The truth about fat

For years, we have been told that saturated fat is the public enemy number one, bringing with it a whole arsenal of health risks, such as obesity and heart disease. However, fat is finally getting some street justice, as the epic fail of the fat-free craze of the 80s and 90s and the more recent awareness of just how damaging sugar is.

Remember the fat-free crazy I just mentioned? The hope was that by cutting fat from our diets, we would trim those inches from our figures. Instead, the exact opposite actually happened: because fat-free cookies, cheese, chips, and crackers were missing the critical fat that makes us feel full, we ate double – sometimes triple – the usual portion.

Oh, and lets not forget – manufacturers would dump extra sugar into these foods to make them taste better (and thus, amp up sales) we took in just as many calories and often more. To sum it up, the low-fat message backfired, as it led to a proliferation of products that were loaded with sugar, refined carbohydrates, and extra calories.

So, how is fat actually good for us? From the above, you may find that the advice now is not ‘eat less fat’ but rather ‘eat the right fats’. Essentially, fats can now be labelled as good and bad. This may not be anything new, most of us had an awareness that olive oil, for instance, is a healthier option to, lets say, deep fried potato chips – the villain, we have long believed, is saturated fat.

The conventional wisdom is that saturated fat, which is present in meat, dairy, and some plant products, increases our total cholesterol and chances of heart disease and stroke. More recent studies have shown that there wasn’t enough proof to link saturated fat to either heart disease or stroke – the decades old idea that saturated fat is bad for the heart was mostly based on animal studies and short-term trials that looked at people’s cholesterol levels, not at whether they actually had heart attacks.

While swapping vegetable oils, for instance, soybean oil for butter – appeared to lower LDL cholesterol levels (bad cholesterol) and decrease risk, trading bacon for a bagel is not the solution either – essentially, when you replace saturated fats with refined carbs, you triglycerides can go up and your good HDL cholesterol can go down.

High triglycerides and low HDL are risk factors for cardiovascular disease and criteria of metabolic syndrome – a cluster of health problems linked to diabetes and heart disease. And what about actual weight loss? Eating less saturated fat doesn’t seem to help in this respect either. Studies have shown that a low-carb, higher-fat diet led to participants shedding kilograms faster and actually had resulted in better cholesterol levels than those on a low-fat diet, even though the low-carb group was taking in higher levels of saturated fat.

This may be because people eating fewer carbohydrates release less insulin, which may lead to diminished cravings, reduced fat storage and influence metabolism in a way that helps keep cholesterol in check.

OK, so, enough with the medical science lesson. Here is a low-down:

Saturated fats can strengthen your immunity and brain function; unsaturated fat can be found in both plant and animal sources, and these encompass omegas and polysaturated and monosaturated. Omega-3 fatty acids are essential to your health as your body can’t make them naturally.

These are found in nuts, eggs and oily fish. Monosaturated fats are good for cholesterol balance and heart health – these include olive oil and avocado; polyunsaturated fats are found in fish oils, they may contribute to improving insulin sensitivity but do not lower your heart risk. Omega-6 fatty acids are found in vegetable oils and mayonnaise; while trans fats and hydrogenated fats are found in biscuits, cakes and crisps – these are hard for the body to process and do in fact, make you fat.

And now, with all the information in check, how to actually begin?

The process I suggest is to firstly say a sweet goodbye: eliminate all sugar from your diet. That includes honey, brown sugar, cane sugar, retaining fructose from fruit only. This is the single most effective step you can take.

Secondly, set a rule not to drink anything that has a carb calorie in it – essentially making water your only fluid source. Fruit juices may boast ‘added vitamin C’ and so on, but they are packed with simple sugars that do, in fact, convert into body fat in no time.

And what of fat and exercise programs? If your goal is to build more muscle, fat is a must. In order to get bigger, you require a substantial amount of calories, and fat packs quite a number of them.

For instance, have a steak on training days to stock up on calories as well as muscle-building creatine and amino acids; adding two tablespoons of coconut oil to your diet each day will bolster up your metabolism as it is rich in medium-chain triglycerides – however, keep in mind that being calorie-dense, adding carbohydrates such as pasta and potato will leave you with a surplus of sugar in your body and you will end up storing fat.

If your goal is a more moderate, ‘get toned’ deal, you should minimise carbohydrate intake but do the maths with the fats: try not to eat more than two grams of fat per kilo of body mass, adding fats gradually and beware of the ‘low-fat’ trap in the foods boasting it. They may be low in calories but sugar is usually added to increase the flavour.

Your body is more likely to store excess glucose as fat than fat itself.  Keep in mind that although a fatty meal is higher in calories, dietary fat is digested more slowly than carbs or protein – keeping you fuller for longer – in turn minimising cravings and providing energy (particularly if cutting down on carbs!) and a better workout.