Fat Facts

Fats are always getting a bad rap, which some of them should, but a few different forms of fat will actually help benefit your training and exercise, and promote better results. From a weight training perspective, fat serves many positive purposes. Fat works as a blocker and helps promote slower burning of glucose and amino acids, which in turn helps to further promote more of those elements building muscle more efficiently. Also fat serves as a natural source of hormones. Keeping your testosterone levels up at all times means optimum muscle growth, lacking in T could result in loss of strength and loss of size. Below I will go into each type of fat and make a little more clear the benefits and faults of certain ones.

Saturated Fats – These are types of fat come mostly from animal sources such as beef some chicken ends and peanut butters. Found quite often on the outer edges of these meats, saturated fats are generally something you would try to avoid especially in a diet where you are trying to achieve weight loss or tone up. Saturated fats should be limited toor less than about 10% of total calories per day. From a training perspective, fats, especially saturated should be avoided during your post-workout meal, keeping that strictly for carbohydrates and protein. The word saturated is used because of the fact that each carbon within a fatty acid chain is completely saturated- that means that it is filled with hydrogen atoms.

Unsaturated Fats – These types of fats are broken primarily into two different groups: monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat. Polyunsaturated can be further divided into omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. . It is recommended that you replace saturated fats with monounsaturated fats whenever possible as these are better digesting fats that serve much more benefit to your body. For muscle growth it is suggested that you should consume about two to three portions of seafood, specifically salmon or tuna (no fried does not make the cut) along with some form of beef. These foods are rich in good fats that help fight muscle inflammation and promote storage of glycogen.

Trans Fatty Acids – Based around a process called the hydrogenation process. This process adds hydrogen atoms to the liquid vegetable oil and converts many of the oils naturally occurring fatty acids into Trans fatty acids. The main function of trans-fat is storage. This is the “avoid at all cost fat” because it can sit on shelves for extended amounts of time without rotting the food or smelling rancid, it used to sit under heating lights at McDonalds for years until they forced McDonalds into other preservation methods. Trans fat serves no purpose to the human’s nutritional values and sits as indigestible fat within the body. Also in the body it serves as an elevator of blood cholesterol levels which in turn increases the risk of heart disease. Luckily for you and me as of 2006 the FDA began to require nutrition facts concerning Trans fat content, so now you can get a better idea what foods to avoid, especially if you have fitness goals or health issues.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids - Are found in fish oils and are thought to be very beneficial to cardiovascular health. Omega-3 fatty acids reduce the tendency of blood clot, and help the heart maintain a steady rhythm. They also reduce the body’s inflammatory response which is thought to reduce the likelihood of atherosclerotic plaque breaking off and clogging an artery. Omega-3 serves greatly as an aid toward helping to heal your joints as well as aid in fat burning.

Omega-6 Fatty Acids –This type of fat is essential for providing linolenic acid. For the most part, omega-3 fatty acids are preferred over omega-6 fatty acids. This is due to that fact that omega-6 is primarily found in vegetable oils used to fry foods, make dressings or margarine.

Types of Fat and Their Effect on Us

Saturated

Animal fats like red meat and chicken fat and skin. Butter, cheese and other high-fat dairy products, palm and coconut oil. These forms raise cholesterol levels, increase risk of heart disease, and may increase risk of prostate and colon cancer. Look for reduced portions of these fats within these foods to still get the benfit of these dairy products, primarily these foods act as great sources of protein.

Trans Fatty Acid

French fries and other deep fried food, margarine, shortening, packaged cookies and crackers, processed snacks "junkfood". Can raise cholesterol levels, lowers HDL (good cholesterol) levels, increases risk of heart disease, and may increase risk of breast cancer and has no nutritional benefit. Trans-fat is also the hardest fat to digest.

Monounsaturated

Olive, canola, and safflower oils, as well as avocados, olives, peanut butter (lacking in trans-fat), many kinds of nuts including almonds, cashews, pecans, pistachios. Lowers LDL levels, may help to reduce blood pressure and lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease, stroke and may work to help with some cancers.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Fatty fish such as salmon, white albacore tuna, mackerel, anchovies, sardines. Small amounts in walnut, flaxseed, canola and soybean oils. Also found in darker leafy vegetables. Helps to reduce blood clotting and inflammation which both contribute to strokes and heart attacks. May reduce risk of some cancers.

