Understanding Fat in Nutrition

You probably hear a lot of people say"All you need is exercise, exercise and more exercise in order to lose fat." Sadly, it isn't not that easy. You probably have heard people who also say "Oh, if I eat that donut, I can just burn it off while on my treadmill." Well, it would take about an hour or so to burn that if you're briskly walking on the treadmill.

Burning off all those extra calories isn't really a realistic method to use when you want to lose fat. Sure, you might lose a few, but if you continue to eat more and more poorly, your body will begin to weaken due to the poor choice of food, which leads to poor nutrients being consumed.

Now you might begin to wonder what the right path to eating is. It seems that everyone is determined to find the right answer when it comes to losing fat and eating right. There are a bunch of books, videos, articles, magazines, and so forth all dedicated to how to lose fat. However, everyone's body type is different.

Sure, Bob is following a fat loss method that is highly ranked. He has lost 50 pounds within the first 2 months. Joe over here is following the same method, but he hasn't lost any weight. Why is this? Well probably because Bob has a much higher metabolism rate than Joe, and Bob knows how to control his eating temptations. Everyone is different and everyone should develop their own eating schedule and exercise time. You can exercise all you want, but if you don't eat right, you won't lose any of that unwanted fat.

Calorie Control

People these days probably eat less fat than people back then did. However, people these days are also more fat than people back then. Why is this? Because people these days just keep eating more and more because the food tastes good; thus increasing the calories we intake. If your calories in your body are higher than the calories you burn, then you will gain weight. These are some ways to control your calories:

• Eating Slowly-If you eat to fast, your body won't register that the food has reached the stomach, thus cause you to go for seconds. You should chew at least 32 times
• Eat in Moderation-If you see a chocolate cake in the refrigerator, take a small slice out of it. However, don't eat the other pieces until the next day or two
• Be aware of the differences between fat-free and calorie-free-Fat free foods are high in calories, this is because the fat is replaced by high amounts of sugar
• Eat Smaller Portions-Eating smaller portions of food can really help with your calories. Instead of two pieces of pizza, maybe have one. Then if you're still hungry, go for the second piece
• Drink less booze-Drinking alcohol will cause you to become more hungry and can also weaken your reserve. This will cause you to eat excessively. If you must drink, drink during a meal instead of before it
• Eat until you are Satisfied-Try eating only half of the amount of food on your plate, then wait a minutes to see if you're still hungry
• Never Skipping Meals-If you skip a meal, it'll cause you to become more hungry, thus causing you to over eat on your next meal

Truth about Fat

The saying that all fat is bad will always be out there, however reality is, only certain kinds of fat can be dangerous to your health. Some fats actually help prevent heart problems. Some fats are needed in order to absorb minerals and vitamins. Others are needed to sustain a healthy and strong immune system. Certain types of fats also helps with the hormone production of testosterone and other important hormones.

Saturated fats are the bad fats. Eating saturated fats will increase your cholesterol levels and might cause clogging in your arteries. They can be found in a lot of meaty products and dairy products. Now, you can't avoid eating saturated fats, however you can limit the amount you take in. Many medical studies have been conducted on how much saturated fat you need, and it comes down to 10 percent of your total calories (total calories = 3000; amount of saturated fat you need = 300).

Trans fats can be just as bad as saturated fats. Trans fats can also cause arteries to clog up. Trans fats are created through hydrogenation. Basically put, it turns liquid oils into solids (like butter or margarine). This is what causes french fries to be crispy. A lot of snacks such as cookies, chips, granola bars, pop corn, crackers, peanut butters, cereals and bread have high trans fat. Look for hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated on the ingredients section of any product and avoid any if they contain one or both of those words.

Unsaturated fats are the good kinds of fats. Foods like avocados, mackerel, salmon, olives, olive oil, canola, flaxseed oils, peanuts, natural peanut butter, and other similar foods contain unsaturated fats. There are two kinds of unsaturated fats, these are poly and mono. Examples of monounsaturated fats are peanuts, peanut butter, avocado, olives, olive and canola oils. Examples of polyunsaturated fats are safflower, sunflower, corn, and soybean oils.
Why are unsaturated fats good? Well, they help fight off heart disease and helps protect the heart and arteries from clogging. They also reduce LDL cholesterol (causes clogging) and keeps the HDL cholesterol at a steady level (helps clean your blood stream).

How much Fat?

There has been much debate about how much fat we should consume. However, many health organizations are say it's best to keep your fat intake considerable lower than your total calories (about 30% or so). What this means is that if your total calories is 2000, than the fat you consume should be at 66 grams. But, the 30% isn't supported with solid evidence. There are various ranges of how much fat you should intake, however keeping your saturated fat levels less than 10 percent of your total calories is important.

My next hub will be about carbohydrates, so stay tuned.

TankTom is a writer who writes about almost anything interesting, however most are health related. Other than that, he also writes about baby products that all busy parents should get to relieve some stress and keep the babies entertained. Visit www.babyplayarea.com for more details on products such as the Joovy Room2 Portable Play Yard or other similar products.