~Ditch the Diet~

Guess what…fats don’t make you fat.  Big shocker I know!

As I mentioned in a previous post,  macronutrients are nutrients that provide calories (or energy) for our bodies. There are three macronutrients:  Fat, Protein, Carbohydrate. (Fat provides 9 calories per gram.)

Fat might get a bad wrap, but it is actually essential for survival.  Fat is the most concentrated source of energy and is also needed for absorption of vitamins A, D, E, K, and carotenoids.

What does our body need fat for?

Energy
Absorbing certain vitamins
Maintaining cell membranes
Providing cushioning for the organs
Normal growth and development
Providing taste, consistency, and stability to foods

There are three main types of fat, saturated fat, unsaturated fat, and trans fat.

There are good fats and bad fats. Good fats come from things like chicken, turkey, tuna, salmon, avocados, nut, seeds, olive oil and grape seed oil.  

Eating large amounts of foods rich in saturated fats can raise your cholesterol levels, increasing your risk of heart disease and stroke, (and even some types of cancer.) If those saturated fat-rich foods are also high in dietary cholesterol, like bacon, the cholesterol levels tend to rise even higher.

Try to stay away from trans fat.  Trans fats are found in things like baked goods, snack foods, fried foods, and margarine. These types of fats increase your risk for heart disease.

Replacing saturated and trans fat in your diet with unsaturated fat has been shown decrease the risk of developing heart disease.

While it is great to see results on the scale, what is going on inside the body is more important.

The USDA recommends 20% – 35% of daily calories should come from fat.

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