Fat Doesn't Make You FAT!

Don't misunderstand your need for fat! In a nutrient dense diet, the fats found in natural, whole foods are needed to help your body function—especially your brain and intestines. Fats are necessary for insulation within in your body. They enable vitamin absorption and provide energy to the brain. So don’t fear fat!

We’ve all heard about heart healthy fats such as olive oils and avocados, but there are other important fats to include in your whole food diet:

• Omega-3s - Found in fish, nuts, chia, and flaxseeds.
•  Monounsaturated fats - Found in olive oil, nuts, and avocados.
•  Saturated fats - Found in butter, eggs, and grass-fed animal protein. These fats are the most stable of all the fats. They are safe to cook with and do not go rancid easily. Refined and processed vegetable oils can have a toxic effect when cooked at a very high heat. Our bodies can’t process these oils as efficiently as they can the natural oils found in butter, ghee, and coconut oil. 

If fat has all these benefits, how can it make you fat? It doesn't necessarily, which is hard to believe after reading and hearing alarming messaging about it for over 30 years.

Here are are a few reasons why fat is good for you: 

• It assists with the slow entry time of refined carbohydrates, and keeps blood sugar levels even.
• Vitamins A, D, and E are fat-soluble vitamins and along with calcium, need fat for absorption. Butter is a wonderful whole food as it contains these fat-soluble vitamins and the fat necessary for absorption. In fact, butter is far better for you and more nutritious than margarine or cream cheese.
• Although fat has more calories, its satiating quality safe-guards against over eating (unless it’s coupled with sugar). Fat can lead to weight gain when it’s paired with sugar and refined grains. When you eat fat in large quantities it is often paired with sugar or refined carbs such as ice cream, cakes, cookies, donuts, and/or fries.
• Fat in and of itself will be used by the body and has the least impact on insulin. A high fat diet that includes sugar and refined grains increases your insulin, which is the hormone controlling fat storage. Swings in your blood sugar lead to spikes in insulin, which ultimately effects how calories are stored as fat. Try to avoid the desserts that contain both sugar and fat since it’s the tastiness of that combination that is addictive and causes you to overeat. Instead, focus on eating fat found naturally in butter and other dairy and oils and I bet you won't overeat the fat. Some good snack options are a banana with peanut butter and nuts or whole wheat (spelt) toast with grass fed butter. Or try a full fat yogurt with some berries and local honey or homemade granola with grass fed cow or goat milk.

Focus on adding just enough fat to support your body and satisfy your appetite to keep the portion sizes and calories where they should be. In the end, fat won't make you fat!