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What’s So Good about Fat? And Why You Want to be a Fat Burner.

November 9, 2016 By Angie Leave a Comment

Burn Fat. Your Body is Designed to Burn Fat for Fuel.

Fat, along with protein and carbohydrate, is a macronutrient, meaning we need it in large quantities in order to be healthy. Unfortunately, fat has received a lot of bad press over the last fifty years or so. It’s been blamed as the cause of heart disease, blocked arteries and high blood pressure. A low fat diet, we’ve been told, is the best way to avoid health issues and stay slim. But this is far from the truth. While some sources of fat are indeed unhealthy and should be eliminated from the diet, other types need to be consumed regularly, and still others should be consumed in moderation. With regards to which fats are good are which fats are bad, there’s a lot of misinformation.


Download and Print the Free PDF of this post.

New to Paleo? Check out the following post, Which Fats are Good Fats, Which Fats are Ugly? as well as all the posts under the Paleo FAQ tab on the menu bar. Many of those posts also come with Free Printables.


What’s So Good About Fat?

  • Fats are an exceptional source of energy. They provide more than twice the gram-for-gram calories than protein and carbohydrate. The human body is designed to burn fat for fuel, but it can only do so if we stop giving it sugar and carbohydrates.
  • Fats are critical for many metabolic processes. They’re necessary in order that the body has the necessary materials for building organs, cells and hormones. The brain itself may consist of up to 60% fat.
  • Fats are super satisfying. They taste good and, along with complete protein, they provide the feeling of satiety – much more so than a carbohydrate based meal. With the right amount of fat in our meal we feel full for longer, which means we’re less likely to go hunting for (unhealthy) snacks.

The Paleo Diet and Fat

The Truth about Eating Fats.

The Paleo Diet recommends increasing the intake of the healthy fats whilst significantly reducing the consumption of simple carbohydrates. We want to be ‘Fat Burners’ instead of ‘Sugar Burners’. When the body habitually receives sugar/carbs, it actually defaults into burning this easy energy source, and consequently never taps into it’s fat stores. It’s the classic ‘I’m not eating much, but I can’t lose weight’ scenario. Through cutting out the carbs and consuming healthy fats, the body changes gear and quickly reverts to it’s natural state of burning fat for fuel. The transition from ‘Sugar Burner’ to ‘Fat Burner’ might be a little unpleasant. Most people go through a period of ‘Carb Flu’, experiencing symptoms such as exhaustion and irritability. But this short period of discomfort is worth it. Our bodies are genetically programmed to be healthy with a high-fat/low-carb diet.

The Standard Western Diet and Fat

The Standard Western Diet is based on the opposite of Paleo recommendations. Most people, following National Dietary Guidelines, eat a low-fat/high-carb diet, and usually supplement their bread, pastries, rice and pasta with vast quantities of refined-sugar laden junk food. The Fat Debate is heated – check out this article, for example. People (especially in the medical, nutritional, scientific, agricultural and food production industries) find it hard to relinquish the conventional wisdom established over lifetimes. But no one can deny that something is seriously off course with the current contemporary nutritional models. Health issues such as heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune disease, food intolerances and allergies continue to rise. Placing people on a high-fat diets such as Paleo or the Mediterranean Diet, on the other hand, inevitably results in weight loss and stabilised blood sugar levels, with all the related health benefits that those two things alone provide.

The Truth About Eating Healthy Fats

Eating fat does not cause weight gain. Eating cholesterol does not cause high cholesterol levels. Fat and cholesterol are not evil. Rather, pretty much all health issues are caused by chronic sistemic inflammation, which is often silent until everything explodes.  Inflammation is caused by a constant excess of carbohydrates/sugar. Burning fat instead of carbs is the human body’s natural, healthy state of being.

