The skinny on fat

Forget what you think about fat. It’s time to reassess your diet – and reap the body benefits

It’s tragic how fat has earned such a bad reputation in diet circles. The truth is that when it comes to healthy eating, unsaturated fat reigns supreme– but the problem is that most people still don’ t understand the difference between saturated and unsaturated fats.

Loading your plate with good fats can help to supercharge your health and achieve a better body, and in his new book Eat Fat

Get Thin (£14.99, Yellow Kite), renowned American health expert Dr Mark Hyman seeks the truth behind some of the biggest fat misconceptions. ‘So many people – doctors, patients and eaters alike – are all confused about fat and still hold on to myths and misinformation, but knowing what to eat and how to use dietary fats can help you regain your health and ideal body weight,’ he says.

A big fat mess

To find out why fat is so demonised, we have to rewind back to the 1970s when levels of obesity and heart conditions started to rise. In a bid to tackle the increasing rate of disease, official dietary guidelines were set, which urged an increase in carbohydrate intake to 55-60 per cent of total daily calories and a reduced fat intake of 30-35 per cent. The general message was that fat makes us fat and causes heart disease and type 2 diabetes. So instead, the advice was to eat more sugars and carbs and cut back on saturated fat from meats, eggs, butter and whole milk. ‘Quite simply, this turned out to be the largest uncontrolled experiment ever carried out on human beings, and it failed miserably,’ says Dr Hyman. This ideology soon spread across the globe and before we knew it, pasta suddenly became a health food and fat a diet derailer.

Lay down the fat foundations

Dietary fat affects all aspects of health and wellbeing. ‘Being deficient in healthy fat has an impact on our emotional and overall health. It affects our hormones, immune system, digestive health, skin, weight and ability to deal with stress. Fat deficiencies can also adversely affect our mood, cognitive health, behaviour and overall brain

function,’ believes Dr Hyman. This makes perfect sense considering our bodies (including our brains) are made up of fat, so we must feed it with healthy dietary fat for our body to function properly.

But don’t get us wrong, not all fat is good. Trans fats and vegetable oils, which are found in most processed foods like pre-packaged cakes, biscuits and ready meals, have negative effects on health. ‘They make us fatter and contribute to inflammation, which plays a role in nearly every chronic disease on the planet,’ maintains Dr Hyman. And let’s not forget about low-fat or ‘light’ foods. These may be low in fat, but they are often high in sugar. ‘More sugar means your cells become numb to insulin’s “call”. Your body pumps out more and more insulin to pull your blood sugar levels back down. You can’t burn all the sugar you eat. Inevitably, your body stores it as fat, creating insulin resistance and overall metabolic havoc among other mayhem,’ says Dr Hyman.

So what are the good types of fat? Essentially, these are unsaturated fats, which fall into two groups, MUFAS or monounsaturated fatty acids, and PUFAS, polyunsaturated fatty acids. These both include omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Avocados, nuts, seeds, olive oil, fatty fish including sardines, mackerel and salmon are all rich in omega fatty acids and should form part of your overall diet.

‘Your brain is about 60 per cent fat. Of that percentage, the biggest portion comes from an omega-3 called docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Your brain needs DHA to spark communication between cells, and easy access to high-quality fat boosts cognition, happiness, learning and memory. In contrast, studies link a deficiency in omega-3 fats to depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia,’ says Dr Hyman. Along with unsaturated fats, Dr Hyman says that the oftenoverlooked saturated fats like those found in grass-fed butter, ghee, organic meat, whole milk and coconut oil are a key component of a balanced diet. These are all sources of natural fats that are packed with nutrients and not harmful to health, as once thought.