Eating Fat That Make You Fat |
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Myth number 6: Eating Fat that make you fat It isn't just fat that makes you fat. All sugar or carbohydrates and all alcohol, as well as all fats, is turned by the body into glucose. (Protein, too, can be turned into glucose, but not so easily.) Glucose, remember, is the fuel our bodies run on, and any excess is turned into fat. So too much fat, protein, carbohydrate or alcohol can lead to fat gain and weight gain. And, looking at fat alone, it isn't just any old fat that makes you fat. As far as your body is concerned there's a world of difference between, say, 100 calories of saturated fat from meat and 100 calories of essential fat from seeds. Saturated fat can only be burned for energy or stored as body fat. But essential fats – properly known as EFAs or essential fatty acids – are used by the brain, the nerves, the arteries and the skin, and balance your hormones and boost immunity into the bargain. Only if there's any left over does the body burn it or store it. So you are more likely to gain weight eating saturated fat or damaged fat in fried or processed foods than you are eating EFAs. One big reason for this is that the body craves EFAs, precisely because it needs them to function. This craving means we are drawn to fats in general, and, as we're surrounded by saturated and processed fats the minute we enter the average supermarket, we may well end up eating them. Yet afterwards the body still keeps craving fat – so we eat more fatty foods. But, if you eat EFA-rich food such as fish and seeds, you'll fully satisfy the craving and will end up eating less. Does eating fat make you fat? Of course it does, in excess, but fat isn't the main culprit. As we saw earlier, the number of calories we eat from fat has dropped, while our intake of sugar has increased dramatically, paralleling the rise in obesity. Low-fat diets rose out of the belief that fat is the prime culprit in weight gain. But as with high protein diets, there are two potential problems with this approach. First, most low-fat diets are high in carbohydrates, so sugar and refined foods replace fatty foods. This encourages a blood sugar problem that, in turn, makes it harder to maintain weight control. For this reason, very low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets can often cause fatigue, mood swings and sugar cravings. The worst aspect of a low-fat diet, however, is that it cuts out EFAs. Ann Louise Gittleman is the former director of nutrition at the Pritikin Longevity Center in Florida, which emphasized low-fat eating. In her book Beyond Pritikin, she notes conditions in people placed on low-fat diets, such as a lack of energy, allergies, yeast problems, mood swings, and dry skin, hair and nails, that she believed were due to the lack of EFAs. While most of us could do with cutting back on fat, the real emphasis should be on reducing foods rich in saturated fats and devoid of essential fats (meat and dairy produce), and instead eating foods rich in essential fats (seeds, their oils and fish). |
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