Why You Want To Be A Fat Burner

Being a Fat Burner instead of a Sugar Burner means 

  • You’ll feel full for longer. You won’t need to eat every two hours. No hunger, crankiness, brain fog.
  • The body will consume it’s fat stores, which it simply can’t do when blood sugar and insulin levels are too high. Excess carbs (sugars) are stored in the liver and the muscles as glycogen. When the liver and muscles are full, the excess is turned into adipose tissue (fat). A constant carb flow means insulin levels are constantly high, leading to insulin resistance and leptin resistance. When the hormonal signals don’t get through, the body literally cannot burn the excess fat. Cut the carbs, re-boot the metabolism, get the signals working again and the body will happily burn through it’s stores of fat.
  • Your body will still run on carbs for high-intensity activities – sprinting, working out, things that raise your heartbeat and make you sweat.
  • Your body will burn fat for the low-intensity situations that make up the major part of the day – walking, housework, gardening, playing.

Tip: The way to become fat adapted is to stop giving your body sugar all the time.


Important! Fat, Insulin Resistance and Leptin Resistance

A high fat diet in the context of insulin resistance and leptin resistance can be damaging, as the fat may add fuel to the fire. But the fat itself is not the problem. The big issue is the over reliance on carbohydrates (sugars) which leads to over eating, unbalanced hormones, disrupted metabolic processes and inflammation. Resolve these, and eating fat will once again be healthy.

The way to become fat adapted is to stop giving your body carbs and sugar all the time.

 


Read More about Healthy Fats

In Which Fats are Good Fats and Which Fats are Ugly, I give a brief run-down of the different Fat families: Saturated, Monosaturated, Polyunsaturated and Trans. That post also comes with a Free Printable PDF.

Also, check out the experts:

The Definitive Guide to Cholesterol – by Mark Sisson, on Mark’s Daily Apple.

The Diet-Heart Myth: Cholesterol and Saturated Fat are Not the Enemy – by Chris Kresser, on Let’s Take Back Your Health.


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Filed Under: Health & Lifestyle, Paleo FAQ Tagged With: coconut, coconut cream, fat, Health

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Hi, I'm Angie. Thanks for popping by. I'm here to help you say goodbye to allergies, reduce inflammation and lose weight... naturally and forever. Scout around the website, there's loads of information. And when you're ready to make real, sustainable changes, get in touch and I'll talk you through my Primal Health Coaching programs. You don't have to live with the pain - trust me. Been there, done that, I know. I'm looking to meeting you, and I look forward to helping you live a much healthier, happier life.

Need help reaching your health and wellness objectives? Call Me for Coaching!

Angelina Brazzale is a certified Primal Health Coach. She cna help you reach your goals of health and vitality through evolutionary diet and lifestyle practices.

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Disclaimer

I’m neither a doctor nor a nutritionist, but, as a Primal Health Coach, I can work in collaboration with them.  I’m a person with a passion for health, food and learning, and I want to share my findings with you. All opinions expressed here are my own. Be sure to seek the supervision of a licensed healthcare professional before making changes to your diet or prescription medications.

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🔸Primal Health Coach
🔸 Steering Women away from Physical Meltdown and towards a Quality Life
🔸 Nutrition, Inflammation, Yoga & Meditation

What makes you happy? Do you have any Happiness Ro What makes you happy? Do you have any Happiness Routines?

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THE MOST AMAZING THING about health is that you ge THE MOST AMAZING THING about health is that you get to choose. Even if you have a familial predisposition to something. Even if you’ve already been diagnosed with something. Even if you’ve hit rock bottom and are despairing.

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Recipe Post! If you know that you Should eat liver Recipe Post! If you know that you Should eat liver because it’s a superfood and all the Paleo & AIP folk promote it... but you can’t get past the strong flavour - then this recipe is for you.

It’s like Liver for Beginners. In fact, why didn’t I call the post that? 

Save this, or pop over to the website if you want to print it - it’s currently on the home page. Later, in “Recipes”. 

