Why Fat Doesn’t Make You Fat
There’s a huge misconception that fat is our enemy. What do you say we debunk that awful myth?
The human body is made up of many different types of cells, organs, and structures. Every cell is lined with fat. The brain is also composed of lots of fat. Fat is important for our body to thrive. Actually, when we starve our body of fat, it actually goes into survival mode and does not allow us to lose weight. Point being: OUR BODIES NEED FAT TO FUNCTION OPTIMALLY!
A study from the National Institute of Health (NIH) showed that when you measure every ounce of food, calories burned, every movement, you find that those who ate more fat compared to an identical amount of carbs actually burned over 100 more calories per day. That amounts to over a 10 pounds of weight loss in a year! Isn’t that interesting?
But what about physical body weight and fat cells? A paper written by Dr. David Ludwig, a Harvard Professor, in The Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that we don’t gain weight simply from eating more and exercising less. It’s more complex than that.
Having more fat cells due to excess weight contributes to more food consumption and less exercise. Basically, your fat cells become hungry and contribute to you eating more because of all types of different chemical cascades it causes that we aren’t going to bore you with right now. But we’re eating more of the wrong things: carbohydrates.
How are hungry fat cells a major reason as to why we gain weight? Here are the 2 main things happening inside the body:
The first is because of blood sugar spikes. When sugar spikes, your fat storing hormone, insulin, increases. This typically happens when we eat processed carbs such as wheat. Insulin then drives all available fuel into your fat cells, especially those in the middle (belly fat), and makes you want to eat more.
The second is because of calorie restrictions. When we restrict calories, our bodies go into a starvation mode. Your body fears it is starving and makes you tired which makes you move less. You’re also hungry because of calorie restriction, so you eat more!
In human experiments, those who ate a higher fat diet, had a much faster metabolism. Low fat, high carb diets spike insulin, slow metabolism, and store belly fat.
Most of your fat-cell biology is controlled by what we eat! That is why we should eat a quality fat, whole foods diet lower in refined carbohydrates and high in fiber.
Not all fats are created equal. Here is a list of healthy fats to focus on consuming:
Avocado
Whole eggs - yolk and all!
Coconut oil
Olive oil
Nuts and seeds
What healthy fats do you have in your diet already? Do you think you’re already getting enough healthy fat each day? What do you think you can add?
Sources
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/1199154
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-study-finds-cutting-dietary-fat-reduces-body-fat-more-cutting-carb
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Written by Virginia Conner, PA-C