The Truth About Cooking with Fat — What Women Over 40 Need to Know with Ilkay Basugur

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Are you still afraid of eating fat? Do you wonder if eating meat, butter, or full-fat dairy will sabotage your health goals? You’re not alone — and it’s time to clear up the confusion. In this episode, I’m joined by nutrition expert Ilkay Basugur to debunk common fat myths and uncover what the science really says about fat, hormones, heart health, and midlife metabolism. If you’re over 40 and trying to eat better, this conversation is a must-listen!

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• What kinds of fats support your metabolism, brain, and hormones — and why they matter even more in midlife
• The major difference between animal fats and seed oils — and how one contributes to inflammation
• The surprising way your body stores fat (and why it’s not as simple as “eating fat makes you fat”)
• Why your hormones, insulin, and cravings are all affected by how you pair fats and carbs
• How traditional low-fat diets may actually cause the opposite of what they promised — and what to do instead

This episode will give you a fresh (and science-backed) perspective on fat and help you make empowered choices about what you put on your plate.

Join the Conversation:
Snap a screenshot of the episode playing on your device, post it to your Instagram Stories and tag me @soulspacechef. I’d love to hear what resonated with you the most!

Transcript

Aliye Aydin: So I have Ilkai Basager here with me and today I've asked her to come on and talk all about fat because that was one of biggest questions I get with a high protein diet is what about the fat? And I really started thinking about that if you grew up at any time period, especially the '9s, right? Fat maybe 2000's not as much, but fat was considered bad. That is the big thing I remember about the '9s. I watched the Cooking Channel a lot or what became the Food Network a lot in the '9s.

Aliye Aydin: And there were shows on there that showed you how to cook without fat because fat was bad…

Aliye Aydin: because fat meant heart disease. This is what I remember about fat. And so then when I get questions from potential clients or members of my high protein meal membership, I think, right, there's people out there that still think fat is bad. Avoid certain types of fat. all this stuff that I kind of know about, but I wanted to have you on, Elkai to really clear it up for us. is fat bad?

Ilkay Basugur: Thank you for Having Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: Of course, you're just a wealth of information. So, I think I'd love to start with that. is fat bad? many women over 40 especially worry when they're looking at animal-based protein diets, they see the fat part and they're not sure what to do with it. They think fat might make them fat. They think fat is bad for their heart. Can we just start there?

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. We can start with that. Is fat bad?

Ilkay Basugur: depends what type of fat that you're eating.

Aliye Aydin: Okay, awesome.

Ilkay Basugur: So let's start with that. the fats that we are talking about mainly saturated fat which comes from animals and fruits specifically which is avocado, coconut, olive oil, olives. These are the fruit fats.

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: They are all saturated fats. So actually olive oil is monounsaturated fat.

Ilkay Basugur: But these are usually most of the time demonized as heart diseases and everything. start with that Whenever you get from your saturated fat from the animals it's not bad for you.

Ilkay Basugur: What's going to happen? There are three types of medium chain and short chain. What we do with the main duty is the body to provide a fuel instead of carbohydrates. Provide fuel provides energy.

Aliye Aydin: Okay.

Aliye Aydin: Okay. Wow.

Ilkay Basugur: So fat and you get energy fat is supposed Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: So fat can be good because it provides you with energy. This is what you're saying. Yes. Okay.

Ilkay Basugur: And also protects our internal or organs and…

Aliye Aydin: So you need fat to protect your organs. Okay. Okay.

Ilkay Basugur: just yeah it gives a structure to organs as well and also transmitted to the carriers to triglycerides sorry LDLs…

Aliye Aydin: 

Aliye Aydin: That's So we need fat in our diet absolutely

Ilkay Basugur: which is also the cholesterol we need it for in Every tissue that it has mitochondria in our body, every cell needs that cholesterol including we need our diets. What we need like I said medium chain and short chain. Long chains regular whatever we are getting from the animal proteins, meats and all kinds of dietary intake.

Aliye Aydin: Okay. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: medium chain. It comes from coconut oil and the goat berry.

Aliye Aydin: Right. Yeah. Okay.

Ilkay Basugur: This is so important. Medium chain is not going to store in your body. It's going to go directly to burn as a fuel…

Ilkay Basugur: because they are molecules. It's not going to go into your bloodstream. Burn as a fuel.

Aliye Aydin: Right. Okay.

Aliye Aydin: Okay. okay.

Ilkay Basugur: Short chain is the best one which is fatty acids. It's a results of fermentation by fermentation like sra like dairy keir yogurt.

Ilkay Basugur: These create the short fatty acids in your intestines.

Aliye Aydin: Wait,…

Aliye Aydin: but you don't think about a fermented vegetables having fat in it.

Ilkay Basugur: They don't but they do what they do.

