Which fats are good for you?

 

Which fats are good for you?

Good fats, bad fats, saturated, unsaturated, trans-fats – which fats are good for you?

For decades we have heard that fats should be avoided at all cost. Fat has always allegedly, been the problem in our diets. It has been blamed for high cholesterol levels, blood pressure and heart disease as well as the obvious weight gain that we so desperately try to avoid.

Since then a lot has changed. The ‘experts’ now agree that a little fat in your diet doesn’t do as much harm as once thought and that we should all be having a bit more of the good fat variety in our diet. They have discovered that weight gain, high cholesterol and blood pressure, risk of heart disease and diabetes are actually exacerbated by sugar and refined carb intake than by fat. Now they say that it is sugar that makes you put on weight and excess weight is associated with the above conditions. Bottom line. Sugar makes you fat, fat doesn’t.

Now don’t run away with this and think that you can happily eat your cream cakes and that they will do you good! Firstly cakes contain sugar and lots of carbs so that’s a no-no, but also the cream in your cakes is not the type of fat you want to be eating. That fat will make you fat and very unhealthy.

So which fats are good for you?

Fat
Fat comes in two forms: Saturated and unsaturated. As a rule of thumb you should try to eat more unsaturated fat and less saturated fat and avoid trans fats as much as possible. (Trans fats are artificial fats that are formed when oil goes through a process called hydrogenation, which makes the oil more solid in room temperature known as hardening).

Here are some examples of saturated and unsaturated fats.

Saturated fats are found in:

• fatty cuts of meat
• meat products, including sausages and pies
• butter, ghee and lard
• cheese, especially hard cheese
• cream, soured cream and ice cream
• some savoury snacks and chocolate confectionery
• biscuits, cakes and pastries

Saturated fats are solid at room temperature.

Although a few saturated fats are now not deemed as bad for you as once thought, care still should be taken to not over consume these as they can raise cholesterol levels. Depending on the diet you’re having, whether healthy or unhealthy, you may not benefit from having too many saturated fats if you are eating other foods that can also raise cholesterol levels.

How can you lower your intake of saturated fats?
You can choose to buy leaner cuts of meat, remove chicken skin and drop the mayo. BEWARE some foods that say ‘low-fat’ have added sugar and salt to make them more tasty.

Unsaturated fats are found in:

• oily fish such as salmon, sardines and mackerel
• nuts and seeds
• olive oil
• avocados

Unsaturated fats are liquid in room temperature.

Unsaturated fat, especially in the form of monounsaturated fat, helps transport and absorb vitamins such as Vitamin A and Vitamin D. It helps to clean up the arteries of bad fats (cholesterol). It helps with brain cognition and memory, improves moods (we could all use that sometimes!) and has been known to alleviate depression. Fat is responsible for hormone production. Fat makes you feel satiated (feeling full) and having a correct amount of healthy fat in your diet means you will not binge as much.

How can you have more unsaturated fats?
Drizzle olive oil over you salad and veg. Eat a handful of nuts a day. Eat olives or half an avocado. Choose oily fish at least twice a week.

Thank goodness that the ‘experts’ have finally realised the benefits of fat and that it is essential that we keep good fats and small amounts of saturated fats in our diets.

Believe me we need fats. It’s sugar and processed carbohydrates that we do not need.

So keep healthy fats on your plate and ditch the sugar!

DISCLAIMER: I must emphasise that fat will make you fat and unhealthy, even the good type of fat if you overeat it. It only works as part of a healthy diet. So please take care not to over consume fats of any kind! 

Have a great day.

Sally x

Any questions? Want to book a 1:1 consultation?
Please email info@sallyhumphries.com or call 07983 033 310

Next week: Why you are bloated

A calorie is not a calorie

A calorie is not a calorie

Are you calorie counting? Do you follow a point system diet where you have a certain daily allowance? In the effort to shed those few extra pounds, calculating what goes in to what goes out is a good way to keep track of where you are. However, it isn’t always as simple as that. Read on.

Have you ever heard the old adage that, ‘A calorie is a calorie’? A lot of diets are based on this premise that as long as you don’t go over your allowance it doesn’t matter what you eat. So eating the equivalent in doughnuts to what you would in vegetables is the same, as long as you don’t exceed the allowance.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that a 1,000 worth of doughnut calories will not do you any good but how does it work?

You see while all foods provide a certain amount of energy, the way these foods are metabolised is different and each food, even those that yield the same calorie amount to each other may still cause fat storage much more than the other.

Take for example protein and carbohydrate. Each yield 4 kcal of energy per gram but did you know that it takes twice or three times as long to digest protein and the process itself actually burns calories? So to eat protein you will burn calories just to digest it. You will also stay fuller for longer reducing your need to eat again soon. Double result! Carbohydrate on the other hand is pure energy. We need energy in the body for movement and organ function. Carbohydrate, including sugar is metabolised by the body quickly. Insulin makes sure of that and after glycogen has been stored in the muscles and liver the rest is stored as fat. It also can cause further carvings. Unless carbs are the non-refined types such as whole grain or from veggies, you’ll find that this food induces fat storage over any other food. Even fat.

