Oh the F word, “why art thou so cruel?”
An Introspective Look at Fat in Our Society
No, not that F word the other F word. The lettered, one syllable word, a word so powerful… A word that has over the last 4 decades, completely disrupted two entire generations’ way of living. From what they eat to how they feel, this word has literally changed how we approach life forever.
Now, you might feel that I am being overly dramatic here but if we're being brutally honest, we’re not! In fact, we might even be down playing it a bit. The concept of fat in all its forms has somehow become one of the biggest debates in the history of humankind. It is a persistent topic of discussion in academia, classrooms and lecture halls all the way to the runways and fashion magazines.
It has quite frankly become an obsession. Half the world wants to get rid of it, the other half wants to eat it and only it. Some want to burn it, others want to cook it or spread it on toast. Some love it high, others need it low. Even doctors and other medical practitioners are split in their opinions; some love it and the rest treat it like a death sentence.
My entire life growing up, I was conditioned to believe that fat should be avoided at all costs. Shout out to my 90’s babies! But anyway, as I grew up and graduated from University I quickly realized how misinformed we were on the topic.
How Do you Decide What to Believe?
And that is why we’ve decided to take a deep dive into all that is fat. We’re going to break down piece by piece, to the point that you can make an informed decision about what is best for you.
We’re simply going to ask and answer the question: What is fat?
What is Fat?
Now when it comes to the purpose of fat, this is where it gets slightly more tricky. You see, the main function of fat in animals is to be used as an energy store and a self regulating thermostat within their bodies. Our bodies use fat as an energy store and as an energy source. But more on that a bit later on in this article. Similarly, our bodies use our naturally occurring fat internal heating source. This function varies from animal to animal based on their specific adaptional needs. For example, someone living in let’s say Antarctica will use their fat for heating far more often than someone that lives in Dubai? Make sense?
On a biochemical level fat can be simply defined as a bunch of esters of glycerol and fatty acids that form a compound that maintains a solid state at room temperature. Okay, but if we were to zoom out a little bit and view fat on a macro level then fat can also be defined as a naturally occurring biological tissue found in humans and animals.
Yes, that might be definitions or rather the paraphrased versions of definitions, but at the basis of it, it is in fact that simple. But there is a reason for this, because when we look at fat on a biochemical level we’re referring to a whole different set of facts and functions than that of the fat that we observe on a macro level. This is the difference between fat, the bodily tissue and fat, the chemical structure.
With regards to the question: “What is fat?” we can actually classify multiple molecules as fatty or fat-like substances. But the type of fat we’re going to focus on during the course of the article are dietary fats. From a nutrition perspective dietary fats play a very important role in multiple functions of the human body. But we will dive into this with a bit more detail in the next section.
Dietary fats are naturally occurring fats that we consume on a daily basis as part of our diets. Most foods and in some cases drinks that we drink contain some form of dietary fat. These fats are found in seeds, nuts and legumes and in animal food sources such as fish, pork and beef products. Dietary fat belongs to a larger group called lipids. Other compounds that form part of lipids include naturally occurring waxes, sterols and fat-soluble vitamins. The latter being discussed at large in the next section of this article.
On a chemical level, almost 90% of all dietary fats exist as triglycerides. This is simply a glycerol backbone that has three fatty acid molecules attached to it. Now without going full nerd on you guys, the reason we’re covering this is because dietary triglycerides are sub-categorized into either saturated triglycerides, monounsaturated triglycerides or polyunsaturated triglycerides depending on their respective chemical structures.
I bet those words sound familiar, and they should as they are one the versions of fat that are grossly misunderstood. We hope this mini chemistry lesson has clarified any confusion to what exactly fats are and or what they are made up of, as we believe that the better we can understand what fats actually are the better we can use them to our own advantage.
PS. For all intensive purposes from here on out, when we mention fats in this article we are referring to dietary fats. Everybody cool with that? Sweet. Now let’s get into the fun stuff!
