Is Fat in Your Food So Bad?
We have all heard that fat in food is something to be avoided, but is it true? You shouldn't fear fat.
The reason that you shouldn't fear fat is because you need a certain amount of fat in your diet.
It is essential for storing energy and absorbing essential vitamins.
Fat is stored energy that needs to be used; if you don't use it you will get fatter.
It needs to be burned off.
Compared to carbs of protein, fat contains more calories- 9 calories per gram versus about 4 grams for a carbohydrate or protein.
Because this is true it would seem that you would get more energy from fat, unfortunately this is not true.
It is impossible to fuel your body on snacks or greasy snacks or meals.
It is comparable to putting dirty gas in your car.
Placing this dirty fuel in your body will slow you down and make you feel like crap.
You will have trouble if you are an athlete and you are relying on this type of food to fuel your workouts.
If you are fueling your workout this way your body may begin to break down the muscle that you do have because it is not able to break down these fats effectively.
Although the preceding is true, your long-term fuel is in your fat stores.
It works like this: whenever you exercise you tap your carbs and fat storage centers.
You do not do this at the same rate.
If you are doing high intensity short burst, this will tap your carb storage.
Longer workouts use fat storage as fuel.
Although a long workout burns fat, the short intense workout will raise your metabolism allowing you to burn fat all day long.
This is why you need both types of fuels in your body.
Getting enough fat into someone's diet is not normally the problem.
The problems arise when it comes to figuring out how much fat is needed and the quality of the fat.
Just because you need fat in your diet doesn't mean that you can chow down on all the cookies and ice cream you can find.
You need to avoid what is called trans-fats.
Trans-fats are common in a lot of foods.
You should avoid trans-fats and concentrate on unsaturated fats in appropriate portions.
This should make up about 25 percent of your total calorie intake.
Examples of this type of good fat are olive oil, almonds, walnuts, olives, and fish.
The reason that you shouldn't fear fat is because you need a certain amount of fat in your diet.
It is essential for storing energy and absorbing essential vitamins.
Fat is stored energy that needs to be used; if you don't use it you will get fatter.
It needs to be burned off.
Compared to carbs of protein, fat contains more calories- 9 calories per gram versus about 4 grams for a carbohydrate or protein.
Because this is true it would seem that you would get more energy from fat, unfortunately this is not true.
It is impossible to fuel your body on snacks or greasy snacks or meals.
It is comparable to putting dirty gas in your car.
Placing this dirty fuel in your body will slow you down and make you feel like crap.
You will have trouble if you are an athlete and you are relying on this type of food to fuel your workouts.
If you are fueling your workout this way your body may begin to break down the muscle that you do have because it is not able to break down these fats effectively.
Although the preceding is true, your long-term fuel is in your fat stores.
It works like this: whenever you exercise you tap your carbs and fat storage centers.
You do not do this at the same rate.
If you are doing high intensity short burst, this will tap your carb storage.
Longer workouts use fat storage as fuel.
Although a long workout burns fat, the short intense workout will raise your metabolism allowing you to burn fat all day long.
This is why you need both types of fuels in your body.
Getting enough fat into someone's diet is not normally the problem.
The problems arise when it comes to figuring out how much fat is needed and the quality of the fat.
Just because you need fat in your diet doesn't mean that you can chow down on all the cookies and ice cream you can find.
You need to avoid what is called trans-fats.
Trans-fats are common in a lot of foods.
You should avoid trans-fats and concentrate on unsaturated fats in appropriate portions.
This should make up about 25 percent of your total calorie intake.
Examples of this type of good fat are olive oil, almonds, walnuts, olives, and fish.
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