Part of an Article shared from Studio Pilates Written on the 16 October 2013 by James Mangahas When it comes to diets and nutrition plans, the presence of fat has always been a controversial topic. For the longest time, fat was the greatest enemy of all the super-healthy, lean, strong humans of the world. It was once drilled into our brains that if we even tasted a single gram of fat, we were instantly going to gain weight, become lethargic and die from heart attacks. In recent years though, fat has started a bit of a renaissance, and some research has shown that a diet with the inclusion of fat can actually lead to a healthier body. Who is right, and who is wrong? Here are some facts about fat that are important to know. Fat is literally pure energy. It is twice as calorie dense as the other two main ‘macro nutrients’ our food is made of, ie Carbs and Protein. This is why there are numerous fad diets that encourage the total elimination of fat in their daily food intake. Practically speaking, eliminating fat completely from a diet is both extremely difficult and unsatisfying to the taste buds. When planning and cooking meals, just remember portion control – if a third of your meal consists of fat, this means you are taking in just as many calories purely in fat content in comparison to the rest of your meal. Do you think you have done enough exercise that day to be able to compensate for such an enormous bump up in calories? Back when all humans were hunter-gatherers, the parts of animals that were fat-laden were always consumed as a priority: the brains and bone marrow were always the first to go. Physiologically, we are hard-wired to crave fat as it can provide us with so much energy for survival, as back then the body didn’t really know when its next meal was going to be. Nowadays, in our society where food is plentiful and ready in an instant, the ‘draw’ of our bodies to consume fat now acts to our detriment – we now can eat whenever we want, which basically means that we can keep topping up our fuel reserves without having to rely so heavily on energy-dense, fatty foods. So, even when you are craving something naughty, remember that you probably aren’t going to be dying of starvation like our cavemen predecessors were. The digestive system in your body occasionally needs some help to process all the food that gets passed through our mouths. Now, most people have heard that fibre is excellent for keeping us ‘regular’, as it helps with the cleaning out of our intestines. Fat also plays an important part in digestion. There are several key, important nutrients that are found in the food that we eat that can only be absorbed in our bodies if they attach themselves to fat molecules. Basically, you need fat in your diet to be able to get the most out of the healthy food that you are eating. As an added bonus, fat also increases satiety, which basically means that it helps keep you feeling ‘fuller’ for longer. This means that you won’t be reaching for the chocolate bar within 20 minutes of eating your lunch. So in closing, fat isn’t all that bad, but we just have to be careful with the amount of fat we take in. Don’t ban fat from your diet, but be wary that even though we want to eat lots of it, having it all the time might not be the best for your waistline.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 04:32:54 +0000
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