The Truth About Fat
Fat has had a lot of bad press and for many people, just a mention of the word can evoke misery. You can try to lose it, try to hide it, try to avoid it, but your body still needs it! Did you know that fat helps to insulate our nerve cells, keeps us warm, balances our hormones, keeps skin and arteries supple, lubricates joints and is a component in every cell?
The key issue here is recognizing which type of fat your body needs, how much your body requires and which type is your enemy. Armed with the right information, you can focus on getting more of the good fats and less of the bad fats into your daily diet.
There are two types of fat to be aware of. Saturated fats – let’s call them “the enemy” and unsaturated fats – “the good guys”! It is easy to tell the difference because saturated fats are hard at room temperature. Saturated fats are not essential to your health. They come from animals and are found in meat, eggs and cheese. They are harder to digest and full of cholesterol.
Unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature and have been divided into two groups. Monounsaturated fats such as olive oil, and polyunsaturated fats such as sunflower oil. Polyunsaturated fats are split into Omega 3 fatty acids and Omega 6 fatty acids. Monounsaturated fat (Omega 9) although not essential, is not harmful in moderation – a good quality (extra virgin first cold pressed) olive oil is a healthier alternative to the usual vegetable oil. Good sources of Omega 6: safflower oil, sunflower oil, evening primrose oil, walnut oil, pumpkin oil, sesame oil. Good sources of Omega 3 are mackerel, herring, salmon, pilchards, sardines, tuna and flax seed oil. Here are some important facts about fat in our diet.
1. Fat is the ‘energy reserve’ of animals, plants and humans.
2. The ideal body-fat ratio should be approximately 19-26% of a woman’s body weight, and 12-18% of a man’s body weight.
3. There are two different types of body fat – brown and yellow. Brown fat is situated inside the body and is ‘active’, containing mitochondria that produce heat (thermogenesis) and as a result burn energy. Yellow fat is found nearer the surface, is less active and more likely to accumulate. Women tend to have a higher ratio of yellow fat than men.
4. Women need higher levels of fat because it is essential for reproduction and so the body stores it ‘just in case’.
5. An average healthy intake of good fats in the diet should be approximately 30-40 grams a day. The fat content of diets in affluent populations can be nearly four times this amount!
6. Most foods containing fat combine saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat in varying quantities. For instance, butter’s fat content is almost 100%, of which 60% is saturated, 30% monounsaturated and 10% polyunsaturated, compared with sunflower seeds’ fat content of 73%, of which just 12% is saturated and 21% monounsaturated and 67% is polyunsaturated.
7. Heat, light and oxygen destroy essential fatty acids, which is why it is best to keep oils in dark containers.
8. Essential fats must come from the diet because your body cannot produce them. The essential healthy fats are Omega 3 and Omega 6 (known as essential fatty acids).
9. Weight for weight, fat provides more than twice the amount of usable energy than carbohydrates or protein (you’ll find 9 calories in every gram of fat).
10. Fat contributes to the palatability, texture and the smell of many foods, it also slows down the process of digestion providing an extended period of satiation after a meal.
When you know the good from the bad, fat is fabulous!
(c) Copyright Kim Beardsmore
— Kim is a successful weight loss coach who will cut through the diet-hype and help you reach your goal weight. No public ‘weigh-ins’, meetings that cost you money or fads…simply results you will love! You can receive a free consultation. Visit today: http://tinyurl.com/4ad56 Are you interested in earning money from home? We can help you grow a profitable home business: http://tinyurl.com/46oqa
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Body Composition And Weight Loss: They Are Related!
The world today has more obese and overweight people than any other time in history. The reasons are simple ? too much bad foods and not enough exercise and weight training. However, with so much focus being placed on health and wellness, people are changing their lifestyle, thus obtaining quality health. The one aspect of losing weight that most people agree they need to understand better is body composition, and how it relates to weight loss.
First, it is important to understand that "obesity" is not just a condition involving too much weight, but also a disease that poses multiple health risks such as certain cancers, diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders, cardiovascular disease, and stroke. In addition to these risks, obesity has a negative impact on physical performance, which could be as simple as walking up a flight of stairs or heading to the mailbox. Because obesity is such a powerful disease, it needs to be taken seriously.
To get started in combating obesity, a person should educate himself or herself on how to achieve health. One problem is that most people are not even aware of the fat-to-muscle ratio, which is crucial to losing the right type of weight. You see, if a person is not combining nutrition, cardio exercise, and weight training, they are not benefiting their body at all and could even be doing themselves harm. These three things together create synergy needed to lose weight while maintaining muscle.
For instance, a person that eats a good, balanced diet and goes to the gym but only works out to lose weight will in fact lose weight, but unfortunately, they will lose the wrong kind of weight. The weight this individual is dropping is not the fat they need to lose but muscle. When this happens, the body’s metabolism and muscles are inefficient.
For a person eating right and doing only cardio exercises, what you would have is a skinny fat person. Sure, they might lose the weight but again, it will be muscle. Therefore, the fat-to-muscle ratio plummets, giving that individual a soft, undefined appearance. Additionally, because the fat is not lost, all of the health risks such as diabetes 2, heart attack, some cancers, and other serious diseases still exist.
Therefore, it is crucial that you use a combination of good nutrition with the cardio and weight training to lose the fat and not the muscle. Keep in mind that you do not have to overdo the weight training but you do need to incorporate it into your daily regimen. Weight training along with the cardio exercise is what shapes and sculpts the muscles, bringing the fat-to-muscle to a healthy ratio.
Keep in mind that if you had 10 people undergoing a body composition assessment, all of them obese, you would discover not only a laundry list as to why the person is obese, but also realize that the same weight loss and exercise program would not work for every person. As mentioned, most people become obese simply because they start into bad eating habits and stop exercising. However, another reason for obesity relates to health. Some people have inherited or developed health issues that cause them to be overweight, such as thyroid problems. In connection with that, a person can experience significant weight gain because of medications being taken for health issues.
Therefore, creating a one-for-all weight loss or exercise program simply would not work. Through a body composition assessment, all of these factors will come out into the open so the appropriate programs can be developed. This is important in that professionals want obese or overweight people to enjoy eating and exercising, as well as benefit from it. However, if an obese or overweight person were not on the right type of program based on their specific body composition, more harm than good could be done.
The key to losing weight, the right type of weight, and living a healthy lifestyle is to remember that a poor fat-to-muscle ratio will have a negative impact on both. Sadly, approximately 45% of the population is overweight, with many of them being at the level of obesity. When the body has high composition levels, not only is there great risk of serious disease but also injury to knees, ankles, and the back. Additionally, being obese has a significant impact on a person’s mental health, often throwing them into a tailspin of depression.
The best thing you can do for yourself is to check your body’s composition level so you know exactly the amount of fat being carried. In reaching the right fat-to-muscle ratio, it is imperative that you know the body does need some fat to function. For one thing, an appropriate level of fat helps to cushion internal organs and nerve conduction. However, when the fat is over a healthy ratio, trouble begins.
In addition to reaching for your blood pressure cuff or diabetes testing kit, you need to measure your body’s composition on a regular basis with the use of a caliper, which can be purchased at a minimal cost. Remember, by understanding your body composition, what is happening inside your body both good and bad, you can take control to lose the excess fat. Armed with this newfound information, you will no longer have to guess where you are with your fat-to-muscle ratio, you will know. We invite you to learn even more about body composition and take advantage of the invaluable tools provided at comptracker.com.
Fitness Consultant Anthony Ellis has helped thousands of individuals lose fat and build more muscle. To read more about his fat loss recommendations please check out his site at fatlosstips.com
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