Ilkay Basugur: The microbes like the good beneficial bacteria feeds on the sugars and starches of the veggies and they turning into them to fatty acids butrate acetate.

00:05:00

Aliye Aydin: Whoa.

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: So, fat's just not about fat.

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. Definitely.

Aliye Aydin: Short answer. So, in just the effort of keeping it simple, fat isn't bad. It just depends on what kind you're eating.

Ilkay Basugur: What? Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: So, I think people think about like they say Saturated fat monounsaturated fat like olive oil, avocado oil equals good.

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. they're good. Avocado oil is a saturated fat.

Aliye Aydin: It is okay.

Ilkay Basugur: But yeah, only the olive oil, monounsaturated fat.

Aliye Aydin: Okay.

Ilkay Basugur: But the bad fat is we call it pufa which is poly unsaturated fats…

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: which is seed oils, canola oil,…

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right,…

Ilkay Basugur: sunflower oil, grape seed oil, they call so-called vegetable oil, they soybean oil, and also trans fat.

Aliye Aydin: right, right,…

Ilkay Basugur: It's really for you because it's synthetically hydrogenated. So like shortening.

Aliye Aydin: right, right.

Ilkay Basugur: So margarine shortening these are not the good ones because these are high in omega6 and omega cause inflammation.

Aliye Aydin: Yes, Okay, so short answer, animal fats are okay to eat.

Ilkay Basugur: Mhm. Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: Olive oil, unsat monounsaturated fats, okay to eat. You want to avoid the vegetable oils, which to me, they're highly processed,…

Aliye Aydin: I mean, that's really when you're looking at them on the shelf, you can think, which one of these should because you think, sunflower oil, like that sounds healthy, right? Right.

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah, it's come from the vegetable,…

Ilkay Basugur: right? process is bad.

Aliye Aydin: I think that's what gets really confusing. Right. Yes.

Ilkay Basugur: Even though it says cold pressed, an expeller, blah blah. Not the problem. Whatever you use it, the way that you use it, especially when you treat it with heat, they became very inflammatory because they became peroxide like izing paroxidizing and…

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: then it just turn into an highly inflammatory products and…

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: it attached to your LDL and is out through everywhere in your body.

Aliye Aydin: So in Okay.

Ilkay Basugur: So yeah ghee is good for high heat beef tallow time to time avocado oil my goto for salad…

Aliye Aydin: Inflammatory. So that's what I tell the one thing I cook most with is olive oil and then I use avocado oil if I'm doing more of a high heat. sometimes I'll use ghee, but I don't even really keep it around. Ghee is good for high heat, Eat tallow. Right. People use duck fat. duck fat's really delicious, right? Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: salad dressing like olive oil and avocado oil and avocado oil for cooking because it's so natural and…

Aliye Aydin: Right. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: baking in my don't it and…

Aliye Aydin: Really good for baking. Yeah. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: coconut oil also it's really good.

Aliye Aydin: That's right. Yeah. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah and also another thing is going to be mind-blow everyone. if you're eating highly processed high carbohydrate diets so you eat good fat it's going to store in your body.

Aliye Aydin: Yes. Okay.

Ilkay Basugur: The problem is when you have high carbohydrate diet the first thing the liver is going to burn the body is going to metabolize and the carbohydrates the glucose gluccogen. So whenever it has highly in there insulin is going to come out and…

Aliye Aydin: Okay. …

Ilkay Basugur: it's going to use the gluccogen as an energy source not the fat.

Ilkay Basugur: fat is going to be stored. It's not going to be used.

Aliye Aydin: so that's not what you want,…

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah, you wanted good fat, good saturated fat or…

Aliye Aydin: right? Right.

Ilkay Basugur: monounsaturated, but you still wanted to have lower carb intake, but the nature's carb, not the processed or ultra processed other.

Aliye Aydin: So, not like white breads and…

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. white bread,…

Aliye Aydin: Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: pasta, all other baked goods probably with sugar.

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right. So, a nature's carb would be like a sweet potato.

Ilkay Basugur: Sweet potato,…

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: Vegetables perfect,…

Aliye Aydin: Carrots or something that are kind of higher.

Ilkay Basugur: carrot, all kinds of vegetables.

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: fiber is really important as so yeah these are the things and…

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: if they did some studies let's say you're just like eating regularly you didn't do low carb or anything whatever you get suggested is fat is bad for you don't eat any saturated fat even…

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Right.

00:10:00

Ilkay Basugur: though if you are not going to eat any zero saturated fat what happens excess carbohydrates in your liver turn to whatever the gluccogen they're going to use for energy whatever is turn into saturated fat in your body. Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: So you can't even present I see what you're saying. So you can Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: Cannot you're going to saturated fat in your body. Your body is going to produce by itself of the carbohydrates,…

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: but it's not going to use for the energy. it's going to be stored to use later either as a storage as that or…

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Right. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: it's not going to use for the fuel or energy. Then you're not going to burn that fat.