The Important Functions of Fat in Our Bodies
Now when it comes to the purpose of fat, this is where it gets slightly more tricky. You see, the main function of fat in animals is to be used as an energy store and a self regulating thermostat within their bodies. Our bodies use fat as an energy store and as an energy source. But more on that a bit later on in this article. Similarly, our bodies use our naturally occurring fat internal heating source. This function varies from animal to animal based on their specific adaptional needs. For example, someone living in let’s say Antarctica will use their fat for heating far more often than someone that lives in Dubai? Make sense?
Despite being made out to be a villain, fat actually helps regulate vital systems within our body.
Fats form a key part in multiple physiological components of the body including the growth and development of our biological tissues. Dietary fats that we consume on a day to day basis provide the body with a highly dense source of natural energy. Providing more than twice the amount of energy the other macro-nutrients can produce.
In addition to its energy providing abilities, dietary fats also play a role in the absorption of micro-nutrients. Fat acts as a carrier of fat soluble vitamins. These vitamins include Vitamin A, D, E and K; and thus our dietary fat assists in the absorption of these vital micro-nutrients within the small intestine.
On a biochemical level, fat compounds form part of the structural components of the cells in our bodies. They facilitate the transport of molecules between cell membranes in the body and affect the fluidity of cell membranes.
In addition, our brains and our eyes contain a very high percentage of fat within the structural tissues of these organs. Other important biological functions that fat molecules help facilitate include:
Therefore, as you can see, despite what mainstream media would like you to believe, fats are a big player in our body’s natural systems. The fact of the matter is fats are indispensable based on the number of vitally important functions it serves.
All that being said, if there is one thing that you should take from this entire article is the fact that fat is a necessity. Regardless of what the media or anyone else for that matter will have you believe, fat is a vital aspect to your daily existence and should not be regarded as the enemy.
Fat: The Energy Source!
Now, you might be wondering how the heck fat can be an energy source. And to tell you the truth it didn’t make sense to me either. That was until I was taught about fat and how the body uses it as an energy source in my exercise physiology class during my final year at Uni’.
The entire process and the biochemical reactions that encompass the conversion of fat into an energy source is quite complex. So we’re going to try our utmost best to try and simplify the process for you guys.
Thus first question we need to be asking is namely:
“How does the body store and utilize fat stores in the body?”
So let’s start by defining fat within the concept of nutrition, as fat forms part of the three main macro-nutrients (The other macro-nutrients are protein and carbohydrates). Fat is the most caloric dense macro-nutrient, providing the highest number of calories per gram, 9kcal per 1 gram of fat. It also requires the most energy to break down during metabolism, again the body requires 9kcal to break down that very same gram of fat.
Now with regards to the energy stored and released through fat, our bodies break down fat sources during digestion. This forms part of your body's natural metabolism or more specifically lipid metabolism. As our bodies break down the fat molecules, whether that fat was ingested or taken for the body’s fat stores, the molecules release fatty acids.
These fatty acids go through a process of oxidation, releasing enzymes that enter a bodily process known as the Krebs Cycle which in turn produces ATP, an energy carrying molecule that is present in all cells of living organisms. This entire process is a means of utilizing energy stored within macro-nutrients, such as fat, on a cellular level within the body.
Yes, this process sounds insanely complicated, and it is. But luckily you don’t need to know all the finer details to be able to comprehend the overall concept. Well unless you're a medical student or a PhD candidate, to which we wish you all the best!
Good vs Bad Fats…
Chemically all fats share the same structure, a chain of carbon atoms attached to hydrogen atoms. However, the length and overall shape of the carbon atoms and the total number of hydrogen atoms determines a fats’ identity, differentiating it from another fat. That differentiation is what defines a fat as good or bad based on their function in the body.
That being said, not all fats were born equal! There are the good ones and the bad ones, and then there are the “we’re okay to consume in moderation” category of dietary fat.
But let’s take it back to the introduction of this article, where we thought back to the peak of what I like to refer to as the prohibition of all that was and is fat! The low fat craze, every item on the shelf in our grocery stores was dubbed “low fat” or “fat free”. Now the problem this marketing strategy created was the fact that they stripped all fat from our diets, including the good ones, which as you now know is so crucial to our bodily functions.
Let’s take a look at the different types of dietary fat in terms of the bad, the not so bad and the good stuff.
