We NEED fat in our diets. Fat gets so much hate whenever people talk about nutrition and weight loss. Yes most people want to lose body fat. But fat is still an important part of your diet.
Your body needs fat to help with vitamin absorption, to help with hormone regulation and it actually helps with proper brain function.
Fat Sources
There are many different sources of fat. There are also different types of fat. So the fat that you get from meat is a different fat to the fat that you’d get from avocado.
Most popular sources of fat are:
· Meat
· Fatty fish
· Nuts
· Peanut butter
· Oils
Same as protein and carbs, it’s best to get your fat from as many different sources as you can.
Fat Storage
Fat is stored as adipose tissue. Around 300-400g of fat is stored in muscles. This is called intramuscular fat. This is fat stored in skeletal muscle and involuntary muscles.
The majority of fat is stored around the organs and beneath skin. The amount that is stored in different places is down to your genetics.
I person that weighs 70kg stores around 10-15kg of fat in their body.
Fat Distribution
People who store fat around their stomach have a higher risk of suffering from heart disease. There is very little you can do to change the way the your body distributes fat.
The same way that you can’t just pick where you lose fat from, you can’t pick or control how and where you’re body stores fat.
Basic shape is very similar to both parents. Males will take more after their dads and females will take more after their mother.
Your hormones also play a factor in how your body distributes fat. Female hormones will typically favour fat storage around hips and thighs. Males will typically hold fat around the mid section.
How Much Fat
Over the years of reviewing nutrition and the benefits, it shows that fat should be consumed in our diet and there are many health benefits to consuming moderate amounts of fat.
So what is that moderate amount? Well it is roughly 25-35% of the calories we consume should come from fat. This is a decent target if you eat a balanced diet.
But what about people, and even athletes, on a high fat diet? There was a study that claimed that elite cyclists could perform better by a high fat diet. Their diet would consist of 70% fat, 23% protein and only 7% carbs. Compared to those on a high carb diet that consisted of 70% carbs, 20% protein and just 10%.
This would suggest that two weeks of adaption to a high fat diet would result in better resistance to fatigue and significant sparing of carbs during low to moderate intensity exercise.
This is a Keto Diet
Ketogenic Diet
A Ketogenic diet, or keto diet, is a very low carb diet but very high in fat. The whole goal of a keto diet is to get a state of ketosis.
This is where your body produces small fuel efficient molecules called ketones. These can be alternative fuel for the body when blood sugar is in short supply.
Basically they’re made in the liver from fat if you don’t have any or many carbs and sugar in the diet and only a moderate amount of protein. Since excess protein can also be turned into blood sugar. The body and brain then use them to fuel you through your day.
Now the idea of fuelling your body with little to no carbs sounds iffy to me. Personally I love my carbs so the idea of low carbs sounds crazy.
But does it work? From what I’ve read, you have to try it to see.
Some people can do it and some can’t. I remember reading about a kickboxer who tried going keto to lose weight for a fight. He said he felt awful and struggled with his workouts. He always had a high enough carb diet so going to no carbs was very difficult for me. His trainer also did the same diet with him and got great results. So it will come down to each individual.
The theory is that fat can be a more efficient fuel source for some people.
There are so many events now that challenge peoples endurance. This means their diet is challenged also to fuel their body to train and compete in these events.
High carb diets have been favoured for many years for any endurance events. Although, there are some situations, for some people, that a low carb and high fat diet might suit them better.
So after years and years reading and hearing about low fat and reduced fat, it seems that high fat can be good for your bodies health but for weight loss too.
Again, high fat means little to no carbs. If you are going to try a high fat/keto diet, you can’t be eating carbs too.
Keto isn’t just the latest fad diet that you here of. For some people it really works.
Comments