Aliye Aydin: Back to this. I remember as a kid we would cook ground beef and…

Ilkay Basugur: Mhm. Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: then you would take out the extra fat from the pan. This was such a thing like it was a step in the process of the recipe.

Ilkay Basugur: Because Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: It was like take out the excess fat. is that necessary or only if you're restricting calories somehow would that be necessary?

Ilkay Basugur: This is because it comes from the wherever they started to demonizing fat late 70s…

Aliye Aydin: Yes. Okay. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: because whatever the fat comes from the ground beef is an animal fat saturated fat. That's why it's not like the fat has more calories but if you're burning fat that it doesn't matter.

Aliye Aydin: And…

Ilkay Basugur: So yeah,…

Aliye Aydin: you would be burning fat if you're not eating a high amount of processed carbs.

Ilkay Basugur: If you are having lower carbs in your diet and…

Aliye Aydin: Right. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: moderate to high protein and high fat, then you are going to mainly burn fat. This is how ketogenic.

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: It has bad name out there…

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: but of the most therapeutic diet…

Aliye Aydin: Race. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: if you can able to make it right the reason that I'm trying to explain…

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We'll go into that another day. We're not going to get into keto here. That's a whole other thing. But yeah,…

Ilkay Basugur: why is that work…

Aliye Aydin: yeah. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: because you are burning fat with fat and…

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right. Right. Yep.

Ilkay Basugur: yeah this is…

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: how we are gaining weight with fat because We are eating really high carbohydrate diet.

Aliye Aydin: Back to those carbs. It reminds me, I'll ask about that in a minute. I want to stick to our questions here, but I think we'll get to that question I was about to ask you. We will. I see it down there. Few more questions later. So, let's skip to the hormone balance thing. So I think you already answered part of this with energy levels…

Aliye Aydin: but how does fat intake impact our hormone balance especially during menopause pmenopause and our energy levels? You already told us that fat gives us more energy right and…

Ilkay Basugur: Mhm. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah, it does.

Aliye Aydin: fat also affects our hormone levels in what type of way exactly?

Ilkay Basugur: Whenever we get into parameopause and menopause, we are losing estrogen and…

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: we are noting estrogen. we are all of our hormone whenever we lose estrogen our progesterone and testosterone levels goes out of the way as well. So we are losing most of our sex hormones. How is that affecting on that? because the estrogen is the hormone decides…

Ilkay Basugur: where to fat goes in woman body.

Aliye Aydin: Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: Normally when you're having your regular cycle starting the puberty estrogen usually goes to our breast our hips and what is supposed to be…

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: what is responsible for. But we start to losing estrogen…

Ilkay Basugur: then we are start to losing that regulation and it directly goes to our belly. Yeah. Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: our belly.

Aliye Aydin: That's the meadow belly, right? Right.

Ilkay Basugur: That's this is how fat affects the relationship with the estrogen. And also whenever our progesterone is going down, Our cortisol levels going up, our insulin levels comes out. What is Insulin is a fattorring hormone.

Aliye Aydin: Okay. Okay.

Ilkay Basugur: Insulin doesn't tell the fat where to store because it was estrogen's job. But insulin tells how much to store.

00:15:00

Aliye Aydin: So, that's why a high protein diet again helping regulate those blood sugar levels is imperative so that our insulin isn't going crazy.

Ilkay Basugur: Yes, it's so everything is related to insulin resistance.

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: If we have less insulin and less insulin we are not insulin resistance then we are going to likely to store less fat in our body. we can still use as an energy as a fuel.

Aliye Aydin: …

Ilkay Basugur: This is yes.

Aliye Aydin: this is going back again to the carb thing again. If you're eating a lot of processed carbs, your insulin is going,…

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: right? Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: When your insulin spikes, insulin comes in the picture.

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: So whenever your inflammation levels are going to get higher in your body.

Aliye Aydin: Okay.

Ilkay Basugur: So this is how they are all related.

Aliye Aydin: So again, focusing on high protein, healthy fats and carbs from veggies, basically not highly processed carbs.

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. Yes. And al also not only our sex hormones,…

Aliye Aydin: That's going to be your best bet in eating during pmenopause. And that's why it becomes so important in this time period to really do that healthy real food eating thing that's not a lot of processed stuff.

Ilkay Basugur: our thyroid is slows down as well.

Aliye Aydin: right. Thyroid. Okay.

Ilkay Basugur: Menopause, whenever your thyroid slows down, your metabolism slows down as well.

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: So All of them are related in that way.

Aliye Aydin: It's just one thing to the next.