The Bad Guys… Trans Fats
The worst of the worst fats by some margin, are without any doubt TRANS FATS! Boy oh boy are these bad for you, this category of dietary fats serve literally no nutritional benefit in the body. Trans fats are such a terrible compound in the realm of consumable fat products that some countries have completely banned them from production, distribution and consumption at all levels of their food industries. Do you know how bad you need to be to be essentially banished from a country? You’re basically in the same category as drugs and narcotics!
But what makes trans fat so bad? Well, trans fats are the byproduct of hydrogenation. This where food solidifies healthy oils in order to extend their lifespan, basically stopping them from going off or rancid. Take margarine or vegetable shortening for an example, most of these products were made from really healthy naturally occurring fatty oils such as sunflower oil and canola oil.
However, because these oils were extracted with minimal industrialized processes, their eventual shelf life was limited. So the solidification process, hydrogenation, was used as a method to increase profits. But the problem was, this process creates trans fats within the final products that these guys produced and because it wasn’t commercially viable to have the trans fats removed from their products, the result was tainted products on our shelves.
This might seem like an elaborate story of the bad guys in the world trying to harm the public exchange for profits… And you’re right because that is exactly what it was. Consuming trans fats have been proven to directly increase your bad cholesterol and decrease your good cholesterol in our blood streams, but more on this in a moment.
Trans fats have been directly linked to the following:
Can you now see why these fats are now illegal in so many countries in the world? However, because they are so cheap to produce and in some underdeveloped nations, the rules aren’t enforced as harshly, trans fats remain in circulation. So just like the war on drugs, the fight to rid the world of trans fat is an ongoing struggle. But at least now you know, because the misinformation surrounding fat has cost so many lives, and that is part and parcel of why we’re discussing this topic. As we believe it is a conversation that needs to be continually highlighted until we’ve banished all trans fat from our foods!
The Not so Bad Guys… Saturated Fats
Saturated fats. That’s it. Okay let’s move on to the next category. Just kidding, but the middle child of this family is in fact saturated fats. But what exactly makes a fat saturated? Well, do you remember back when we were discussing the chemical structure of fat compounds? Well these fats host as many hydrogen atoms as possible… These fats are “saturated” with hydrogen, get it?
Other characteristics of saturated fats include the fact that they are solid at room temperature. Examples include the fat we find in:
Even the oh so popular coconut oil is saturated fat!
But having a look at this list of saturated fat sources it kind of begs the question, are they really bad for us? The answer is yes and no. Saturated fat consumed in moderation is in fact healthy and can aid in many of the important physiological functions. But that being said, a diet high in saturated fat can increase your overall cholesterol, which in turn can have detrimental effects on your health. The key to saturated fat is balance, you can have your yummy bacon all greasy and heavenly, but only in moderation! Sorry guys, that means no more breakfast buffets!
And Then There are the Good Guys…
Finally, the good guys arrive on the scene in perfect cinematic timing. But what exactly makes a good fat good for us? The lack of saturation. You see, this class of fats have a limited amount of hydrogen atoms attached to their carbon atoms. This allows these naturally occurring fats to be liquid at room temperature and ultimately categorized as healthy fat.
In addition, these fats can be subdivided into two categories:
Examples of monounsaturated fat include:
Polyunsaturated fats can be found in most of our pantries at home. Corn oil, standard sunflower and safflower oils are the most common examples. Again, these are liquid at room temperature and are defined as essential fats. This is because our bodies cannot produce these fats on our own so we need to consume these fats through our diets as they are essential to multiple physiological functions.
The build up of cell membranes, blood clotting, nerve covering and protection, hormone signalling and inflammatory responses are just a few of the important functions that require essential fats. The two main essential fats are Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids. The numbers are just an indication of the distance between the double bonds in the structure of the molecule.
The main benefits of these fatty acids include lowering the bad cholesterol, lowering triglycerides and improving your overall cholesterol profile. Now I know mainstream media in collaboration with Big Pharma will have you believe that the only way to include these essential fatty acids into your diet was through supplements like capsules etc. But this is far from the truth, these fatty acids are easily found in fatty fish such as mackerel, salmon and sardines.