Omega-6 Fatty Acids

Corn, soybean and cottonseed oils. These are often found in mayonnaise, margarine and salad dressings.
Lowers LDL levels, however, they may also lower HDL levels as well. May reduce risk of heart disease.
The fact that fat is an important and plentiful source of muscle fuel, and it’s also a source of essential nutrients that are vital to good health.

Food fat Absorbtion and Storage

From a technical stand point, the fats found in food are primarily what is called a triglyceride. A triglyceride is made up of three fatty acids attached to glycerol, which is known as the "backbone" of a tryglyceride. Triglycerides form about 95% of lipids in your body and food. Even lean athletes have an ample supply of fat stores. In fact, from adipose tissue alone, you’ve probably got somewhere around 75,000 to 85,000 calories’ worth of fat stored away, another two to three thousand calories’ worth stored as lipid droplets in muscle, and 75 to 100 calories as triglycerides attached to special carriers circulating in the bloodstream.

Fat Used as Fuel in Comparison to Carbs

Depending on whether or not your muscles primarily burn stores of fat or carbs as fuel, depends on how hard

your workout regimen is, and how strenuous the activity is. At rest, the majority of energy needed to fuel muscle comes from fatty acids pulled from your adipose tissue stores through the blood stream. It is rare that much fuel comes from lipid droplets in muscle or blood glucose, and close to none from muscle glycogen. When you move away from your MySpace and facebook pages and go get some exercise at a level equivalent to a walking pace, muscle fuel comes from fatty acids put into action from your adipose tissue stores. Contributing to this is small amounts of fuel from muscle lipid deposits and blood glucose, still in this situation really none is coming from glycogen. If you then grow accustomed to that pace, move on to a jog or higher level of exercise that you can continue for a lengthier amount of time, the use of fatty acids from adipose tissue continues to remain about the same. The difference is that this time there is an increase in the use of lipid droplets within muscle tissue. And at the same time, muscle glycogen and glucose make a significant contribution. This is the activity level at which you are now splitting the duties of fueling the body between carbohydrates and fats.

As a Source of Essential Nutrients

There are other important reasons to keep fat intake a regular part of your diet. Fats play important functional and structural roles in your body. They are a major substance of brain matter and they also contribute helping with overall brain development. Fats are found in the membranes of cells throughout your body, and they’re critical to the normal functioning of your nerves, lungs and eyes. Fat is also important in diet as a source of absorption for fat-soluble nutrients such as vitamin which promotes stronger bones:

Vitamin K which provides help with blood clotting
Antioxidants such as vitamin E and vitamin A.
Fatty acids are critical to good health, but they are something that we cannot produce ourselves. Instead, find means within your diet to satisfy these nutritional needs.
These fatty acids play important hormone-like roles that influence vital internal processes like normal blood clotting and inflammation.
Fat sources that primarily feature monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat gets a nutritional "hi-five". These fats tend to lower LDL or which is bad cholesterol and raise HDL, which is known as the good cholesterol.

Simple Help to Understanding How to Pick the Correct Fats

The goal is to make smarter, healthier food choices that will help you achieve your full athletic potential and help keep you healthy. Rather than avoiding fat in your diet, recognize the important fats and replace the poor ones with those that will benefit you. Control your overall fat intake to keep calories in balance, and keep from gaining unwanted weight.

Use plant-based oils for baking and cooking. Canola oil, vegetable oil, and other plant-based oils are rich in healthy, beneficial monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.

Just make it easy for yourself and stay away from trans fats by taking note of the labels contents on your packaged foods before buying. Avoid products with partially hydrogenated oils( trans fats). In restaurants, ask if Trans fat–free oils are used for frying and baking( or deal with the fact that fried food holds no benefit either and order something else).

Purchase lean cuts of meat and low-fat or nonfat dairy products, cheese is a good source of protein for example, but also has a high content of saturated fats so be careful, or buy low fat styles of cheese.

Eat fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids at least twice a week. Limit your intake of deep-fried foods and ask for sauces and gravies on the side so you can better control your intake of calories from fat.