Why fats are important

Fat, many people see it as the devil when they try to lose weight. They try to avoid it and skip it completely out of their diet.

And… it works! They lose weight!

But is it healthy? The answer is no.

Your body needs fat, but first we got to take a look at fat itself.

Fat can be divided into three different types:

1. Satured fat: found in high fat dairy, fatty meats and tropical oils.

2. Unsatured fat

· Mono-unsatured fat: found in nuts, avocado, plant-based oils and butters.

· Poly-unsatured fat: found in seeds and cold-water fish.

3. Transfat: found in fried foods, fast food, cakes and pastries.

1. Satured fat

Satured fat consists of long fatty acid chains. These chains cannot be broken down and after a while they start sticking to the inside of your blood veins. If this process continues for a longer period of time the blood cannot stream flexible through the veins anymore. It needs to go through a smaller area. This is how high blood pressure is caused.

Visceral fat: when you get in too much satured fat and it starts to store in it your body, it does not only stick inside of your veins but it also gets stored around your organs. Eventually they will stop working because the fat makes it unable for the organ to keep on doing what they need to do.

2. Unsatured fat

Unsatured fat is good for the veins because it removes chains that stick to the edges. It also transports vitamins through the body. Unsatured fat are fatty acids that can split up into smaller pieces. This way it can carry more chains satured fat and vitamins to the rest of the body. This is also the reason why omega-3 and omega-6 fatsources are recommended; these can be broken down into three and six parts and therefore carry more.

3. Transfat

Transfat is a type of unsatured fat, good right? No, transfat is an exception. The reason why transfat is not good for your body is that the chains are really inflexible. The body can’t process them right and they stay in the bloodstream or stick around the organs which causes health risks.

Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a substance in the blood. It is produced in the liver and used as a building material for cells in the body, hormones and bile. It also transports proteins through the body. These so called lipoproteins can be divided into two groups: LDL and HDL (1).

The LDL delivers cholesterol to the rest of the body but can stick to the inside of the blood veins as well. Which, as said before, causes health risks like atherosclerosis.

The HDL collects cholesterol in the blood and brings it to the liver. The liver gets rid of it through bile and faeces. So, the HDL cleans up the LDL.

Now, HDL is found in unsatured fat and LDL is found in products high in satured fat. That’s why it is important to switch satured fat for unsatured fat. Another reason to swap it is because the proportions are important, it is essential for good health to take in more HDL than LDL (2).

Why do people lose weight when they quit eating fat?

The reason people lose weight and think they are doing the right thing is because fat contains 9 calories per gram. This is 5 calories more than protein and carbs per gram. If you quit eating fat you cut out a lot of calories and end up in a caloric deficit. A caloric deficit means you are burning more calories than you consume and then you start losing weight. Your body needs calories to function and starts to burn use calories stored as bodyfat in the body. So, yes, you lose weight but it is not the healthy way. To lose weight a healthy way, you need to be in a caloric deficit but need to eat the right ratio of protein, carbohydrates and fats; not only carbohydrates and proteins.

1. https://www.voedingscentrum.nl/encyclopedie/cholesterol.aspx

2. https://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/guide/understanding-numbers#1