Fight Fat with Fat…Part 1

Fat is not something we should avoid altogether. Fat is essential to our body in a few very important ways. It provides us with energy, insulates your organs, maintains cell membranes and helps the body absorb and process vital nutrients. More importantly, fat helps us burn more fat.

Now all fat is not the same. Some fats are the cause of obesity in the country, while others helps trim down your waistline. The biggest problem is the education of the masses on the difference between the two. Saturated fats raise our LDL (bad cholesterol) levels, while also raising HDL (good cholesterol). So one type of food cannot be the culprit of fat gain, rather it’s more about the quality and caloric content of the food. 

Most, if not all of the fat you eat should be unsaturated. These include foods like fish, seeds, nuts, leafy vegetables, olive oil, and avocados. These healthy fats remove LDL cholesterol from the arteries and helps facilitate a healthy heart. Unsaturated fat allows you to burn fat and without cutting calories. The British Journal of Nutrition in 2009 made light to the fact that those who consumed the most unsaturated fatty acids have lower body mass indexes and less abdominal fat than those who consumed the least. They attribute this to the fact that those eating unsaturated fats ate high-quality foods. 

“Low fat” diets have actually increased obesity rates. No/Low Fat diets strip our bodies of much needed nutrients. Fat is a huge component of the taste aspect of our foods. So, when food manufacturers removed fat from foods, they add sugar and salt, which contain no nutrients yet increased flavor.