Fat facts (part 2)

If our food is lower in fat than before, why are we all getting fatter?

Could it be that fat doesn’t make us fat and that we’ve replaced it with something else that does?

Fats are traditionally considered fattening because they come out at 9kcals per gram, whereas carbs and protein weigh in at 4 kcals.

However, fats and proteins are used to rebuild cells and muscles and make hormones; carbohydrate’s job is to provide fuel.

Pure and simple.

When you eat starchy foods, your pancreas pumps out insulin, designed to take glucose out of the bloodstream (as too much glucose in your blood is dangerous) and put it into your liver and muscles for burning. Any excess is stored in your fat tissue.

The trouble is, that it can take many hours for circulating insulin levels in your bloodstream to fall - even more so if it’s sugar you’ve eaten.

While there is insulin in your bloodstream, your body is prevented from burning stores of body fat.

On top of that, insulin can take so much sugar out of your bloodstream that it leaves you feeling ‘crashy’ and reaching for the chocolate biscuits at 4pm.

This cycle can lead to increased stress hormones and insulin resistance, which sets the stage for diabetes.

The wonderful thing about the human body is that you can’t cheat it.

Feed it a fat-free snack or a low-cal dessert high in artificial sweetener, and it will send you a strong signal that it’s not satisfied, sending you off in search of real calories.

Protein and fat have a high satiety value, and will trigger a whole host of chemical responses to prevent you over-eating it. Interestingly, if the fat comes parcelled up in a load of carbohydrate, these responses seem to be dulled, and you may end up over-eating.

Two studies done in the 1970s on obese people showed that the percentage of carbohydrate rather than the calorie content was the most influential in fat loss. Those who ate the highest amount of fat lost the biggest percentage of fat and consistently started to refuse food - because the low-insulin diet was mobilising their fat stores and they were not hungry!

This did not occur on the moderate to high-carbohydrate diets, even though the calorie content was the same. In high-carb situations, the body is perfectly capable of manufacturing fats, even if none are eaten, but this is not a great strategy, since low-fat diets are indicated in stroke, depression, allergies, not to mention insulin resistance, as above.

It also forces the liver to make a particularly problematic kind of cholesterol, which is small and dense and prone to causing furred arteries. Interestingly, consumption of vegetable oils has also been suggested as a factor here. Given the fact we’re supposed to be using these in place of saturated fats in order to avoid heart disease, this seems rather troubling.

Elizabeth Wells is a nutritionist and health writer. She specialises in chronic disorders, allergies and difficult-to-treat conditions. You can contact her at www.naturallywells.com

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