Although fats have been demonized for long and are immediately discriminated when someone wants to lose weight, we can never lose sight of the fact that they represent a very important nutritional component that shouldn’t be excluded from any dietary plan.
And as ironic as it sounds, if we don’t consume enough fats we may have difficulty losing weight and losing abdominal fat. But those aren’t the most serious effects of a fat deficiency; it can also be harmful to physical and mental performance.
So if you thought that giving up fat was the successful key to losing weight, all these explanations will prove otherwise:
# 1 You feel hungrier
If you don’t consume enough of a certain macronutrient, you will end up looking for calories elsewhere. In general, people who don’t eat the recommended amount of fats compensate for it by increasing their intake of refined carbohydrates.
According to a study by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, fat causes food absorption to be slower. Thus, it helps us feel satiated for longer and prevents us from overeating.
# 2 You don’t protect your heart
A study by the New England Journal of Medicine found that a Mediterranean diet with moderate fat consumption has greater benefits for the heart and nervous system health than a diet with low or no fat intake.
Monounsaturated fats increase “good” cholesterol levels in the body and reduce the risk of heart disease.
# 3 Your body becomes inflamed
When you don’t consume enough fat you miss its great benefits and one of them is fighting inflammation. Mainly if you exclude polyunsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids.
# 4 Cancer risk increases
Many people believe that “low fat” diets are the most effective for weight loss. However, many processed foods that promise to be low in fat content contain many artificial additives to reinforce their flavor. These products are very harmful to health and a recent study from the University of Georgia showed that they can even be a cause of colon cancer.
# 5 Vitamin Deficiency
Vitamins A, D, E and K are absorbed through fat. This means that they’re assimilated once they dissolve in fat. After they’re distributed in the body, vitamins are stored in the liver and fatty tissue for long-term use.
But when fat consumption is insufficient, they cannot be absorbed and the level of these vitamins in the body decreases.
# 6 You put your immune system at risk
As a consequence of the vitamin absorption decrease, the immune system can also be affected since vitamins D and E are essential for the proper function of immune cells.
In addition, two essential fatty acids (omega-3 and omega-6) also have an important role in protecting the immune system.
# 7 You neglect your mental health
Many studies in neurology have shown that a Mediterranean diet that includes healthy fats such as olive oil, nuts and fish can help better preserve memory and reduce the risk of cognitive diseases.
In addition, fat acts as the main component of the membranes of neurons and myelin, a layer that lines the nerves and allows the synapse to occur.
# 8 Diminished appearance
Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are very beneficial for the skin, since vitamins E and K are responsible for hydrating and protecting the skin, and without sufficient fat consumption it’s impossible to absorb them.
And omega-3 deficiency can lead to skin inflammation, as well as increased acne risk and other dermatological conditions.
# 9 What about your period?
Hormones are responsible for regulating almost all body functions, and when there isn’t enough fat intake, they can get out of control. As a consequence, women’s periods may be disrupted, since not enough sex hormones are produced as a result of the low percentage of body fat.
# 10 Fatigue and poor performance
If your body doesn’t get the amount of fat it needs, it will begin to manifest it in different ways. But the most notorious for you is possibly the lack of energy when doing sports, concentrating or trying to do your job properly.
# 11 Weight gain
And if your goal when eliminating fats from your diet is to lose weight, you should know that you aren’t on the right track. Fat is a very important nutrient for your body and if you don’t get enough of it, it can have the opposite effect.
In addition, omega-3 helps reduce abdominal fat storage and prevents you from overeating.
Having said all this, there’s no doubt that fats are totally necessary for the proper function of our bodies and that we should never deprive ourselves of them (with the exception of a specific health condition). There’s no reason to fear fats, the myth that in order to lose weight we need to cut them from our lives is long gone; it’s quite the opposite!
The most important thing is to maintain a balanced and complete diet; in other words, to include all food groups.
Date: November 14th, 2019
By: Camila Mendoza
Nutrigenomics Institute is not responsible for the comments and opinions included in this article