And for my plant based and vegan folks out there, you can get your essential fatty acid fix from flaxseeds, walnuts, canola oil and un-hydrogenated soybean oils. All of these options are readily available in most countries and are in fact quite inexpensive. The capsules you will get at your local drug store are supplements meaning they are used as an addition to your diet. They are simply a streamlined way to make sure you’re getting enough of the good stuff, but shouldn’t be your only source of these essential fatty acids.
So just to summarize, you need to stay clear of trans fats, you need to consume saturated fats in moderation and you have to, I repeat YOU HAVE TO consume unsaturated fats as they are essential for a healthy lifestyle.
HDL vs LDL… and What the Heck is Cholesterol?
Most of us have heard the term cholesterol, whether it was from your primary care physician or from a highly exaggerated ad’ for a new supplement; the word cholesterol has been mangled to fit many agendas over the past 3 decades.
But what most people actually don’t know is that cholesterol is a naturally occurring lipid compound found in our body, in fact all animal cells contain cholesterol. This compound is actually very important in the regulation of many bodily systems. Cholesterol aids in cell integrity by maintaining the fluidity and permeability of cell membranes. Cholesterol also facilitates Vitamin D production, reproductive, adrenal and sex steroid hormones as well as bile salts, which enhance the digestion and absorption of fats in the gut.
Despite our bodies being able to produce cholesterol by themselves (our livers synthesize naturally occurring cholesterol in our bodies) we still have access to dietary cholesterol from food. All dietary cholesterol is derived from animals and animal sourced foods such as meat, fish, shellfish, poultry, cheese and eggs.
Therefore the blood cholesterol is a direct result of the combination of cholesterol synthesized in the liver and the cholesterol we consume from food. But luckily for us our bodies have a self regulating function when it comes to cholesterol and maintains, or attempts to maintain, adequate levels of the compound in our blood. In most people, the effect of dietary cholesterol on the bloodstream is very limited, which is a good thing. But in some people our bodily system is naturally hyper sensitive, resulting in these people needing to actively manage and monitor the amount of cholesterol they consume through their diets.
That being said, cholesterol in our bloodstream gets transported or “carried” by lipoproteins. These lipoproteins can have a lower density, low density lipoproteins or LDL for short. Or they can be of a higher density, known as high density lipoproteins or HDL for short. Now both of these lipoproteins affect our health in good and bad ways.
But why the need for lipoproteins to facilitate the transportation of cholesterol? Well let’s think about mixing a cup of oil with a cup of water, they actually don’t mix. This is because cholesterol isn’t a very soluble molecule and because our bodys and more particularly our blood is mostly water, they need assistance to be able to mix with our bloodstream. And that is where lipoproteins come into the mix.
In the case of low density lipoproteins (LDL), they have a higher ratio of fats than they do proteins within their make up. And they do in fact impact our health by carrying these fats, cholesterol and triglycerides, to the cells of the body that need them. However, multiple studies over the past 5 decades have directly linked elevated LDL to an increased risk of atherosclerotic based cardiovascular disease. And that is essentially why this group of lipoproteins have been categorized as “bad”.
On the other side of the spectrum, you have HDL or high density lipoproteins. Which have more proteins than fats within the make up which in turn increases its overall density. HDL is made in the liver and is responsible for the transport of cholesterol from the cells back to the liver. And it is because of this function, that it has been dubbed the “good” lipoprotein.
Fats in Our Diet: Low Fat, Atkins, Banting or Keto?
Okay, so we’ve covered the misconceptions of fats in the world we live in. We have covered the types of fats, which fats are good and which fats are bad. We also dove into their respective functions within the body, and why they are so important to our daily functioning as human beings. We hope this has given you a fair amount of insight into the world of fat and it’s place in our lives.
But now we need to look at the other side of fat in our lives. Yes, we are going to discuss fats and our diets. If you think about it, this is probably the main reason why you and I know anything about fats. I mean our obsession of losing fat has driven the theme for dietary recommendations into overdrive. I mean if you compared the average recommended macro-nutrient profiles of the 90s to the recommendations we have today, you quickly start to realize that these sets of “instructions” are polar opposites in many ways.
