Most Common Mistakes - Avoiding Fats in your diet

Fats have long been demonised in the nutritional world for “making people fat” when in reality, fat doesn’t make you fat - excess calories make you fat!

Yes, fats have more calories per gram (about 9 cals per gram) than proteins or carbohydrates (about 4 cals per gram for both) but that doesn’t mean they’re to be avoided, just that consumption needs to be monitored a bit more closely as it’s easier to overeat higher calorie foods.

In fact, fats are essential to health. I’m sure you’ve heard of “essential fats” and that basically means that your body can’t produce them itself, so they have to come from your diet.

These essential fats are needed to ensure the normal functioning of your body and without them, it simply won’t function optimally and this could manifest in a number of different health issues.

Not least, fats and cholesterol are essential for the production of many hormones, and a good hormonal profile will go a long way to ensuring good health, while, as some of you may have experienced first-hand, poor hormone levels will cause major issues.

Yes, some fats are “bad” and need to be limited as much as possible - these are the trans fats found in many processed “junk” foods.

But fats from good food sources such as good quality meat and fish, eggs and dairy products are NOT bad for your health. Not even the saturated fats.

We know fish oil, coconut oil, olive oil, avocado oil, butter, eggs etc are GOOD for us! We just have to watch how much we eat from a calorie perspective. The fat/cholesterol in them is not the issue.

I have to repeat this, since it’s a LOOONG standing myth that fat is bad for us, that you NEED to include healthy fats in your diet. No ifs or buts!

If you eliminate all fats from your diet, YOUR HEALTH WILL SUFFER!

So if you’re currently on a health kick and cutting out fats, please, stop.

Focus on eliminating junk foods with “bad” fats in them and getting good, healthy fats from natural, good quality foods.

From a dietary perspective, you just need to control your calories and hit your protein target.

Outside of that, aim to get at least 80% of your diet from good quality foods.

Anything more complicated than this is probably not going to help you in the long run, especially if it involves reducing fats too much or attaching a high number of “points” or “sins” to foods with healthy fats in them!

Do yourself a favour - eat the whole damn egg!

Egg whites are for losers!

Get some healthy fats into EVERY MEAL!

How much? Depends on your nutritional targets, but an amount about the size of your thumb is a good target. This could include butter, nuts and seeds, avocado, egg yolk, fatty cuts of meat, cheese, oily fish, fish oil, olive oil, whole milk…

If you need help getting your diet dialled-in, get in touch and let’s talk about online coaching - either just for nutrition, or for training and nutrition. Let’s get you sorted.

Mark