It seems obvious that fat makes you fat, but what seems obvious often turns out to be wrong. After all, we used to believe geese grew on trees for reasons that actually made some sense. Just because fat goes into our body doesn’t mean it stays there, however, and so we’ve now found that a long-held assumption didn’t make a lot of sense. Dr. Stewart explains: Eating fatty foods does not make you fat. Fat in moderation is a necessary part of any healthy and balanced diet. Putting on more weight in the form of fat is a result of energy imbalance. You will gain weight if you take in more calories than you burn. Fat is a concentrated source of calories, but it is not necessary to eliminate fat from your diet completely. Bellatti agrees, providing a little context as to why we might look at fat as a problem: Sheer lunacy. Whole-food fats (nuts, seeds, avocado) are satiating and help you feel fuller for a longer period of time. You cant put French fries and almonds in the same category simply because both are high in fat.” Foods like french fries don’t fill you up. They also don’t contain other useful nutrients like foods with good fats (like the ones Bellatti mentioned). Dr. Nadolsky also agrees that it really just comes down to excess intake of anything: Fat can make you fat, but so can carbohydrates and (to a much lesser degree) protein; it just matters that you over-consume the source of calories. Granted some fats are seen as better than others (such as coconut oil and fish oil relative to trans fats) which accounts for some variability in weight gain, but weight gain will occur when excess is consumed (whatever that may be to your body)
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 02:40:32 +0000