Since the fat free fad diets of the 1990’s everyone has been giving fat a bad rap. The desirable verses the undesirable fat seems to be a very confusing concept for many of us to understand.

Fat is fat right, don’t we need to avoid it all? The truth is we all need fat as part of a healthy diet, the trick is to chose the right fat. Eating  good quality fat in the form of olive oil, raw nuts, seeds and avocados is not necessarily going to make you fat, and on the other hand, eating too much ‘fat free’ food could easily make you fat.

If you eat too much of anything it will make you fat, whether it contains fat or not. Fat is just energy stored by the body that you haven’t used up. This stored energy can come from carbohydrates, protein or fat.

The Yo-Yo Factor

Fat cells are very intelligent cells, they act like tiny balloons and fill according to how much energy we have left over and need to put away into storage. This is so when famine hits, we have our little fat piggy banks. But fortunately we don’t have much use of our famine fat banks in the western world. So it just sits on our hips, buns and thighs until we burn it off.

Once they are full and about to burst sending fat flying around your body, they signal to all their fat cell friends to create more fat cells. Our body goes into overdrive creating extra balloons (or cells) to store energy we are not using. Once these cells have been made we cannot get rid of them, (unless we literally have them sucked out buy liposuction) we can only empty them by burning off the fat.

They then just sit there, waiting to be filled up again. Creating new fat cells is much harder for the body to do than fill old ones; this is why if you have carried a few extra pounds around in the past, it will be easier for you to pack on a few extra pounds in the future. Why – because those little fat cell balloons are always ready and waiting to fill up with extra bits of cake, fries and processed foods that you feed your body but don’t need. It’s like they are saying: ‘Hey give me that bit of cake – I will store it on your thighs for you”. This is why it is a bad idea to yo-yo diet.

What is the Bottom Line?

Our bodies need fat to keep hormones in balance, promote healthy organs, skin and hair and keep our mind sharp. If we don’t give our bodies fat we tend to go into ‘survival mode.’ This causes our body to store fat because it anticipates a famine is on its way as we have said. This is how our bodies were designed to survive hundreds of years ago when we didn’t know how long we would have to wait for the next meal.

So if our bodies need fat we need to make sure we are giving it the desirable heart friendly fat. This confuses a lot of people but the general rule of thumb, if it comes from a plant it is likely to be heart friendly. If it comes from an animal it is likely to be undesirable.

Quality Counts

Sticking to good quality cold pressed olive oil, avocado, nuts and seeds in moderation will ensure you are receiving a good balance of desirable fats. We also like virgin coconut oil but the jury is still out on this one, and we always ask you to find your own truth. A good way to get the fat we need during the day is just to add a tablespoon of Olive oil to your salad or breakfast smoothie. – Delicious.

Remember…

Not all vegetable oils are created equal. If you reach for the large clear plastic bottle of vegetable oil on the supermarket shelf, you are choosing the wrong one. Purchase the best quality oil you can afford, maybe from your local farmers market or farm gate. Make sure you use it sparingly and it will last for ages.  So don’t be afraid to have a little fat and let’s keep our joints oiled.