Fat
by Bill Pearl

Fat has become one of the biggest problems in the American diet. While fat is essential for life too much fat is ultimately life-threatening. Most of us are eating three to five times the amount of fat we need to keep our bodies functioning. Cutting down on fat is one of the most important things we can do to improve our diet and thereby extend our life.

There are two main types of fat that most of us are concerned about. The fat found in food and the excess fat on our bodies. The relationship between the two which is often over looked is that the excess fat calories we eat cause the excess fat on our bodies. This is not a random coincidence, it is a result.

Research has shown that ninety-seven percent of all fat calories we absorb are converted to body fat. We only need the equivalent of one tablespoon of fat per day. All excess fat eaten is contributing to heart disease colon and breast cancer and obesity.

The large amount of fat in our diets has caused so many problems in America it is one of the major reasons for the changes in our labeling laws. The United States dietary guidelines suggest that 30 percent or less of our daily calories should come from fat. This is much lower than the 42 percent we are currently eating.

In the defense of fat of all three types of foods we eat fat is the most economical. You get the most energy from the smallest amount of food when eating fat. It is also essential for sexual maturity. Vitamins A, D, E and K, which are our fat soluble vitamins, must have fat present in order to be assimilated.

Fat also supports the vital organs. If you didn't have "an ounce of fat" on your body the kidneys would fall down into the pelvis and flop around. Fat holds them in place. This is one of the dangers of a starvation or a poorly nourished diet. Internal organs lose their support and begin to bounce around which could cause considerable damage.

Fat also acts as a reserve for energy. Since each gram is worth nine calories it is obviously the most economical way to store energy. Protein and carbohydrates supply four calories per gram.

When it comes to cosmetic purposes without fat the face would become sunken and the body would have no curves. There is even fatty tissue behind the eyeballs.

How does the fat we eat end up as energy we can use for the body? The assimilation of fat occurs not in the stomach but in the small intestine although it begins to break down in the stomach. About thirty to fifty percent of the fat we eat is hydrolyzed (or broken down)into fatty acids. This is the from that the body can use it while in the small intestine. The fifty to seventy percent that is left over usually passes out of the body as waste material. (in a healthy individual the feces will contain up to twenty-five percent fat.

Research has proven that the most important kind of fat to cut back on is saturated fat (the type found in red meat and whole-milk products). It tends to increase the levels of harmful low-density lipo-protein commonly referred to as LDL cholesterol in the blood. It is the LDL cholesterol that is linked to increased risk of developing heart disease blood clots and strokes.

The good fats are polyunsaturated fats . Coming from plants and fish. Corn oil and salmon are good examples of unsaturated fats. Polyunsaturated fats can help lower the levels of bad LDL cholesterol while maintaining high levels of beneficial high-density lipo-protein HDL cholesterol.

However this is only true if the amount of polyunsaturated fats are equal or higher than the amount of saturated fats we consume. Sorry to say this is not the case for most burger-eating Americans.

The trick is to try to keep the intake of both kinds of fat practically equal or leaning more to the polyunsaturated side. But as we mentioned before intake of both kinds of fat should be less than 30 percent of your total calories every day.

Let's consider the other type of fat we mentioned the fat we carry in and on our bodies. That kind of fat is stored in the muscles under the skin and around the inner organs. The amount of fat that is necessary to maintain life is called essential fat. Essential fat probably doesn't amount to more than 3 percent of our total body weight. Any additional fat is known as storage fat. An over-abundance of this storage fat is what causes most Americans health problems in the long run.

Because of sex-specific fat women have 9 to 12 percent to add to the essential 3 percent which brings the basic female quota to 12-16 percent before storage fat can be taken into account. This means that a woman's ratio of fat tissue to lean muscle-mass is naturally higher than a man's. For optimum health a man's fatty tissue should not exceed 14-15 percent of his total body weight. A woman's should not exceed more than 20-22 percent.

Most storage fat is available for energy or fuel especially during moderate prolonged exercise. However excess nutrients not used for exercise are readily converted to fat for storage. Fat turns out to be the major storehouse of excess energy. As with carbohydrates usage of fat as a fuel "spares" protein for its critical role in tissue growth and repair.

Because of our sedentary lifestyles most people in America store more and more fat with each succeeding year. The ratio of fat to lean muscle-mass tends to rise from one decade to the next.

Men in their 30's in good physical condition average about 18 percent, in their 40's average about 22 percent, and in their 50's average about 24 percent. Women in their 30's in good physical condition average about 29 percent, in their 40's average about 32 percent, and in their 50's average about 34 percent.

This is mainly caused by over-eating and too little exercise. Eating too much causes fatty tissue to increase. Exercising too little causes lean muscle-mass to decrease. By the age of sixty men and women who weigh the same as they did at twenty are likely to be as much as 12-15 percent over fat. This puts them into the high-risk category for every major illness we can think of.

Fats, particularly cholesterol, are capable of being converted into hormone by the body. Eating fats actually stimulates the body in a similar manner to taking cortisone. Fats stimulate the adrenal glands to function and results in hormone production. Steroids classified as fats are hormones produced by the adrenal cortex. Testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone are found only in animal products and are not found in the vegetable kingdom.

Body fat is also used to pad the joints and nerves. While many people think cholesterol is bad, without it, the nervous system could not operate. Eggs have received a bad-rap as a source of high cholesterol. Remember that eggs also contain unsaturated fatty acids and Vitamin B6. If you eat the entire egg at once, yolk and white together, you need not worry about the cholesterol in them.

One of the most powerful ways to win the war against excess body fat is eating five or six small meals a day. This guards against producing new fat cells by eliminating large intakes of food at one time. By spacing smaller meals throughout the day this reduces the hormonal signal that causes fat cells to divide and multiply. When eating these smaller more frequent meals it is best to choose foods high in protein and complex carbohydrates but low in fat. Examples would be fish, skinless chicken and skinless turkey and lean well trimmed red meat. Vegetables oils, such as olive oil and corn oil, low fat dairy products, all fresh fruits and vegetables, unrefined grains and cereals, legumes such as lima beans, lentils, green, peas, kidney beans and raw unsalted nuts are other excellent examples.

It is good to remember that the secret to success in most everything is moderation. This is certainly true when it come to sound nutritional practice.