Ilkay Basugur: And ties up on insulin resistance…

Aliye Aydin: Everything ties together, Which is related to your blood sugar level.

Ilkay Basugur: which levels.

Aliye Aydin: Okay.

Ilkay Basugur: Your healthy blood sugar levels cause health less insulin resistance.

Ilkay Basugur: Also, it's not like whatever they used to tell us. Eat smaller portions five times a day. This is thing you can do to your body because you're constantly spiking up your blood sugar.

Aliye Aydin: right, right,…

Aliye Aydin: right, right. And that just creates the yo thing.

Ilkay Basugur: Yes. Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: So, this isn't to say don't eat sweets. I think I remember something that you said in another call that we had about if you are going to eat sweets or refined carbs, do it after your meal.

Ilkay Basugur: After your meal,…

Aliye Aydin: What was it? Right. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: right when you have your regular meal, don't take your time because you already spike your blood sugar and…

Aliye Aydin: Right. Okay.

Ilkay Basugur: then you're not going to spiking up one more time to wait like an hour,…

Ilkay Basugur: half an hour, I'll eat it later. So, whenever you're not going to spike it up like crazy. It's already got high, but it's not crazy high.

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: You're just steadily going and you're just like giving a minimum spike with that refined or…

Aliye Aydin: Right. Okay.

Ilkay Basugur: desserts or whatever yeah of course our blood sugar spikes…

Aliye Aydin: So, if you are going to eat sweets, something high carb, do it right after you eat. That makes sense. To help mitigate that blood sugar spike because your blood sugar is already spiked a little from eating. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. …

Ilkay Basugur: if we were thinking about food or something it Epholic phase.

Aliye Aydin: really? …

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. Before you put the food in your mouth,…

Aliye Aydin: Yeah,…

Ilkay Basugur: your brain starts working, sending signals to your pancreas and liver.

Ilkay Basugur: Just like saying that insulin like food and…

Aliye Aydin: 

Aliye Aydin: that's so cool. I love it. That's funny. Okay. Yeah. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: al whatever you're doing with the meal because we suggest you are going to start with something acidic like a salad or with the vinegar or lemon juice or whatever you're going to have your little bit of salad first bite protein healthy fats and the last is carbohydrate which You are slowing down carbohydrate metabolism.

Ilkay Basugur: You are lowering your blood sugar levels. That's the reason.

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right.

Aliye Aydin: So, even if your carb was white rice, maybe eat that at the end of the meal.

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. At the end. Yeah. Eat at …

Aliye Aydin: Yeah, that's cool. That's such a simple thing that can really make a difference. Yeah. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: And whenever you're eating carb, add some fat on it. Then it's going to slows down its metabolism.

Ilkay Basugur: If you're a bread going to be sounds so funny or…

Aliye Aydin: Right. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: weird to so many people but it put just some either dip in olive oil or put butter on it help regulate.

Aliye Aydin: Yeah, that's going to help regulate. definitely. Yeah, I remember we talked about that in another episode that you came on with the bread and the olive oil dipping.

00:20:00

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. This is like…

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: how we are getting back to fat and how we back to insulin resistance every single thing. Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool.

Aliye Aydin: So, I know it's all connected, but that's hormones.

Ilkay Basugur: All right.

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: Can talk We kind of touched on this a little bit about heart health, So, people think you're at higher risk of heart conditions if you're eating more animal fat,…

Ilkay Basugur: Because they think that the animal saturated fats cause to arterial plaques.

Aliye Aydin: which just isn't true,…

Aliye Aydin: right? Yes.

Ilkay Basugur: isn't true at all.

Ilkay Basugur: So many doctors, they're still living in that way.

Aliye Aydin: Yes. Yes.

Ilkay Basugur: But the recent studies,…

Ilkay Basugur: there is one big study in 2016 and big studies in 2024.

Ilkay Basugur: They find out that not the saturated fats but mostly the PUFAS polyunsaturated are causing most of the cardiovascular diseases and also if you have hypertension,…

Aliye Aydin: Right. The inflammatory fats we were talking about

Ilkay Basugur: if you have the type 2 diabetes, if you have too much blood spikes, blood glucose spikes

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: they cause an injury in your artery.

Ilkay Basugur: Whenever your artery gets injured, if the body cannot repair itself and if you are eating this polyunsaturated fat diet, what happens?

Ilkay Basugur: Inflammation start going on over there from that damage. Whenever inflammation goes over there, these plugs start to create. Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right.

Aliye Aydin: So again, back to the healthy fats. Yeah. They're important.

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. So yeah,…

Aliye Aydin: So avoid polyunsaturated omega fats like vegetable oils if you're concerned about heart health. Basically the basics.

Ilkay Basugur: and addition to that 2024 study find out that processed grains cause cardiovascular diseases.

