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21 reasons why you should eat fat

21 reasons why you should eat fat

This article has been automatically translated from German. While our little team is working hard to provide you the best quality and resources, our multilingual capacity is still limited. Don't judge us by the Google translation please and head over to the original version in German instead.   

Fat got bad press for far too long. You have to eat lots of healthy fats to stay lean, have less cravings and perform with almost unlimited energy: Fat is the fuel for the brain, it saturates and helps to keep hormones in balance. If we eat less carbohydrates and protein in moderation and our energy requirements remain the same, then there is only an increased fat intake to ensure the sufficient energy supply.

  1. Yes, the original idea of ​​eating less fat to lose weight seems obvious. 1g of fat contains more than twice as many calories as carbohydrates or protein. By reducing fat, you can save significantly more calories than by the same amount of protein or carbohydrates. Simply counting calories is not a good strategy.
  2. Fat is crucial for the feeling of satiety. The same amount of calories in the form of carbohydrates saturates much less than fat. Without fat (and without protein) you often get cravings for sweets.
  3. An excess of carbohydrates in the diet (and the resulting increase in blood sugar) triggers a number of inflammatory reactions. Fat slows the intake of carbohydrates and keeps blood sugar levels under control. If you have too much glucose and your blood sugar is high, cortisol - the stress hormone - is also high.
  4. Fat has long been accused of causing disease, particularly heart disease. However, it is now known that essential investigations have been misinterpreted.
  5. For decades, attempts have been made to lower high cholesterol, which has been identified as the main cause of heart attack, by reducing fat intake. In fact, it can reduce cholesterol in the blood. This also applies to the good HDL cholesterol, which transports the excess fat back to the liver and converts it into ketone bodies.
  6. According to the current state of knowledge, a high-fat and low-carbohydrate diet does not represent a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. The results of further studies must show whether this does not even reduce the general risk - initial scientific studies indicate this.
  7. Energy is obtained in the body from either glucose or ketosis. In other words, carbohydrates and proteins are converted into glucose in the body, while fat is converted into ketone bodies. Both serve to produce energy. The difference: The excess of glucose triggers insulin (hormone) , which has a number of undesirable consequences (including fat gain, fat metabolism disorders, stress).
  8. The ketone bodies that are formed in the liver during ketosis, namely acetoacetate, acetone and 3-hydroxybutyrate, can be understood as a transportable form of fat. This is advantageous and, above all, saves complex conversion processes and thus energy and time. Ketones can be transported to the brain and muscles via food immediately after ingestion and converted there into power in record time.
  9. Ketone bodies are acids with a relevant peculiarity: they can be absorbed very quickly into all cells - including the nervous tissue and the brain. Fats and fatty acids do not succeed because they cannot cross the blood-brain barrier in their form of transport. Ketone bodies are water-soluble and can therefore cross the blood-brain barrier. So fat is food for cells, food for brain .
  10. Fat consists of a glycerine structure to which 3 fatty acids are coupled. These acids are released during fat loss and used by our muscles for energy. What remains is the proportion of glycerin from which glucose is formed. This means that fat can even contribute to the basic supply of glucose to the brain . With a high fat intake, however, the body cannot immediately use all fatty acids. That is why it transports the excess to the liver, where it converts it into so-called ketone bodies.
  11. The special thing is that our nerve cells can use the keto acids very well as an energy source and thus reduce the need for glucose.
  12. If there are enough ketone bodies available thanks to LCHF, up to 60% of our brain's energy requirements can be fed from fat.
  13. With ketosis (breakdown of fat for energy generation), fewer free radicals , i.e. potentially harmful breakdown products, are produced than with the breakdown of glucose.
  14. A lot of fat in the food promotes the functioning of our brain. A few weeks of an LCHF diet means that there is practically always enough energy available to supply the cells - at least in people who had previously accumulated some fat deposits.
  15. The prerequisite for the positive effects of fat is that the supply of carbohydrates is reduced very sharply at the same time , only then is a relevant ketone concentration in the blood reached. However, this does not mean to do without carbs completely!
  16. With a diet high in carbohydrates, there are practically no ketone bodies in the blood and the brain uses only glucose. Glucose is a source of energy that serves a sprinter, not a marathon runner. There is a physical and mental surge of energy , but it is not constant (hence the so-called energy crashes in the afternoon).
  17. The energy from fats is more effective. In comparison: ketone bodies that are formed in ketosis can be converted to energy in 3-5 steps. With glucose, there are 26 steps.
  18. Only when the ketone content rises to values ​​above 1 mmol / l blood, ketones become relevant. This amount of ketone body in the blood can only be reached when the carbohydrate intake is well below 100g per day, better at 50g.
  19. Therapeutic benefits: It has been known for almost 100 years that a diet with a very high fat content has beneficial effects on patients with epilepsy and diabetes 2. The frequency of seizures can be significantly reduced. It is also observed that people suffering from cancer or mental illnesses such as depression can benefit from a low carb diet.
  20. Fasting to ketosis: Fast entry into ketosis can be achieved by fasting for two days. The carbohydrate stores in our body only last for about a day, after which our metabolism switches to burning fat from the adipose tissue. Part of this fat is then converted into ketone bodies and released into the blood.
  21. Fat is a building block. High-quality fats form strong cell membranes and help build sex hormones! The brain is the most fat and cholesterol part of the body and needs saturated fat to build myelin, the isolators that connect many of the brain cells together. In contrast, low-fat diets starve the brain.
  22. SO DEFINITELY ENJOY THE EXTRA DASH OF OIL!
Coconut oil healthy fat LCHF
Coconut fat

It's a good idea to add more of the good fats to every meal. Willow butter, ghee and coconut oil are very high quality fats.

Warning: Not all fats are equivalent. Some fats feed the brain and help turn off cravings, while others cause inflammation.

Continue reading:

What are blood lipids? Swiss Heart Foundation
https://www.swissheart.ch/herzkrankheiten-
hirnschlag/risikofaktoren/blutfette.html

More efficient due to ketosis, brain effect
https://www.brain-effect.com/magazin/leistungsfaehiger-durch-ketose

Covert manipulation of the ratio of medium- to long-chain triglycerides in isoenergetically dense diets: effect on food intake in ad libitum feeding men, Rowett Research Institute, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8696422

Increasing evidence of a strong connection between sugar and cancer, Amy Crawford, Weill Cornell Medical College,
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-03-evidence-strong-sugar-cancer.html

Brain Metabolism, Spektrum.de
https://www.spektrum.de/lexikon/neurow

Wissenschaft/gehirnstoffwechsel/ 4122

Doctor reveals how you program your hormones for losing weight, Focus
https://www.focus.de/gesundheit/gesundleben/fitness/abehmen-so-programmieren-sie-ihre-hormone-um_id_10838227.html

Don’t fear the fat: 7 ways fat can help you lose weight, Dave Asprey
https://www.bulletproof.com/diet/weight-loss/dont-
fear-the-fat-7-ways-fat-can-help-you-lose-weight/

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