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The Skinny on Fat

Posted By: Joshua Morgan on 01/22/2012

FATS

These are also called lipids.  
                                                    PRIMARY TWO                
                                                     /              \
                                                    /                \
                                                   /                  \
                                     Triglycerides                 Cholesterol

Dietary fat that makes up our daily intake of fat is more correctly called triglycerides.  

Cholesterol is termed a steroid molecule.  Cholesterol is also the start (precursor) of testosterone, estrogen, and cortisol.  One of the consequences in cutting out cholesterol out of our diet is that hormone production can be compromised.

GOOD AND BAD

Dietary fat slows gastric emptying (slows down digestion)
Fat-soluble vitamin absorption may be impaired when fat intake is too low.

FOUR TYPES OF FAT

1. Transfats
2. Monounsaturated
3. Saturated
4. Polyunsaturated

Transfats:
Semi-solid at room temperature.  Produced by bubbling hydrogen through vegetable oil.  This was done because a lot of products are produced using vegetable oil.  Vegetable oil by itself is not very shelf stable.  So companies found a way to make this vegetable oil more shelf stable.  However, research has shown that consuming transfats causes a plethora of negatives on health.  Keep in mind that transfats are not suitable for human consumption.  This fat should be excluded from the diet completely.  
Ex: margarine

Monounsaturated:
Liquid at room temperature.  Main point about monounsaturated is that they help maintain good cholesterol (HDL) and helps to lower bad cholesterol (LDL).
Ex: olive oil

Saturated:
Solid at room temperature.  We get this through animal products.  Saturated fats have been wrongly vilified. This is because there is a number of fats that fall under the umbrella of saturated fats.  And some of these fats that fall under the family of saturated fats are good for your health.  Coconut oil is an example of a saturated fats that has been shown to have positive health benefits.

Polyunsaturated:
You’ll know these fats as w-3 (omega 3) and w-6 (omega 6).  These are your essential fatty acids.

                  TWO TYPES OF POLYUNSATURATED

                        /                              \
                      /                                 \
                     /                                    \
        ALA (alpha-linolenic)(w-3)        LA (linolenic)(w-6)

ALAs are your omega 3 fatty acids.  LAs are your omega 6 fatty acids.

We get enough omega 6s in our diet.  Sooooo…we’ll move into omega 3s.

BENEFITS OF OMEGA 3

• Decreased inflammation in the body
• Decreases risk of heart disease
• Decreased depression
• Can aid with fat loss

ALA is converted into EPA and DHA which is what constitutes fish oil.

Caloric considerations for fat: 1 gram=9 calories

Now I should add that what typically happens is when we go on a 'diet', we're looking to cut calories.  Before I continue, remember that diet simply means what you eat. What you eat is your diet.  However we've come to think of the word 'diet' in terms of losing fat/losing weight.  If we're looking to cut calories, fat is usually the first place to cut.  I would actually start with carbs, but we'll save that for later.  See fats are calorically dense...meaning each gram of fat contains a lot more calories (more than double) than the macronutrients protein and carbohydrates.  So it becomes easier to get in a calorie deficient environment by cutting out fat.  However, consuming too less of fat can have negative consequences like the body storing fat (ironic that we'd cut out fat to lose fat only to have the body store fat). 

Sure it's wise to cut down on that intake of bacon and sausage.  But foods like coconut, avacado, and almonds can absolutely have their place in a fatloss goal setup. And men do not want to cut out all saturated fats.  Going nil on saturated fats can mess with hormones like testosterone levels. 

Yours in Health,

Joshua Morgan