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. wow. Because of the polyunsaturated fats…

Ilkay Basugur: Information because they are processed.

Aliye Aydin: because they're or no. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: They're highly highly starch, sugar. Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: 

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Yeah. what's an example of a processed grain? right.

Ilkay Basugur: Whatever we are getting out there, our rice is totally processed. They are stripped of and most of the grains the way they're just stripping off everything and…

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: try to add stuff again.

Aliye Aydin: What about a whole grain like a brown rice or quinoa or something like that? What is that?

Aliye Aydin: 

Ilkay Basugur: of a difference than white rice to be honest.

Aliye Aydin: Really?

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. Like another myth.

Aliye Aydin: Okay. Yeah. Okay. Right. we'll touch on that one in a minute, but Okay.

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: What about Kinoa is a seed, right? Isn't it? I don't know.

Ilkay Basugur: Quinoa is okay. Some of the ancient grains are okay like plate or…

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: just I don't know whatever grain that not bulgar it might be processed one so yeah once a while quinoa is okay just like the moderation add it a tablespoon or so

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Yeah. It really is. So, back to those veggies for the carbs, the whole Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: at the end of your meal. Support with that. And if you want it,…

Ilkay Basugur: sweet potatoes are amazing or other Amazing good carb that you can get it from.

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Totally.

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: Okay.

Ilkay Basugur: That's yeah, heart health in that way. yeah, again if you don't have any insulin resistance or blood glucose that you're not watching out for that you're highly becoming a pre-diabetic or…

Ilkay Basugur: the type 2 diabetes and then it cause to all kinds of heart health problem…

Aliye Aydin: Right, right,…

Aliye Aydin: right, right. It's totally focus.

Ilkay Basugur: because you're not metabolically healthy your mitochondria is not healthy…

Aliye Aydin: Yeah, right.

Ilkay Basugur: then it's going to

Ilkay Basugur: cause heart problems. So, yeah.

Aliye Aydin: Okay, awesome. I mean,…

Ilkay Basugur: And…

Aliye Aydin: not but that makes sense. I get it.

Ilkay Basugur: your fat goes to the mitochondria…

Ilkay Basugur: because mito is an energy our body.

Aliye Aydin: Right, right,…

Aliye Aydin: right, right, right. So,…

Aliye Aydin: how does that relate to our brain health? cognitive function. when we get older, there's so many layers of this from everything from starting to feel forgetful to full-on dementia or other diseases.

00:25:00

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. …

Aliye Aydin: What does fat have to do with our brain?

Ilkay Basugur: in the beginning we said that every single cell in our body beside red blood cells it has mitochondria and it needs fuel for energy.

Aliye Aydin: Right. Okay.

Ilkay Basugur: our brain cells mostly needs that energy too and we burn two types of u energy with our brain cells either energy or…

Ilkay Basugur: the fuel based on gluccogen or fuel based on ketones and…

Aliye Aydin: Okay. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: both of them produce from the liver. So if we are mostly glucose gluccogen burning individual then we are going to have more likely developing dementia and…

Ilkay Basugur: Alzheimer's than ketone burning individual. It's because it's a fuel for brain.

Aliye Aydin: and okay right and…

Ilkay Basugur: Cholesterol is a fuel for brain and where your energy source from. Is it coming from ketones?

Aliye Aydin: if it was coming from glycogen that means you're  eating more processed carbs. Is that what you're saying? Okay.

Ilkay Basugur: Again, we went resistance. We went back to blood sugar spikes. We went back to process high carbs that affects they do have a recent study also they did postmorton individuals they choose those people who were energy source was gluccogen the other ones with ketones and they find out that much more the dementia and Alzheimer findings in their brains whose energy sourc is glucos

Ilkay Basugur: en the ketone.

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right.

Aliye Aydin: Okay. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: Your liver also produce ketones. and when they do produce this ketones? Whenever your insulin levels low or your gluten is not enough to produce fuel to body. your liver produce ketones to use as an Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: Okay. So, the takeaway here is just keep eating those high protein, whole, unprocessed meals.

Ilkay Basugur: I'm telling you every single thing goes back to that.

Aliye Aydin: It just points back to it.

Ilkay Basugur: And Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: So, go ahead. Go ahead.

Ilkay Basugur: And they literally did a lot of studies and…

Ilkay Basugur: they did one group is high fat, low carbohydrate. They did it all of the heart diseases, brain, cognitive health, storing fat, utilizing fat and g weight gain and hormone imbalances they find is the best way to do it this way. But they did good fat but high fat…

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Right. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: but still high carb. It didn't work in that way because your body chooses to burn the carbohydrates first and store your fats. Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: It didn't work.

