OnFitness Magazine - July/August 2016 - 22

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Clean Nutrition

Highest-risk
pesticide
foods
__________
If you have no choice but
to buy conventional fruits
and vegetables, which
ones shouldn't you buy?
Domestically grown fruits
with the highest pesticide
risks are cranberries,
nectarines, peaches,
pears and strawberries.
Domestically grown
vegetables with the
highest pesticide risks
are celery, cucumbers,
green beans, potatoes
and sweet bell peppers.

When you replace
full-fat products
with low-fat or fatfree products, do
you realize you may
be substituting
sugar for fat?

Fat doesn't
make you fat
By Erin Salb
HOW COULD THIS BE POSSIBLE? Most

of us have always
believed, or been told, that consuming fat will make
you fat. In other words, if your client eats less fat they
will consume fewer calories and in turn lose weight.
This is why fat-free items have been all the rage for
years as an important inclusion to a healthy diet.
But what if I told you that was a myth? What if I
told you that incorporating good fats into your diet
could actually help you lose weight?
Sure, from a caloric perspective, dietary fat contains
9 calories per gram as opposed to the 4 calories per
gram found in carbohydrates and protein. However, not
all calories are created equal. Different types of calories
have different impacts on your weight and metabolism.
For example, say an apple had the same amount of
calories as a candy bar. You wouldn't tell your client that
it was OK to swap the apple out for the candy bar
would you? Logically you know the apple is the better
option because it is a whole food and not processed
with added ingredients. The calories could be the same,
but they are definitely not equal.
For this reason, eating healthy fats actually helps you
burn more calories. Many studies have shown that
people who eat more fat compared to an identical
amount of carbs burn over 100 more calories per day
over the course of a year. This amounts to 10 pounds of
weight loss without your client adding any additional
exercise to their routine. Other studies on the brain

have shown that eating more fat actually triggers your
brain to shut off its hunger and craving centers, which
is a key factor in eating less and, therefore, consuming
fewer calories.
It has also been proven that a high-fat diet can help
speed up metabolism. Several studies have shown that
people who ate high-fat diets had much faster
metabolisms than those who partook in low-fat, highcarb diets with the same caloric intake. In fact, the lowfat, high-carb diets spiked insulin, which in turn slowed
metabolism and stored visceral (belly) fat. A high-fat
diet not only burns more calories, it can also help lower
cholesterol and increase insulin resistance.
So what actually makes us fat? The main culprit is
sugar. All refined carbs (which include processed foods,
white grains, desserts and more) are rapidly absorbed
into the bloodstream and turn to sugar. Sugar spikes
your client's fat-storing hormone (insulin), which leads
the body to believe it is starving. Insulin likes to direct
all of your available fuel running through your
bloodstream into fat cells, especially the visceral fat
cells. It is a domino effect because this will in turn
trigger the brain's hunger and craving centers, the same
ones healthy fat turns off.
But just as with calories, not all fats are created
equal. Good fats protect your heart and support overall
health, while bad fats increase cholesterol and the risk
of certain heart diseases.
Types of fat
There are four major types of fat: monounsaturated,
polyunsaturated (which includes omega-3), trans and
saturated.
Trans fat is the true bad fat. These are normal fat
molecules that have been altered. By altering them they
become less likely to spoil, which is great for shelf life
and bad for human consumption. This type of fat can
be found in most processed foods and is the one you
should have your clients completely eliminate from
their diets. Common foods that contain trans fats are
packaged snacks and desserts, solid fats (think
margarine and shortening), fried foods, pre-mixed
products (think cake or pancake mixes), and anything
with 'partially hydrogenated' oil in the ingredient list.
Monounsaturated fats - the good fats - include
avocados, olives and most nuts. Polyunsaturated fats (or
omega-3s) include walnuts, seeds, and fatty fish.
Omega-3 is a superfat that supports brain and heart
health and plays an important role in cognitive memory
and overall emotional health. It is important to note
that healthy oils can quickly become bad or damaged if
cooked at too high of a temperature.
Saturated fats were once thought to be in the same
category as trans fat, but studies have now shown that
eating whole, full-fat dairy products aids in reducing
body fat. If your client eats something that is full-fat,
they will feel fuller faster and stay satiated for longer.
When people replace full-fat dairy products with fat-free
or skim versions, they often don't realize they are
substituting sugar for fat. These so-called healthy
products are loaded with sugar to replace the loss of
taste that occurs when the fat is removed. Types of
saturated fat to avoid are those that come from
processed meats and packaged foods.
In conclusion, good fats don't make you fat but rather
are vital for a healthy diet and weight. The main thing to
keep in mind is you should encourage your clients to
focus on fats from real, rather than processed, foods. Z

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OnFitness Magazine - July/August 2016

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