Is Eating Fat Really Bad For You?

You have all heard that eating fat is bad for you.  The current politically correct spin on fat is that eating fat will make you fat, clog your arteries, cause you to have heart disease; in short, fat will kill you.  Most of this information comes from those who are selling low-fat/non-fat diets.  The truth is that dietary fat is essential for your overall health.

The Truth About Fat

1. Fat does not make you fat.  The general perception is that your body stores dietary fat as body fat.  The truth is that your body doesn't just automatically store dietary fat as body fat.  It isn't eating fat that makes you fat.  Eating too many calories, whether they come from fat, protein or carbohydrates makes you fat.

2. That said, you should keep in mind that dietary fat is calorie dense.  One gram of fat has more than twice the number of calories as protein or carbohydrates.  There are 9 calories per gram of fat compared to 4 calories per gram of protein or cholesterol.  Too much fat is fattening because it is high in calories; not because it is mysteriously stored as fat in your body.

3. Dietary fat is essential for your overall health.  It is a primary component of every cell membrane in your body.  Far from killing you, the fact is that you cannot live without dietary fat.

4. Essential fatty acids or EFAs are just that; i.e. essential nutrients.   An essential nutrient is any nutrient required to maintain life and health that either can't be produce by your body or can't be produced sufficiently to maintain good health; in other words, they must come from your diet.

Continue to follow us on this series of articles on dietary fat and your health to learn more about the fats you should have in your diet, how much fat you should have in your diet, the health benefits of good fats and the fats you should avoid.