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right. Okay. So, let's move on to this is kind of related to plant-based proteins then because people they come in their whole lives they've been taught plant-based is better or for a long period of time. And so there's a difficulty or a resistance to eating more animal-based protein. And what I tell people very simply is that basically animal-based proteins are more impactful with less carb in them.

Aliye Aydin: Your body can use them easier and faster and more directly and you don't have that carb factor coming in with beans or the quinoa or whatever. There's that extra bit of carb carbohydrates.

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: The animal fat doesn't have any carbs. Zero. And they…

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: if you're like Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: Our body utilizes better and our body utilizes for a lot of things. And we are going to talk about the cholesterol in a bit, Important part of that too.

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right.

Aliye Aydin: So, let's move on to that. If your concern I about cholesterol, your automatic thought is, " I need to eat less fat." No,…

Ilkay Basugur: Or I can't eat eggs.

Aliye Aydin: you need to eat less carbs, I can't eat eggs.

Ilkay Basugur: I can only eggs is the best source of protein.

Aliye Aydin: That's right. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That is the 1990s advice yeah.

00:30:00

Ilkay Basugur: my star of the protein and not only protein fat ratio is a perfect perfect for you and…

Aliye Aydin: Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: no carbs like debun and…

Aliye Aydin: And so ary ol does not people think it's dietary cholesterol is high and so then your blood cholesterol and that has been debunked pretty much from what I understand Right.

Ilkay Basugur: also what We call cholesterols LDLs, HDLs and trig which LDL had a really bad reputation being as a bad cholesterol…

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right. Right. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: which is when it becomes a bad cholesterol when you eat seed oils it attach to LDL carry out through the bloodstream and it cause all kind of inflammatory problems

Aliye Aydin: So, that's back. Okay.

Ilkay Basugur: Because this is how it is because whatever your fat in your body especially longchain saturated fats in your liver they break down and produce as LDLs and…

Ilkay Basugur: the triglyceride and is attached to them to go to the bloodstream. If you have item, it's going to be peroxidized in your body. Then it's going to cause inflammation to the cells that you're carrying over.

Aliye Aydin: Interesting.

Aliye Aydin: Okay. So, this is the mechanism by which inflammation happens through the polyunsaturated fats…

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: which are those vegetable oil things.

Ilkay Basugur: Again, if you have high levels,…

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: then you are going to have high inflammation ratio in your body.

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah and…

Ilkay Basugur: also whatever we see the total LDL HDL whatever they are still approaching is still the basic count of your cholesterol or marker that they're using it as a blood test actually it doesn't mean much only matters about the LDL…

Aliye Aydin: Right. …

Ilkay Basugur: if it's a

Ilkay Basugur: small dense LDL molecules or it's a large dense or not highly densest yes they do…

Aliye Aydin: and is that something that they test for? Yeah. Okay.

Ilkay Basugur: but none of our insurance company is gonna none of our…

Aliye Aydin: No, they're not they don't cover that test. Right. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: if you go for functional medicine or if you want to there are some labs that you can go directly pay out of pocket and get tested Yes.

Aliye Aydin: Got But the simple answer is that don't be concerned about dietary cholesterol. If you're worried about cholesterol, there's other things to be looking at.

Ilkay Basugur: Each your brain needs fuel and then your brain cholesterol other cells and tissues.

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Yeah,…

Ilkay Basugur: So when do you need to be worried about if you are not stop eating highly processed carbs then it's going to be an issue. Yes. Because whatever the LDL and…

Aliye Aydin: right, right, right, right, right. Okay. Yep. Just all goes back to it. okay. So, let's see.

Ilkay Basugur: one more thing LDL…

Aliye Aydin: Go ahead. Yeah. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: because I'm just so tired of it. It's getting really bad reputation. LDL plays an huge role in our immune system.

Aliye Aydin: Interesting.

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. Because all of the fat soluble vitamins AD,…

Aliye Aydin: So…

Ilkay Basugur: K and E, it carries by LDL2.

Aliye Aydin: if people are trying to reduce their LDL, they're actually doing themselves a disservice…

Aliye Aydin: because there is a function for it in our bodies.

Ilkay Basugur: And especially during co …

Ilkay Basugur: why so important they find out that whenever the lower LDL levels in people they got more weak for the corona virus.

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Right. Right. Totally. Wow.

Ilkay Basugur: And they find out that you have lower influ when you have low LDL levels,…

Aliye Aydin: That's interesting.

Ilkay Basugur: some of the studies find out that you have more inflammation in your body,…

Aliye Aydin: Wow, that's amazing. my gosh,…

Ilkay Basugur: right? I know.

Aliye Aydin: there's just so much To keep it simple,…

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah, that is not bad.

Aliye Aydin: fat is not bad. You need to pay attention to the type you're eating, but it's very simple to use these types of fats in the kitchen.

