I wrote this blog to dispel the rumor/myth that low fat is good for you; that fat is bad for you. In actuality, we need fat to survive. Yes, there are bad fats. But there are also good fats. Read on to find out about Fat.
Fat is Necessary
There are 3 macronutrients:
We need to have all three in our diets. Our bodies are designed to have a balance of all 3 macronutrients during our meals. Our intake should include a balance of carbohydrates (whole grains, fruits, and vegetables), protein (animal meats, nuts, seeds, and legumes), and fat (fatty fish, avocado, oil from oily foods).
What Does Dietary Fat Do?
Dietary fat has many benefits that help us to stay healthy! It helps us absorb and process micronutrients (think of things like calcium and iron). Fat helps protect our organs. Important hormones are processed with fat. Fat also helps support cell growth and brain development!
How Much Fat Should I Eat?
This question is a difficult one to answer, and is different for everyone depending on your goals. Due to the individuality of how much to eat, I am going to talk about the minimum amount of fat you should have in your diet.
Dietary minimums of fat (for healthy people) will depend on how many calories you aim to eat in a day. The more active you are, the more calories you will need. 1 gram of fat has 9 calories (compared to carbohydrates and protein at 4 calories per 1 gram). Due to it having so many calories per gram, less total grams are needed to make up the percentage of daily calories!
An absolute minimum percentage of calories from fat is 20%. So if you eat 2,000 calories in a day, you should be eating about 400 calories from fat! If you have certain health conditions you may need to eat less fat, but most people need 20%.
Low-fat diets came about from some research in the 1950s. In the research it states:
“It must be emphasized that there is as yet no final proof that heart attacks or strokes will be prevented by such measures.”
To this day there is still no proof that this is the case as our rates of heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and obesity are still rising.
The Bad Fat!
In the 1970s and 1980s fat became evil. Companies and people tried to avoid fat as much as possible. To do this they started making food from chemicals. These chemicals decreased fat content in some foods, but started us down a trend of eating less natural types of foods! Foods, including sweeteners and grains, where modified to be "more healthy."
In doing this, we no longer eat foods that our parents used to eat. Bread is not the same that it used to be. This modification is known as genetic modification or genetically modified organism (GMO).
Items that were created, and even recommended to consume, include margarine (there is nothing natural about margarine). Margarine was made in an attempt to decrease the fat intake that people had when eating butter on toast and bread and in many recipes.
The type of fat in things like margarine is called trans-fats. These are artificial and involve changing the chemical compound of fats.
What are Healthy Fats
There are many good sources of fat that also have many other nutrients in them here is a list of fats you can add to your menu that are good for your development:
Monounsaturated Fats:
Avocados
Olives
Nuts
Oils - Avocado, Olive, Peanut
Polyunsaturated Fats:
Seeds - Pumpkin, Sunflower, Sesame
Fatty Fish - Tuna, Mackerel, Sardines, Trout, etc.
Soy Products
When undertaking any adjustments to what you are eating, the best recommendations are to eat a variety of colors (taste the rainbow) and to eat whole, unprocessed foods (these can be found usually on the outside walls/aisles of your grocery store.
If you are interested in information regarding BodyFix PT's upcoming nutrition program, you can email us at nutrition@bodyfixpt.com
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