UNDERSTANDING FAT
All fat is not the same! Getting a healthy understanding of the different kinds of fat, and their impact on the body can save you a ton of time and energy when it comes to getting in shape. Most people will spend way more time working hard in the gym just to blow it at home in the refrigerator. The average person has more fat stored on their body than the need, and especially than they want. One thing to keep in mind is that your body is constantly burning fat throughout the day, and depending on the person, the amount of fat that your body burns is already defined by the life that you live. Getting in the gym will give you an opportunity to not only burn extra energy for the workout, but to also operate at a higher energy level throughout the rest of your day and beyond that.
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Burning extra energy daily is a great first step to losing those unwanted pounds. However if you are not on top of your nutrition it is very easy to pile those calories on to the workload. Getting rid of stored body fat is a complicated process of breaking down all of the elements that go into that stored energy. if you help your body out on the back end by sticking to clean sources of fat you give it a much needed opportunity to catch up with tasks that have stacked up for years. If you disregard your responsibility to assist your body and just pack on more of the wrong sources of fat you are literally just spinning your wheels.
​All nutrition programs should contain fats as a source of energy to obtain a healthy structure. By keeping your intake between 15 to 30 percent of your daily caloric intake you will give your body plenty of time during the day to move out some of your storage. By keeping your intake higher in unsaturated fats you will reduce your risk of heart attack, stroke, and other major health problems.
​The fats you eat give your body energy that it needs to work properly. During exercise, your body uses combination of calories from glycogen, and carbohydrates you have eaten. But after 20 minutes, exercise then depends on calories from fat to keep you going.
Fat is also required to keep your skin and hair healthy, and absorb vitamins A, D, E, and K, all of which require fat to be processed. The fats your body gets from your food give your body essential fatty acids called linoleic and linolenic acid. Your body cannot produce these acids itself, or work without them. They are important in brain development, controlling inflammation, and blood clotting.
Fat has 9 calories per gram, more than 2 times the number of calories in carbohydrates and protein, which each have 4 calories per gram.All fats are made up of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. Fats are called saturated or unsaturated depending on how much of each type of fatty acid they contain.
Saturated fats raise your LDL, cholesterol level, and are considered to be bad fat. High LDL cholesterol puts you at risk for heart attack, stroke, and other major health problems. You should avoid or limit foods that are high in saturated fats to around 5% of your daily caloric intake. These fats are found at higher levels in processed animal products, fatty cuts of meat, and vegetable oils, such as coconut, palm, and palm kernel oil. These fats all remain solid at room temperature.
Eating unsaturated fats instead of saturated fats can help lower your LDL cholesterol and are considered to be good fat. Most vegetable oils that are liquid at room temperature have unsaturated fats. There are two kinds of unsaturated fats: Mono-unsaturated fats, and polyunsaturated fats.
Polyunsaturated fat is a type of dietary fat. It is one of the healthy fats, along with monounsaturated fat. Polyunsaturated fat is found in plant and animal foods, such as salmon, vegetable oils, and some nuts and seeds
Monounsaturated fat is a type of dietary fat. It is one of the healthy fats, along with polyunsaturated fat. Monounsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature, but start to harden when chilled. Saturated fats and Trans fats are solid at room temperature.
Remember that quality of fat makes all of the difference when it comes to achieving the goals that you set for yourself. By choosing the proper fats to assist in your nutrition program you will set yourself up for success, and build habits that will keep you there long term.