The Lipid Effect

You know how one of my least favorite nutrition words is ‘diet’? Well, it is time you all knew that another one of my least favorite words: fat. I don’t know when fats (or lipids) became synonymous with becoming fat, but the truth is, eating fats does not make you fat—it’s an excess of calories that make you gain weight. I recently heard a disordered eating dietitian discuss the eating plans she puts her anorexic patients on, and not once did she mention that she increased their fat intake to help expedite the weight gain. If the FDA recommends that approximately 20-30% of our daily calories come from fat, why are people so afraid?

The answer is simple: there is a risk with a high fat diet. Unlike carbs and protein, which are 4 calories per gram, fat is 9 calories per gram. Therefore, many foods that are high in fat content are simultaneously high in calories. This is why there is such a negative connotation surrounding fat in our diets. If you want to lose weight, you don’t need to cut out fat as much as you need to cut out calories. Due to it's higher calorie content, fat is typically the first nutrient to go.

And that makes me sad! We need fat. Not only for physiological reasons, which I will explain momentarily, but also practical reasons: fat adds flavor. Without fat, food does not taste good. At all. If you eat a plain rice cake, you will understand.

Some of you may now be wondering why reduced-fat or fat-free products typically do not taste much different than their full-fat counterparts. This is because foods that are ‘low-fat’ or ‘fat-free’ tend to have high amounts of sugar in them. Now, I am not talking about natural products like dairy and meat (it is generally recommended to eat low-fat versions of these, as taste isn’t compromised), but processed products like crackers, cookies, and cereals. I studied this phenomena as a senior in high school and found that processing companies recognized the substandard taste of their reduced-fat products, so they started adding sugar to mask it. With the added sugar accounted for, calorie counts between full-fat and reduced-fat products are usually similar.

By extension, if you look on a food label, you will see more than one type of fat listed. Usually there are three: saturated fat, unsaturated fat, and trans fat. Occasionally, you will see ‘monounsaturated fat’ and/or ‘polyunsaturated fat’ instead of unsaturated fat, as they are subcategories of unsaturated fat. These fats are all different in structure on the molecular level, which I could go into details about, but I think it is more important to answer the question that haunted me for ages before I took my first nutrition class; and that question is, “Which fats should I eat?” To keep it simple, I decided to split the lipids into three categories: often, sometimes, and hardly ever.

1.       Often: The fats you should consume most are unsaturated fats, or mono and polyunsaturated fats. Good sources of these are oils that are liquid at room temperature, fish, nuts, legumes, grains, and avocados. Those Omega-3 and Omega-6 fats that everybody talks about fall into this category. 

2.       Sometimes: The fats you should consume occasionally are saturated fats. Sources of these include oils that are solid at room temperature, butter, red meat, dairy (especially cheese), and some processed products. And when I say to eat occasionally, it is okay to eat them daily. The FDA recommends you eat a little bit of saturated fat every day. This is mostly due to the other nutrients found in products that typically contain saturated fat, namely iron and calcium. 

3.       Hardly Ever: The fats you should consume least of are trans fats. The main source of trans fat is processed foods—hence why it is recommended to eat as little as possible. 

As you can see, there are a world of choices surrounding them, but in reality, just like carbs, lipids are extremely important for normal functioning. Let’s start with one that many people are aware of: fat provides warmth for the body and protects organs from damage. Those who don’t consume enough fat for long periods of time tend to be cold often and injure easily.

If that isn’t enough of a reason to eat fat, then perhaps this one will change your mind. In the body, many nutrients, especially Vitamins A, D, E, and K, all require fat for formation and/or absorption, so a deficiency in fat can affect functions that seem entirely unrelated; Vitamin A is important for vision, Vitamin D helps with bone formation and improves mood, Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant, and Vitamin K is important for proper blood clotting. Hopefully I don’t speak for myself when I say that I don’t want any of these necessary bodily functions tampered with.

These necessary functions aside, the message I want all of you to take away is that eating fat does not cause weight gain! So please don’t be scared of fat! I used to be one of those who cut out all fat (and consequently, all taste and happiness) in my meals, and I can attest that I feel much better and more energized now that I have brought more balance to the way I eat. I am a much happier person. And all of these changes occurred the day I realized I didn't want to sacrifice the joy I get from good tasting food just to cut a few grams of fat.