This essentially means that it has been affected by the trends of the specific era it was recommended for; but we also understand that we only know what we know. And what we mean by that is, science and research is constantly changing, so too would dietary trends as new research more often than not debunks previous research.
So I guess that could be the reason why we are in the situation that we are currently in. Because despite the research constantly changing the eventual dietary recommendations, we as a society don’t necessarily follow said changes and sometimes we take certain statements as fact despite there being contradictory information out there. What this simply means is that our minds are set up to believe what we have an underlying bias towards, and in the case of the diets we follow it is usually influenced by the era we grew up in! That our grandparents are anti-fats, while us millennials are advocating for ketogenesis! It’s actually quite crazy if you think about it, luckily we’re here to help make sense of it all.
That's why we are going to try and simplify all of this information, by breaking down dietary recommendations and or set diets into the following categories:
Okay, now that we have a plan let’s get started shall we? And where better to start than with the old and gold low fat lifestyle. The low fat diet stems from the 70s, which was coincidentally the era where our obsession with the way we looked took off. As a society being “skinny” was seen as being “beautiful”. This was caused by the mainstream availability of Hollywood produced movies that promoted this type of bodily figure as quote unquote “sexy”. Now, we all know that this is so far from the truth and in actual fact quite a toxic sentiment, but hey that was the 70s for you.
What this culture in turn created was the need to lose weight fast. And we want you to pay special attention to our word choices, as you can see the obsession was with weight not fat. The difference between the two will be discussed later in this article. Anyway, the need to lose weight, led to the rationale that since fats are the highest caloric macro-nutrient, reducing and in some extreme cases completely cutting them from our diets led to the low fat lifestyle being born.
In essence, the low fat diet is exactly what it says it is… Low in fat. But the problem is and was, the type of fat that was reduced and or cut out of our diets was not specified. Meaning in most cases both good and bad fat was removed from our daily nutritional recommendations. This was driven by the fact that it was assumed that no fat or low fat resulted in a healthy heart. But we now know that this is not the case, as fats in our diet remain critical to our health.
So What are the Pro’s and Con’s of Going Low Fat?
Well the only pro to going on this diet is that you might experience a rapid but short term weight loss at the beginning of the diet. Which is what made it so popular back in the day, because you could drop unwanted pounds in a short period of time. Essentially a source of instant gratification.
On the flipside, the cons outweigh the pros. Because the weight loss is short term, prolonged dieting with very little fats being consumed resulted in long term detriment. These include impaired functionality of bodily systems, negatively affected mental health and very little evidence to suggest any sort of health benefits.
So what’s our opinion on going low fat? Well, there is some merit to this diet from a caloric perspective as you would be lowering the amount of caloric dense food you consume on a day to day basis. However, I think the entire diet should be rebranded and be much more specific by urging the reduction of unhealthy dietary fats such as trans fats and saturated fats (in excess) from our lifestyles. And it should promote the consumption of essential fats needed by the body to survive.
What this new version of the low fat diet will be called, we don’t know, since the marketing power lies within the villainization of fats as a whole. But hey this is just our opinion at the end of the day.
What About Diets that are High in Fat?
Well, I am so glad you asked because we are about to take a look at the opposite of the low fat diet. Over the last 30-40 years as research started to become readily available and the boom of the internet, the rise in high fat diets for healthy lifestyles started to increase in popularity. And what this ultimately led to was multiple fad and trendy diets claiming to once again promote rapid and excessive weight loss by consuming copious amounts of fats in our diets. Can you see a trend developing here? More on this a bit later on.
Now I don’t think it would be fair to anyone to look at ALL the high fat diets that have been on the market over the past few decades. Otherwise we are going to be here all day and night and maybe a little tomorrow as well. So we will just take a deeper look at the most popular of the high fat diets.
But before we do that, I believe we should look at the logic and or reasoning for the high fat lifestyle.
High Fat Diet Number 1: The ATKINS Diet!
Popularized in 1972 by the best-selling book, with the same name, the Atkins diet was developed by Dr. Robert C Atkins. The fundamental concept of the diet was based on cutting out carbohydrates and in turn allowing those that were following a diet an unlimited amount of fat and protein. Okay, yes this diet isn’t a “fat based or high fat” diet per say, it is however relevant to the conversation which we will explain why in a bit.
