Lately, fats have become less of a hot topic than carbohydrates, however they are still considered by many to be sort of evil. Conventional wisdom tells us that they make us gain weight, therefore we should eat as little fat as possible. However, recent research has nutritionists now considering fat an essential nutrient, right up there with protein and carbohydrates.
The 1980s saw the boom of the low-fat diet. Everyone was suddenly buying low-fat milk, low-fat desserts, and fat-free crackers. So what if that stuff didn’t taste all that great? They were going to get thin, and cutting all fat from the diet was the way to go. Unfortunately, for most, it didn’t work.
The shortcomings in the weight-loss department were largely due to two important factors. One, most products that are low fat have increased sugar to make up for the loss of flavor. Fat is what often makes our food taste good, and removing fat removes a lot of the flavor, making food less satisfying. Adding sugar partly makes up for this, but it also adds calories. The other problem was closely related. Since low fat or fat-free foods often don’t taste as good as their full-fat counterparts, people compensated. They ate more. Hey, it was fat-free, right? Besides, fat tends to keep a person feeling satisfied for longer than carbohydrates (referred to in the nutrition world as satiety), so people tended, in some cases, to actually eat more in the long run, because they were getting hungry more quickly.
Like most things, fat was on a pendulum swing and came back in a rush with the controversial yet revolutionary Atkins diet. On Atkins, people could eat fat. Lots of fat. As long as you avoided carbs, you were good. Interestingly, people lost weight, and weren’t hungry, and felt a lot better. While the high amounts of saturated fat in this diet are very likely not a good thing, people had to admit that perhaps Dr. Atkins was onto something.
We now know that fat is necessary in the diet in moderate amounts. There is no recommended daily intake of fat, because it varies from person to person based on health, size, gender, and activity level, but most nutrition professionals will agree that about 30% of daily calories from fat is the upper range of healthy. For a 5’10” man who is somewhat active, this might end up in the 600 calorie range.
Fat contains more calories per gram than carbohydrates and protein. It will provide nine calories of energy to carbohydrate and protien’s four. This is important to keep in mind, since it means that, by volume, fat intake should be considerably less than the other two however also means that fat is a valuable source of energy if needed, such as in cases where a person is severely undernourished and needs to get the maximum amount of calories possible (such as with AIDS, disorders where absorption of nutrients is impared, and the genetic disorder cystic fibrosis).
Fat comes in essentially four forms. Three are found naturally, and one must be manufactured. Saturated fat has long been a diet villain, and the recommendation still stands at less than 7% of calories from saturated fat. Some dispute this, pointing out that animal fats (all of which are saturated), which some say we are not meant to have in the diet, are exactly what we burn when we use body fat. They further point out that most people who successfully burn body fat feel great, and that this is due to the utilization by the body of saturated fats. I tend to fall somewhere in the middle of these camps. I feel that saturated fat is probably not the best choice of fats due to its link to cardiovascular disease and stroke when consumed in large amounts, but I don’t think that butter will kill us all. Not any more quickly than margarine, anyway.
Margarine is made of vegetable oils. That sounds great (we are being told today that canola and olive oils are the healthy oils) however, margarine is solid at room-temperature, which makes it a type of fat called Trans-fat. Trans-fats are unsaturated fats that have had hydrogen added. These fats have been shown to be even more unhealthy than saturated fats and should be avoided if possible.
Unsaturated fats, those we commonly refer to as “good fats”, fall into the category called “oils”. These fats are liquid at room temperature and have been show to have a positive effect on good cholesterol, and are important in brain, eye, and skin health.
Aside from providing us with energy, our bodies are meant to have some body fat as a cushion against injury if we fall, are hit, or otherwise receive some sort of trauma. We have two types of body fat: subcutaneous fat and visceral fat. Visceral fat is found around our internal organs and is vital for their protection. Subcutaneous fat is found under the skin and is what we generally think of as “body fat.” It is important for insulation and protection. We only run into trouble when our bodies store excess body fat. They are programmed to do this as protection against famine and malnutrition. Fortunately, most of us in the US seldom experience famine and so those extra fat stores quickly become a health risk rather than a safety net.
A person who cuts all or most fat from the diet will likely experience hunger, a feeling of fatigue, and skin problems. Eventually, they may experience injury and cognitive problems as well. Infants especially should not have fat intake restricted through use of low-fat dairy products. Breast milk has an appropriate amount of fat and infants need saturated and unsaturated fat for proper development of the brain and nervous system.
So as it turns out, fat is not quite the villain we make it out to be. Too much fat can be quite harmful, contributing to heart disease, obesity, heart attack, and stroke, but too little fat brings its own set of problems and is often counter-productive to weight-loss attempts. Moderation is key; focusing on healthy unsaturated fats is the better course. Food is meant to be enjoyed. A lack of enjoyment often leads to eating more to make up for a lack of flavor. Keeping overall fat intake to about a third of calories consumed, and keeping saturated fat to a minimum helps ensure that the diet is healthy as well as tasty.
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