicting opinions on this topic, so I gathered some information to help you understand why saturated fat is beneficial to your health.

Here are a 7 reasons why you SHOULD be eating saturated fat on a regular basis:

1. Faster weight loss.  Researchers have found that dieters who eat saturated fat have a larger percentage of fat loss during their diet.  So if you want to lose more weight and do it in a shorter period of time, you need to make sure that you are eating saturated fat.

2. Better metabolism.  Saturated fat intake has been associated with a faster metabolism, because it helps to improve the nerve signaling within the body.  This results in improved functioning of your hormones and directly impacts your ability to burn fat.

3. Brain health. The human brain has 100 billion neurons and is primarily composed of cholesterol and fat, and most of the fatty acids that are found in your brain are saturated fats.  These neurons require saturated fats as nutrients, so if you want better brain function, you need to eat saturated fats.

4. Lung health.  Your lungs are coated with a surfactant which acts like a lubricant.  This allows your lungs to expand and contract to draw air into the alveoli.  Without it, your lungs would collapse from too much surface tension.  This surfactant is made up of saturated fatty acids, so it’s important that you consume saturated fats in your diet to ensure optimal lung health.

5. Bone strength.  In order for calcium to be effectively absorbed into your bones, you need to have saturated fat in your diet.  According to Mary Enig, Ph.D., an expert on dietary fats and human health, she states that up to 50% of your dietary fat content can be from saturated fats because of the dependency of calcium absorption.

6. Reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.  Consuming enough saturated fat in your diet, reduces the level of lipoproteins in your body.  And since lipoproteins have been associated with heart disease, eating saturated fats can help reduce your risk of heart disease.

7. Better overall health.  Saturated fats help strengthen your immune system and improve overall health.  If you have insufficient saturated fat in your body, your immune functions are compromised, because your white bold cells require saturated fat for optimum function.  Without adequate saturated fats, your white blood cells lose their effectiveness to identify and destroy foreign invaders like bacteria and viruses to protect your body.

So it’s clear now that saturated fat was misunderstood, and for many years the health benefits of saturated fat went unrecognized.  But now we know better and you can take full advantage of all the benefits it offers.  That being said, you should always get saturated fats from high quality foods such as organic coconut oil, eggs from pastured raised chickens, grass-fed beef, wild caught fatty fish, as well as dairy products that come from grass-fed beef.