"Even fat? But I thought fat was the main culprit with weight gain? I thought that when you eat fat you get fat?”

This is yet another myth. When you eat fat your body uses it for cell structure, hormone production, brain function, vitamin absorption and much more. Fats are essential in the diet and without them we can get sick and suffer from emotional disorders such as depression and memory loss. The problem is the type of fat that is eaten. If you eat good fats, high in monounsaturated and low in saturates you will be doing yourself a favour. Fat is also responsible for satiety (the feeling of being full) and taste. Low-fat diet foods are packed with sugar and salt to give them flavour to compensate for the lack of taste derived from fat.

                      

Your body responds best to nourishment. It will stay content and full and burn more calories. Giving it low calorie foods that are in no way nutritious will defat the object. Even if you lose weight to start with, you will plateau over time and worst still you’ll lack lustre and vitality.

So, next time you are ‘calorie counting’, remember to consider: Is this a healthy option or just a low calorie option?

Healthy is best regardless of the calories.

Go be healthy!

Love Sal x

Next week: Which fats are good for you?

Food: Your questions answered

Food: Your questions answered

Ok so I asked you for feedback on what topics you want to hear about. Surprise, surprise, most of you want to hear about food! What food to eat, how to prepare it, when to eat it, how much and how often. And let’s not forget what foods help us to lose weight (more specifically body fat not just weight. Muscle weighs more than fat and it’s your fat-burning furnace. You don’t want to lose muscle!)

As you already know I am against deprivation diets of any kind. How can you deprive yourself of valuable nutrients when you’re training anyway? When you train the body’s resources get used up. Muscle fibres get broken down. THEY HAVE TO BE REPLACED! If precious muscle is not replaced you run the risk of PUTTING ON WEIGHT and losing all your exercise gains. Don’t do it!

So what to eat. In my book it’s really simple. Here’s some bullet points to make it easy:

Weight-loss: Cut the carbs. Anything from bread to pasta, pastry and wheat-based cereal. Wheat will bloat you like a hot-air balloon, even if you eat very little. It has inflammatory properties especially for women. To add to that it turns very quickly into sugar in the bloodstream if it’s more refined, making it an ample substance for fat storage. Fat is not your problem when it comes to fat storage but carbs and sugars are as they promote the fat storing hormone insulin. Reduce, eliminate or replace starchy carbs with healthy veggies.

Energy: Do you lack energy most of the time? While there are many factors that contribute to low energy levels like sleep deprivation an obvious one, there are also dietary reasons why we slump especially at certain times of the day. If you are eating energy zapping foods like sugar and carbs (here they are again) you will get an energy slump every time. Sugar will encourage an insulin surge to drop high sugar levels to lower manageable ones. Not only does this promote fat storage, it also results in an excessive drop in blood sugar leaving you more tired than before you had it in the first place. What to do? If you can go cold turkey and cut sugar altogether from your diet you’ll win. If you can’t do it all at once then wean yourself off bit by bit. Or try to replace sugary foods with fruit. BUT be careful. Fruit is also high in sugar. And even though it’s natural sugar it’s still sugar. The only advantage that you have with fruit sugar is the fibre which slows down absorption of sugar but it still can give you a sugar spike so keep it to a minimum.

Protein: Ok so this an important ingredient when you are exercising and/or looking to lose weight. If you eat meat, fish, eggs and dairy you shouldn’t have too much of a problem taking in enough protein each day. However, you want to aim to have protein with EACH meal. I know it’s a pain but having a carbs-only breakfast (toast, cereal) and lunch, will only give you lots of energy and no muscle support. Plus you’ll get hungry within a few hours. Eating protein in the morning will enable muscle and organ repair and set you up for the day whilst also keeping you fuller longer.

Fat: Is essential. Low fat diets have done a lot of damage to the balanced diet plate as they have all been put into the same category of BAD. However not all fats are created equal and we need as much as 30% fat every day. The secret is to get in more good fats than bad fats that help with satiety (keeping you full), brain cognition and function and cleaning arteries, among many more things. Try to get more monounsaturated fats in your diet than saturated fats and almost always avoid trans fats, they are always bad for you. Saturated fats are found in meat and animal products like dairy. Remove excess fat from meat cuts, skin from chicken and go for lean pieces of meat and low fat milk. Eat oily fish regularly or if vegetarian eat flaxseeds, chia seeds and hemp seeds to get valuable omega 3 and 6 oils. Other sources of good fats are olive oil (raw), avocados and olives.

More on food next week! Please feel free to ask more questions. 

You can comment below. ⬇

Hope you’re having a good year so far and sticking to your goals!

Sally x