Fat has a bad rep, but it was framed.

Today in modern America, as a society we are struggling with obesity more and more everyday it seems. Children are overweight, parents are overweight, and to a much less important mention, are cats are even overweight.

We need to cut out the fats.

No. No. No. If there is one post I have written so far that the average person could benefit from, this is probably it. About 20 years ago it is estimated that the "low-fat diet" trend really started gaining momentum in America. Since than, things have gotten much worse. I heard a commercial about a new documentary coming up, a nutritionist actually said we may be approaching the first generation with a lower life expectancy than their parents. This makes me think of my long distance runner friend Alex. Alex was telling me about a time after a long run when he wanted a nice snack. He bought a jar of peanut butter and was eating it with his fingers. Don't judge my friend, I've done very similar. Anyhow, a girl was shocked at this behavior. She claimed that peanut butter was one of the worst foods (based on it's high fat content). 

I don't blame her so much for not knowing better, most don't. Did you know that fats are the main source of energy for your brain? It's not a small portion either, a brain uses 20-30 percent of your calorie daily intake. Now then, logically, you must be wondering why obesity is such an issue if some fat is good? Well, first let me state that some fats are good. This works two ways. There are good fats, and there are very, very bad fats. There are fats in foods, such as fast foods, that probably shouldn't be considered food. The fat types are

• monounsaturated fats
• polyunsaturated fats
• saturated fats
• trans fats

The first two are good, and are found in peanut butter, soy, olives, sunflower, very natural sounding foods and food products. The latter are worse. Some saturated isn't thought to be bad, and is usually found in pork, beef, and meats.  If you never ate trans fat (founds in lots of candy fried foods and margarine) you would probably do your body a favor.


Second, as you may have seen coming,  fats aren't the issue. The whole "low fat" really should be saying "low calorie". The misunderstanding may stem from fat coming heavy with calories, 9 calories per gram of fat. Yet, eating well does not mean cutting fats. If you are trying to lose weight, or encouraging someone else to, they should be getting an adequate amount of healthy fats. We all just need to remember the principal of in and out. If we are eating 4000 calories a day and only burning 3000, well it obviously will get stored at some point. Fats aren't to blame, too many calories for a generally sedentary lifestyle is to blame.