Do you want to know how to burn fat? You may be shocked to discover that consuming fat might help you lose weight. Here's all you need to know about why you should eat fat to burn fat?
Many individuals still shudder at the idea of consuming fat. For years, we've been advised to cut fat from our diets to avoid gaining weight, but the reality is that it hasn't gotten us very far. Obesity rates continue to increase throughout North America, despite our preference for fat-free, low-fat, and non-fat alternatives, since the truth is that incorporating fat in the diet is an excellent tool for weight reduction.
So, if you're still trying to lose weight and are scared to add fat to your diet because you're worried it'll lead to body fat, let me assist you. Here's why fat is good for you, why you should eat it, and why you need to eat fat to burn fat.
Why Do You Need to Eat Fat to Burn Fat?
1. Fat and Its Importance
I've written extensively on why fat doesn't make you fat, but if you're still having trouble grasping this idea, it's critical that you attempt to grasp it; otherwise, it will prevent you from losing weight. Despite the fact that both dietary fat and bodily fat contain the term "fat" in their names, they are extremely different and have nothing in common. Dietary fat is an important macronutrient for human health and is one of the necessary macronutrients in our diet.
Fats are the building blocks for our hormones, brain, and nerve tissues, protective layers of our cells, assist to regulate and reduce inflammation, and aid in the absorption of essential nutrients such as vitamin A, D, E, and K in their natural dietary forms. Dietary fats, such as triglycerides, cholesterol, and essential fatty acids, serve to insulate us, protect our critical organs, and provide us with energy.
2. Carbohydrates vs. Fat for Energy
Our bodies, like a vehicle, need fuel. We need fuel to go through the day and for our essential physiological processes to take place. Carbohydrates and fat are the two main fuel sources for the human body. Carbohydrates (or glucose) are the body's main source of energy, while fat serves as a backup supply of energy. If both carbs and fat are present, the body will utilize carbohydrates first until they are no longer accessible, at which point it will switch to using fat for fuel.
Consider it as a switch: as long as carbs (or glucose) are available in your diet, your body will continue to burn carbohydrates for fuel, and then it will "flip the switch" and start burning fat for fuel. The body should be able to naturally shift back and forth between utilizing carbs and fat for fuel in a balanced condition; but, many individuals (sadly) fail to do so, making fat burning more difficult. Why? Because the master controller of this switch, insulin, is no longer functioning properly for many individuals.
3. Hormones, not fat, determine weight.
Insulin is a hormone that promotes fat storage. Although this may seem to be a negative trait, it is just performing its job. When you consume food, insulin is triggered, telling your body to transform the food you just ate into stored energy, and after you've finished eating, insulin tells your body to utilize the energy it has stored. The human body is efficient because of this process of storing food as energy and then tapping into that stored energy; you may consume a meal and then have energy stored for hours, eliminating the need to continually seek food.
It's essential to remember, though, that the body stores energy in one basic form: fat. In reality, body fat is just a type of stored energy that serves to protect us when we are unable to eat. What is the issue? 1) Individuals seldom go without meals for extended periods of time in 2019, and 2) people do not enable their bodies to utilize this stored energy.
4. Controlling Insulin and Weight
The secret to losing weight has nothing to do with calories and everything to do with insulin. Why? Because not all calories are created equal, and the quality of the food you consume, as well as its macronutrient balance, will influence how effectively or ineffectively you burn body fat.
Because insulin controls whether your body stores or burns fat, you must ensure that insulin is functioning properly in order to burn fat. Low insulin levels enable your body to burn fat for energy, while high insulin levels maintain your body fat-storing.
Carbohydrates, not fat or protein, have the largest effect on insulin of all the macronutrients. Every time you eat carbs, your body produces an insulin reaction. As a result, eating a high-carbohydrate diet, particularly refined carbs, and sugars trains the body to burn carbohydrates (or glucose) rather than fat for energy. The more carbs you consume, the higher your blood sugar, and therefore your insulin levels, and so the more body fat you will accumulate.
Because the body will always prefer carbs to fat for fuel, if you continue to consume carbohydrates, your body will never be able to convert the fat it has stored into energy. Because you become more insulin resistant over time, it becomes more difficult for your body to convert stored fat to energy. As a result, your body thinks it needs more and more carbohydrates (i.e. sugar cravings), but this is only because it is so inefficient at converting stored fat back to energy.
Even eating wholemeal types of carbs may make burning fat for fuel harder, depending on how resistant your insulin is (meaning how high your insulin levels are and how sensitive your cells are to insulin). For someone with insulin resistance or who has been overweight for a long time, a diet of oats for breakfast, potato soup for lunch, and risotto for dinner, for example, may make burning fat for fuel almost difficult since the carbohydrate load is just too high.
5. Why Do You Need to Eat Fat to Lose Weight?
Fat must be included in the diet in order to treat insulin resistance and shift the body into a fat-burning mode. Fat is important for overall health since it does not cause insulin to be released in the same way as carbs, glucose, or sugar do. Without fat, the body will continue to utilize and desire carbs for fuel and will never be able to “flip the switch” to convert stored fat back to energy, preventing it from burning body fat. Fat not only does not cause insulin to be released in the same manner that carbs do, but it also aids in the management of our hunger signals, allowing us to eat less over time.
Fat helps to keep us fuller for longer periods of time by managing our leptin and ghrelin, which are the gatekeepers of our hunger; it keeps our cravings at bay by helping to balance our blood sugar. By including more fat in your diet, you will be able to go longer amounts of time between meals, which will help you burn fat and lose weight since your body will be forced to utilize fat for fuel during these times. You may “flip the switch” from utilizing carbs to fat for fuel more rapidly by eating meals that are rich in fat and moderate in carbohydrates, which maintains you in a fat-burning state for longer periods of time.
6. Caution
While it is important to incorporate fat in your diet, it is also critical to recognize that not all fats are created equal. My advice to incorporate fat in your diet does not imply that you should eat deep-fried meals, processed foods, or vegetable oils. If you wish to utilize fat as a fuel source, you should concentrate on full dietary fats.
Not only do processed fats often include additional carbohydrates (such as pre-made dressings and sauces), which prevent you from burning fat, but they are also frequently produced with refined fats and vegetable oils, which promote inflammation rather than weight reduction. Instead, choose high-quality animal meats, high-quality dairy, whole eggs, shellfish, nuts, seeds, olives, and avocados, as well as natural cooking oils like butter, olive oil, coconut oil, and avocado oil.
Final Thoughts
Incorporating fat into one's diet is critical for weight reduction, particularly in the long run, and selecting high-quality whole food sources is essential. Carbohydrates provide a greater challenge to weight reduction than fat. That's not to suggest you can't consume carbs; quality always wins out over quantity, and for most individuals, cutting down on refined carbs and boosting fat consumption is the key to burning more fat.
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