Ilkay Basugur: Very simple.

00:35:00

Aliye Aydin: Olive oil, avocado oil,…

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: the fat in your cooked meat is fine.

Ilkay Basugur: And don't go away from riby that it has too much fat in it. It's a good and…

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: it's a really modest amount of fat in there. It's not too much that you're thinking.

Aliye Aydin: It's not like pork belly which is all fat.

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. Yeah. It's not Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: And also it's not like flaminion either. If you eat ribeye instead of flaminion, you're not going to see that big of a spike in that stabilizes that especially breast.

Aliye Aydin: Because So what you're saying is that some fat is needed because even you're saying a dense amount of protein will spike your insulin.

Ilkay Basugur: If you're eating skinless, it can cause a really high spike in your That skin fat slows down even the protein metabolisms get slows down.

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Yeah. So fat is absolutely necessary. Not even don't be afraid of it, but you want to add it for health reasons.

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. Necessary.

Aliye Aydin: Yeah, definitely.

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. Also another thing it gives you the biggest satiety more than protein.

Aliye Aydin: Right. The biggest satiety. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, it's very true.

Aliye Aydin: That and fiber kind of too or does fiber not play as much of a role in society?

Ilkay Basugur: fiber it does a big role in society.

Ilkay Basugur: Also fiber has another good role just takes away the extra excess carbohydrates from your body and also it takes away the excess cholesterol from your body. It attached the fiber.

Aliye Aydin: Okay.

Aliye Aydin: And by fiber, we're not necessarily talking about whole grains. again. We're back to those veggies like yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. Veggies, broccoli, cauliflower, celery or leafy greens and…

Aliye Aydin: Okay.

Ilkay Basugur: some of the legumes. Yes, they're high in fiber, but you have to take really big amounts of them to get that fiber too.

Aliye Aydin: Got it.

Ilkay Basugur: But still if you are going to eat nature's carbohydrates besides the veggies maybe some of the legumes you can add a tablespoons or…

Ilkay Basugur: two chickpeas in there or in there some lentils in there. So they don't be afraid that they're to we are talking about high carbs low carb but those are not going to be affect as much as the refined carbs that you're eating.

Aliye Aydin: Right. Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: Not like a pasta, not like Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right. Right. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: white bread,…

Ilkay Basugur: but not even white bread, like regular bread, wheat or whatever. If it's not fermented like a sardo, the effects are going to be different in your body.

Aliye Aydin: Right, right,…

Aliye Aydin: So, the carbs in the protein, the legumes could become an issue if you're trying to get a ton of protein by eating a huge amount of them, right? I mean,…

Aliye Aydin: the amount of beans you would have to eat to get 30 grams of protein is unstoable from what you couldn't eat that many,…

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: It's crazy amount of legumes that you have to have that many 30 grams of protein.

Aliye Aydin: right? Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: You can't like Four cups of beans are crazy amount of and…

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. That'll destroy you. Yeah. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: also it shouldn't be your main source of protein and…

Aliye Aydin: Right, right,…

Ilkay Basugur: it doesn't have all the essential amino acids in there either.

Aliye Aydin: right, right.

Ilkay Basugur: So animal protein is your best choice. But if you're plant-based person, it's like still you need to watch out.

Ilkay Basugur: Maybe you can supplement with their essential amino acids like they're vegan definitely…

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: but they able to give you enough protein as well.

Aliye Aydin: Got it. Okay. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: One more thing I'm going to about related to that protein intake.

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: We like to have protein for sure our bodies in one eating if we eat 30 grams or…

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. All right.

Ilkay Basugur: more. This is if we eat under 30 grams we cannot start muscle protein synthetics that if you wanted to gain strength and gain more muscles. but if we eat in one portion more than 45 grams of protein it's going to metabolize whatever our body can only metabolize as a protein that much of 45 grams. If you're eating more than that it's going to turn into gluccogen in your body as well.

Aliye Aydin: …

Aliye Aydin: there is a range you want to stay within between 30 and 45 grams of fat of protein per serving.

Ilkay Basugur: 30 per serving.

00:40:00

Ilkay Basugur: Yes. Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Because if you start really tacking it on there, it's basically going to start that whole process…

Ilkay Basugur: I Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: where you're not burning fat, right? Wow.

Ilkay Basugur: Whenever I was just trying to gain more muscle, I was going super high protein. I was going 130 grams a day. I puffed up. I'm like,…

Aliye Aydin: Wow.

Ilkay Basugur: wait, like what's going on?

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right. Right. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: And then I just like this is what's going on.

Aliye Aydin: 

Aliye Aydin: This is what's going on.

Ilkay Basugur: And now maximum…

Ilkay Basugur: because I do fast, on my days, I don't get enough protein, but I don't lose muscle either because I'm still resistant training.