Fried Liver with Spice
Ingredients
🥄 300 grams beef liver
🥄 2 tablespoons cassava (manioca) flour
🥄 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
🥄 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
🥄 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
🥄 1/4 teaspoon ground tumeric
🥄 1/4 teaspoon salt
🥄 2 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions
1. Cut the liver into bite-sized pieces, about 5cm.
3. Mix the flour, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, tumeric and salt in a bowl. 
5. Add the pieces of liver one at time and toss to coat with the spice mix.
6. Heat the oil in a fry pan over a medium heat. Add the liver in a single layer. Fry for a couple of minutes on each side so that the pieces are golden and cooked to your liking.

Notes
Make double the recipe or enough to fill a small jar so that you always have the spice mix on hand.

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Sweet, whatever else is going on in your world doe Sweet, whatever else is going on in your world doesn’t matter. What your body needs is Nutrient Dense Food.

Getting nutrient food into your mouth isn’t difficult. It’s not time consuming. It’s not going to blow your budget. It’s not going to destroy the planet.

It’s going to make you well.

The right food will
👏regulate your metabolism, stabilise your energy and relieve your hunger.
👏It will calm your mind, your anxiety, your depression.
👏It will heal your gut and thus your immune system.
👏It will allow so much of your suffering to dissipate, dissolve and disappear.

Nutrient dense food is:
🦴🍗🍤🥚Quality protein sourced from animals because that’s the only way you’re going to get those synergistic combinations of all essential amino acids plus stuff like Vit.B12 & collagen which are only found in animal products
🥑🥚🥥 Healthy fats, and apart from avocados, coconut, olives & a few nuts & seeds, again we’re talking animal products: eggs, fatty fish, sat fat from animals.

If you want to know more in a clearly explained way, jump to my bio, click through to Quality Life & grab a copy of my free guide. Health is Easy! If it wasn’t we would never have survived. 💪👏😊

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80% of what you look like and how you feel depends 80% of what you look like and how you feel depends on what you put into your mouth. 80%! The other 20% is divided between how you’re moving, how you’re sleeping, how you’re connecting (with others, yourself, nature & the world) and how you’re thinking, your mindset.

The importance of that 80% cannot be overemphasised.

Things we commonly put into our mouth:
🔸 damage our gut
🔸 wreck havoc with our hormones
🔸 mess with our head
🔸 disrupt our metabolism
🔸 send our immune system into overdrive
🔸 send our stress levels skyrocketing

Changing dietary habits is crucial if you want to get your weight, your inflammation and pain, & your stress levels under control.

Essentially, it’s not hard. Pragmatically, it’s hard to change habits.

Helping you to change habits for health is my job, and I love what I do. ❤️

In my bio, there’s a link to my website. On the website, there’s a free Quick Guide, information, recipes. Get in touch if you’ve got healing work to do! 🙋🏻‍♀️

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How To Be Healthy. 3 Factors. 3 Systems. 5 Element How To Be Healthy. 3 Factors. 3 Systems. 5 Elements.

The 3 big factors which impact on health are:
🔸Metabolism 
🔸Inflammation 
🔸Stress

To be healthy we need to heal & strengthen
💪 The Digestive System
💪 The Immune System
💪 The Nervous System

We do this by making wise choices with regards to how we

🔸Eat
🔸Move
🔸Sleep
🔸Connect
🔸Think

These are the 5 Elements of my Health Reset program. The program works because we gently address all of these elements, all at the same time.

For the Free Guide & for more info, jump to my bio & click through to the Quality Life website.

Health is easy! You just need to know how it’s done. ❤️

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I was lucky. Because Fiorenzo had his own health p I was lucky. Because Fiorenzo had his own health problems, he came on board when I needed to make big changes. We committed together, and it made - it makes - the whole trip so much easier.

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Who supports you in your efforts to be healthy?

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Hi there, I'm Angie. I help women heal from Pain, Stress, Excess Weight, Burnout, Autoimmune & Allergies... Naturally & Forever.
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