“Eat more fat, are you crazy?” is probably what you are saying. After all doctors, dietitians and nutrition experts have been telling us for years to go on low fat diets and eat less fat. Well I have a bit of news for you. It doesn’t work. In fact you need to eat more Fat, but you cant just eat any old fat, it has to be the right kind of fat
What If I told you that eating more ‘FAT’ WILL actually make you healthier actually help you lose weight.
Yes really Eating more fat will help you burn more fat as well.
As a matter of fact if you come and work with me as a 1-1 personal training client or come to our boot camp we ask you to up your fat intake 15 grams per day and I recommend a fish oil supplement to help speed up the fat loss process.
Thing that many people get a bit scared when it comes to fat though is that there are different types of fat and although some are good, there are also bad fats that should be avoided at all costs.
Different Types Of Fats
So as I have just mentioned there are different sources of GOOD BAD fats and what is really important is that we can learn tell the difference between the two..
BAD fats are generally found in foods like pastry, biscuits, doughnuts, cakes, fried foods, pizza, processed meats and junk foods like crisps and chocolate. These are very often called to as ‘trans-fats’ or sometimes ‘hydrogenated fat’.
These are BAD fats and should be avoided where possible as the body cannot metabolise them. This is the stuff that gets stuck to your artery walls and can cause heart disease.
Next time you go and buy a tub of margarine check out the ingredients. Most are made from olive oil or sunflower oil which are healtyish fats in their own right, however they are chemically altered by passing hydrogen through them in order to make them solid at room temperature rather than a liquid which is their natural state. This in turn makes them onto trans or hydrogenated fat. After this process they have to be bleached and then yellow colouring is added to make them look more like butter. Not good at all.
Always, always choose butter where possible
GOOD fats come from foods like avocado, coconut, nuts (not packaged peanuts), seeds, olives, extra virgin flaxseed oil, whole eggs and oily fish (from Salmon, mackeral, sardines etc)
Quick note on eggs, lots of people ask me about eggs white and if it’s better to just have egg white omelettes. I would always say no because you get all the nutrition, vitamins and fat in the yolk so have your eggs as a whole. They come as a natural package so no need to split them up.
Bad Fats
Bad fats are one of the reasons why you get blocks in your arteries. (inflammation caused by sugar and insulin is the other cause but that’s to detailed for today’s article)
Due to years years of over consumption they cause little deposits in your artery walls which restrict the blood flow which relates to many common heart problems. Not only that, they also cause you to put on weight fast as the body has no real use for these fats. They are waste, So either go out as waste, clog the arteries or get stored as body fat.
Good Fats
GOOD fats on the other hand are VERY different and have a whole host of GREAT benefits!
GOOD fats are NATURALLY OCCOURING fats (IE NOT processed) and they are a GREAT source of energy! Your body NEEDS fat to BURN fat!
When i refer to GOOD fats I’m generally talking about Omega 3 and Omega 6. There are 3 kinds of fat containing these:
- mono-unsaturated: Almonds, avacado, olive oils etc
- Poly-unsaturated: Walnuts, oily fish, seeds etc
- (good) saturated fat: Coconut oil, egg yolks
But you don’t really need to understand all the above, what’s important is you understand your body needs a good balance of all 3 different types of fats.
Benefits of Healthy Fats
- Great Energy Source
- Fats are needed to regulate your blood pressure
- Fats insulate your nerves, think of them like the rubber around an electric wire
- Many are naturally protect against inflammations
- They provide insulation (which includes keeping your internal body temperature warm)
- Healthy Fats help can help to improve skin, hair and nails. Fats in our skin can make us appear more radiant
- Fats protect our internal organs
- (in the ladies) They help keep reproductive organs healthy
- (in the guys) They improve testosterone production which means more muscle and increase in sex drive.
Fats also taste great and satisfies our tastes buds and hubger, and the benefits above are not the only ones
Basically you should be eating MORE fat in your diet each and every day. Lifestyles that are low in fat have many problems, your hair and skin tone will eventually deteriorate, you’re likely to get hormone imbalances, increased weight gain, possible bad moods and a ton of other unpleasant things
How Much Fat Should I Be Eating?
Good question! As ‘guidelines’ go, they say your total calorie intake for (good) FAT should be 30-35%. So you could start by adding a few handfuls of nuts and seeds to your meal times each day, and fry in coconut oil rather than the oil your using. Try eating half an avocado with breakfast 🙂
Personally, I think that it depends on the individual in terms of how much ‘FAT’ they can tolerate. My fat intake may seem a lot to most people but I play a lot of sport so am pretty active. But NEVER skip on adding FAT to your diet, you’ll be surprised at the results.
