Why is fat like a freight train? Big, bulky, hard to stop, powerful, hard to take apart, but necessary to keep things running smoothly.
Fat gets the blame for people becoming overweight and for a good reason. One gram of fat contains 9 calories while protein and carbohydrates have 4 calories in 1 gram. Fat is a high energy food that you need to pay attention to, but people still overdo it on the simple carbs and that is the usual cause of weight gain.
Dietary fat is necessary for life and companies are actually adding good fat back into foods and supplements again. Our cell membranes need it, our digestive tract need is and our hormones cannot be made without it. We even NEED cholesterol! Without cholesterol we do not produce testosterone and our levels suffer for it.
Fats are found in just about everything. Vegetables, fish, eggs, beef, chicken, beans, nuts, seeds, milk, tofu, bread, cereal all contain fat. Read labels and become aware of how much fat you are taking in. Usually an athletic person should not be getting more than 20% of your calories from fat. Eat healthy meals low in saturated fats and enjoy your food. Eat skinless chicken and turkey and trim any visible fat off of meat.
Oils and fats help our bodies use vitamins like D, A, E and vitamin K. Oils and fats are added by food companies to make food taste better and to preserve it for a longer shelf life. They use all different kinds, usually whatever is cheaper. Have you ever seen a label that says it MAY contain "this kind" or "that kind" or "this kind." Whatever is available and cheap is what they put in.
Saturated, polyunsaturated, monounsaturated and trans fats are all names used for different fats. Keep it simple, trans fats are not good, so if a product lists trans fats, leave it on the shelf!
Saturated: animal and dairy (butter) fats that remain solids at room temperature, with a few exceptions. Coconut oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil are sources of saturated fats but stay liquid.
Unsaturated: vegetable fats and vegetable oils, they stay liquid at room temperature.
Mono-unsaturated: some vegetable oils, olive oil, canola oil and peanut oil.
Limit your saturated fats to a few times a week. Also, try to keep your total daily fat intake to 60-80g a day. You should focus on getting your fats from unsaturated and mono-unsaturated varieties.
Keep the fat in your diet as you need it, low fat, not NO fat. 40-50% of your calories should be complex carbs, 20-30% should be protein and 10-20% fat. Use that guideline to keep healthy and stay full of energy.
Trans fats and the omega fatty acids will be discussed in a later post.
A.J. McAlendin
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