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: And I do use my fat as an energy fuel. but on my eating days, if I'm eating two meals a day, then I'm just doing 45 45 90 grams of protein. I found my, level 90 grams of protein is perfectly enough for me.

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Awesome.

Ilkay Basugur: That's thing, …

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: sounds really complicated, but actually it's simple.

Ilkay Basugur: If you like to write it down and break it down, it's not that complicated after a while.

Aliye Aydin: It's just finding what works for you. may be working. If people want to get a hold of you, I can put your contact information in the show notes…

Ilkay Basugur: Please do. Mhm.

Aliye Aydin: if they have really specific questions. I really approach it from a more broad base because I'm focused on the cooking, right? So, it's between 30 and 45 grams. this is what makes that in terms of amounts and…

Aliye Aydin: that's how I write the recipes and…

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah, …

Aliye Aydin: just to give people a baseline really right really avocado much protein in it I didn't know it had protein in it that's Wild.

Ilkay Basugur: if I'm eating chicken, I'm eating 6 oz of chicken. And when you add half avocado has how much? six, seven grams of protein as well. It just gives you high fiber, good fat and protein in it.

Aliye Aydin: Wow.

Ilkay Basugur: That is right.

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. I had no idea.

Ilkay Basugur: And Also, it keeps you, full longer and…

Aliye Aydin: Yeah, very true. What's that?

Ilkay Basugur: it's tasty as well.

Aliye Aydin: Yeah, I know. It's good, too. Definitely.

Ilkay Basugur: And that's why everything goes in that way for me working on cortisol levels of course sleep is most important thing for that.

Ilkay Basugur: blood sugar levels that I'm trying to regulate and just kind of my main focus besides trying to go like that much of protein that much of fat my main focus is blood sugar levels level …

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: which I don't snack because of that reason I only eat big meals…

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: but full meals All right. Yeah.

Aliye Aydin: I think that's something to get used to. snacking I think is very much a mentality because eating can be emotional too. So with sometimes a lot of times if you want to snack it's not necessarily because you're hungry. but it can also be like when you start getting used to eating these big protein filled meals, you're not actually hungry. I actually have to stop and go, I'm not hungry.

Aliye Aydin: I'm snacking because it's a habit. I'm not snacking because my body's like, you're hungry.

Ilkay Basugur: And also this high protein and…

Ilkay Basugur: high fat also going to cut off your sugar cravings too.

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: And also it's going to help you like blood sugar regulations going to help you balance out your hormones.

Ilkay Basugur: It's going to help a lot in that way.

Aliye Aydin: Yeah, which is…

Aliye Aydin: what we want to do with this age.

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah. Ex.

Aliye Aydin: Definitely. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: And I was like last month everything went so crazy. My cortisol levels, slip schedule, couldn't fast, couldn't have the right meals. Right away I started having night sweats right away.

Aliye Aydin: Wow.

Ilkay Basugur: I've been last two weeks. I'm back to my normal. How are I was doing?

Ilkay Basugur: No snacking, no nothing. Trying to sleep more and stress is always there.

Aliye Aydin: Right. Right.

Aliye Aydin: Right. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: But last two weeks, my night sweat stops right away. Stop. yeah,…

Aliye Aydin: So that was a sign of hormone imbalance.

Ilkay Basugur: definitely. No.

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Yeah. Probably. Yeah. It's funny those things that they say, " that's what happens in menopause." But it doesn't have to, right? right?

Ilkay Basugur: And what I'm seeing two weeks ago I cannot get into my dreams because two weeks this is that I'm just not snacking.

00:45:00

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Right.

Ilkay Basugur: I'm just eating big meals and regulating my blood sugars. I'm getting am I losing weight? I don't know. I don't weigh myself much.

Aliye Aydin: Right. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah my clothes are comfortable again. Right.

Aliye Aydin: I was going to say your jeans fitting is enough. that's what I do, too. I don't weigh myself,…

Aliye Aydin: but I know that if my pants aren't fitting time to pay Totally. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah, these are all connected and…

Ilkay Basugur: I've been burning fat with fat. It's been seven years now and it's working for me. And you know what happened? even though I really don't believe in those blood markers but still I saw the difference when I start burning fat with fat my cholesterol levels much better than when I was 20s.

Aliye Aydin: Wow. That's amazing.

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah, my blood markers went back like everything is in the normal range right now.

Aliye Aydin: Yeah, that's awesome. So, you really can't control how you feel and your health with what you eat.

Ilkay Basugur: Yeah, definitely.

Aliye Aydin: Yeah. Yeah.

Ilkay Basugur: first. I hope it's going to be helpful.

Aliye Aydin: Thousand%. thank you so much for this.  I appreciate it. Yeah, I think people will get a lot out of this. Definitely.