Explaining fats (storage of energy/fuel)

Fat is bad. Many people say. But fats are indispensable in our daily menu! This is because fat helps digest food. Some vitamins are dissolved by fat making them better absorbed in the body! (For example Vitamin A D, E, K.)

In addition, fat lubricates the joints, provides protection in our body by warding off disease, is good for our brain, memory, improves skin structure, improves insulin sensitivity, contributes to fat burning, absorbs fat dissolving vitamins into the blood and retains our body heat so we don't get cold.

Fat consists of saturated fatty acids and unsaturated fatty acids.

What does that mean?

• Saturated fatty acids are bad for the heart and blood vessels.
• Unsaturated fatty acids are good for the heart and blood vessels.

Our bodies also produce fatty acids themselves (cholesterol) If you naturally produce a lot of fatty acids and also take in a lot of saturated fatty acids through food, your cholesterol levels become too high and this is harmful to your health; it can cause cardiovascular diseases.

Unsaturated fatty acids can lower cholesterol levels in your blood.

• Unsaturated fatty acids are found in: Olive oil, peanuts, nuts, oily fish (salmon, herring, mackerel)
• Saturated fatty acids are found in: Whole milk products, cheese, biscuits, chocolate,pastries, crisps, snacks.

Good fats

The good fat products our body needs are made up of both unsaturated fatty acids and saturated fatty acids. This is not a bad thing because the ratio here is good. The good, unsaturated fatty acids prevail here.

A welcome addition to our daily menu is therefore fish oil, which is available in capsule form.

>Find the right fish capsules HERE

All the fat we eat is actually stored directly in our body in fat cells, causing excess weight if consumed in excess. The excess fat is stored in the body as energy stores.

So it is important to eat especially low-fat foods and especially avoid saturated fatty acids as much as possible.

Yet it is also not good to at little eat fat. Among other things, fats are an energy store for times when food is scarce or we need extra energy (e.g. when exercising or starving yourself on a crash diet).

When you no longer consume any fat at all, or consume far too little, your body will respond by slowing down its metabolism (fat burning). After all, it has to be more economical with the (energy) supply of fat that is still there!

When not enough fats are available, carbohydrates consumed will be absorbed into the blood faster for extra energy, allowing the little bit of stored fat that is in the body to stay here and not be used up.

Energy source

In this case, the carbohydrates consumed should serve as fuel instead of the stored fat that is normally drawn on as an energy source during prolonged exercise, but will also cause high blood sugar levels. Especially when exercise is also low!

When you have little fat in your body, this increases the production of insulin that needs to neutralise the large amounts of sugar in the blood again.

This causes huge fluctuations in blood sugar levels, giving you extra cravings for sweet (again, the wrong carbohydrates!) In this way, the pancreas has to produce too much insulin too often, which only makes the insulin stimulate the storage of fat (from carbohydrates).

So eating (too) little fat will slow down fat burning, but promote fat storage! This will certainly not contribute to a healthy slim line and do your body more harm than good.

Whichever way you look at it, we need (unsaturated) fats! Not too much, but certainly not too little either.

Calories

Fat contains more calories( even more than double!) per gram than proteins and carbohydrates making fat at smaller amounts more likely to cause obesity.

So obesity is not directly caused by the fat itself, but the amount of calories it contains and when you take in too much of it!

It is a myth that 'good' fats would not make you fat! The good fats (Omega 3 fatty acids) contain as many calories as the saturated fats, but are only better for cholesterol levels and therefore not for the slim line!

Excess fat from a high-fat diet, is stored throughout the body in fat cells. The fat also ends up in the blood and blood vessels, causing them to constrict.

This compromises the blood supply to vital organs, depriving them of sufficient blood and oxygen. In response, the heart will also have to work harder, raising heart rate and blood pressure, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease.

In the process, fat cells produce oestrogen, which can increase the risk of cancer as also explained in the blog about carbohydrates. Again; the more fat cells, the higher the oestrogen level in the blood, the greater the risk of this horrible disease.

Trans fats

Preferably also avoid all trans fatty acids. These are oils that have been chemically processed to make them last longer.

Trans fats. They are very bad for health and are mainly found in margarine, in deep-frying fat (i.e. not vegetable oil) fried foods, biscuits, cakes, crackers, crisps, ready mixes for soups and sauces, ready mixes for capuchino, chocolate milk and coffee creamers.

It is difficult to show whether trans fats are present in a product. However, you can find it on the label under the ingredient listing.

If it says here that the product contains hydrogenated vegetable fat or hydrogenated fat, you can assume that these are trans fats.

Trans fats are really unhealthy. They affect the immune system, burden the liver, increase the risk of bad cholesterol, can increase the risk of cancer and make platelets sticky, making it harder to transport in the bloodstream.

If a product you use does contain trans fat, make sure it contains less than 1 gram. Fat and carbohydrates (in the form of sugars!) is by far the worst combination you can have in relation to losing weight.

Products that contain both ingredients are usually full of 'empty' calories; calories with no nutritional value, no vitamins, etc.

In addition, research has shown that foods with the combination of fat, sugar and salt cause a certain 'blissful' feeling in the brain that makes eating them an addiction (with huge, unhealthy, fluctuations in blood sugar levels!)

The good fats are best eaten in combination with proteins and vegetables.

The above text previously appeared in the Balance book. The book is now sold out, but may still be available to order second-hand via the link below.

The Balance Book

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