Eat Fat to Burn Fat?

Fat loss tip extraordinaire or some old-school reverse psychology? Don’t worry, I had the same reaction when I first discovered eating fat was necessary for losing weight.

Too often we hear confusing messages about dietary fats and what it really does to your body like:

1. Fats make you gain body fat.

2. Fats lead to heart attacks.

3. Fats are evil and should be avoided at all costs.

To put it bluntly, the three points above are FALSE .

We’ve been completely misled when it comes to fats.

Fats are essential for our body’s hormone production, skin health, absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, and even burning body fat.

Studies have been conducted to attempt to elevate cholesterol levels using high-fat diets. Most all of them have back fired terribly and in fact several studies lowered total cholesterol while raising the so-called “good” cholesterol (HDL). Imagine that?

One particular study found in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, conducted by researchers at Penn State University also points to adverse consequences of lowering total fat intake particularly for the risk of cardiovascular disease.

And here we thought our chances of heart attacks were decreasing by avoiding fat?

Now with all that being said, you don’t need to go crazy by:

A. Gobbling down a lot of fats

Fats still contain over twice the calories per gram compared to carbs and protein.

B. Gobbling down manufactured fats

Think margarine, processed oils, or preservatives of any kind. This stuff is truly dangerous to your health.

Jon Benson, health expert and co-author of Fit Over 40: Role Models for Excellence at Any Age , suggests the following guidelines for incorporating healthy fats into your diet:

1. Eat fats as they occur in nature.

Translation? Go organic with grass-fed and free-range sources. The extra cost is worth it. It tastes better and your medical costs will be offset by the few dollars more you pay now versus later.

2. Cook with olive oil and coconut oil, but use both sparingly.

If you are eating plenty of animal protein you do not need excessive fats. Excess equals unnecessary calories. Also, omega 3-rich fats like olive oil and fish help lower inflammation. That’s the real culprit behind heart disease in most cases.

3. Avoid a lot of fats at night.

The night time meals should be high in lean protein (tuna, turkey breast) with very limited fats if you are wanting to really get lean. If you are just starting out and are trying to shed bodyweight slowly, it’s okay to have some fats at night.

If your curious about this concept of eating and wish to investigate it more, I’d suggest you visit Free The Animal . Richard does a great job of breaking down myths and providing supportive information either scientifically or experimentally to eating more naturally. His colorful commentary makes digesting this information a pleasure too!

I’m warning you though, primal people are pretty passionate about what and why they eat the foods they do. I’d probably only classify myself as a 70% devote follower of the paleo diet but the testimonials I hear are starting to convince me more everyday of the health benefits of going completely primal.

If nothing else, I certainly hope you jump off the “fat is bad ” bus. We have consumed fat for thousands of years. Just consume it the way we always have – naturally, not stuffed with hormones and preservatives – and you’ll be fine.

If you want more information on how to actually use dietary fats to help you take off body fat, then check out our Fit Over 40 review. It’s definitely written from a personal perspective but their is ample amounts of nutritional and exercise information included from fitness guru and co-author Tom Venuto that makes this a worthwhile read.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 30th, 2009 at and is filed under Eating Naturally, Nutrition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.