Most people don’t want to get fat. And, you are what you eat, right? Maybe it’s this sort of thinking that led to the anti-fat crusade of the last several decades.
Fortunately, enthusiasm for the low-fat fad is beginning to wane. Clear thinking and incontrovertible scientific truth are winning out over obfuscation and marketing hype.
A low-fat diet is one that supplies less than 20% of the calories in the form of fat. Several long-term scientific studies involving tens of thousands of people all over the world have shown that low-fat diets are no healthier than a normal, well-balanced diet with the fat calories comprising 30% of the total. Additionally, young, growing children and highly active people benefit from an even higher concentration of fat in the diet.
Dietary fat is necessary for our health and well-being. Of course, not all fat is created equal.
Dietary fat: the good, the bad, and the ugly
The existence of saturated fat is one of the reasons fat gets a bad rap. Without going into detail, just think of saturated fat as lard-like grease that is solid at room-temperature. Butter, bacon fat, and lard are all saturated fats. The American Heart Association recommends that you get less than 10% of your daily calories from saturated fat.
Polyunsaturated fats should also account for less than 10% of your daily caloric intake. These are the sort of fat you find in fish, nuts, and grain.
Monounsaturated fats – the so-called “good” fats – should make up the majority of your fat intake. You can get these cholesterol-lowering fats from olive oil or flax seed.
Conventional wisdom is wrong
Many people will tell you that low-fat diets are healthy. Some lifters will intentionally consume a low-fat diet because they think it will allow them to bulk up without getting fat. They are wrong.
Dietary fat in appropriate amounts is necessary for your long-term well-being. Low-fat diets cause blood-sugar spikes and the resulting insulin spikes, which are anathema to anyone who is trying to bulk up.
Don’t be afraid of fat, you need it when you are bulking up. Please don’t fret over fat!
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Why are monounsaturated fats better than polyunsaturated fats? They’re both unsaturated so why the difference?
They’re both fine. Some researchers have claimed that monounsaturated fats promote insulin resistance which is of interest to overweight people, but I’m not so sure that this is a settled matter. Of practical value is the fact that monounsaturated fats generally last longer than polyunsaturated fats. You can keep olive oil, for instance, for quite some time at room temperature without it getting rancid.