When this diet first gained some steam back in the 70s and 80s, the public ate it up, because of the drastic and rapid weight loss people experienced on this diet. Again very similar to the low fat diet we discussed earlier. The main reason for the rapid weight loss was due to the fact that dieters were consuming little to no carbohydrates during the first few phases of the Atkins diet. Now, years and years of research has already proved that going low carb is a good way to lose weight, as your insulin gets better regulated etc etc.
But just like many overnight successes there are usually some people who disagree with the premise, and with the Atkins diet this was no different. The mainstream medical community quickly declared the Atkins diet as “public enemy number one”.
The reason for this was that many dieters would consume copious amounts of saturated fat; which we now know is really bad for your health in excess. The risks of which we already covered earlier in this article. And is ultimately why we decided to include it in our list of high fat diets. The lack of restriction when it came to high protein and high fatty foods meant that people would quite literally binge to the point where their bodies would go into chronic acidic ketosis. A condition we will have a look at in a moment[b].
However, recent studies have found that when implemented properly the Atkins diet really isn’t AS bad as we once thought it was, showing scientific efficacy for weight loss without great adverse effects on our health.
Our verdict? Erm, we’re not too sure about this hey? Because it is still at the core a very very restrictive diet. I mean during one phase of the Atkins diet you’re consuming less than 20g of carbs a day. Dude, that is absolutely brutal. Imagine trying to be an olympic athlete and eating only 20 grams of carbs a day, I am pretty sure you will die during training! So unless you’re on a specific nutrition plan where carbs are actually harmful to you, gluten intolerance or celiac disease, then this might not be the best diet to be on.
High Fat Diet Number 2: The Banting Diet!
Originally developed in 1862, yes, that is correct almost a hundred and fifty years ago, the Banting diet was supposedly a miraculous way to treat obesity. Obviously as modern medicine was developed and nutrition was studied far more deeply, scientists quickly came to realize that might have been a gross exaggeration.
Fast forward over a 100 years later, in 2013 the diet resurfaced in an amazing fashion. This was all thanks to a certain Professor Tim Noakes. Noakes, a seasoned expert in nutrition who was based in South Africa at the time, wrote a best selling book on his own version of the diet which was later known as Banting 2.0. What made him and ultimately his book so popular was the fact that he based his findings, not only on controlled scientific research, but on his own personal experience. You see, Noakes followed the original Banting diet and then modified it, this personal touch turned out to be a stroke of genius as Noakes’s approach to the Banting diet, outlined in his book “The real meal revolution” really took off!
So how does it actually work? Well Banting 2.0 much like the Atkins diet is based on the premise of restricting your carbohydrate intake. However, it does place significant emphasis on the consumption of healthy fat and proteins in a balanced and controlled manner. Which unlike the willy nilly approach we see with the original Atkins guidelines, is far more healthier.
The Tim Noakes approach to the Banting diet, focuses on changing your entire lifestyle and hopefully your relationship with food. Which is a big green flag in our books! The diet promotes the intake of whole foods with little to no processed products being consumed throughout the diet. Another component we really like about the diet is the fact you track your food intake through journaling and making notes. This approach has a lot of promise with regards to our ability to stay consistent and compliant during a diet.
That being said, banting isn’t without it’s downsides and none more so than the restrictive nature of the diet. Your carbohydrate intake is severely limited making said potential compliance an issue. Because you are really limited on foods to buy whether at the store or your local restaurants. This negatively affects your day to day life as the constant stress of finding “banting friendly” foods or only being allotted certain foods or products can cause you to end up giving up on the diet as a whole.
Our thoughts on the Banting 2.0 diet are actually quite neutral. We like the fact that it preaches and encourages meaningful lifestyle changes, however we don’t appreciate all that restriction in what and where we can eat.
High Fat Diet Number 3: The Keto Diet!
I do not know of any diet that has transformed the fitness and nutrition industry as much as the keto diet has; the last diet that has had a similar sort of impact was probably weight watchers or something. Keto is short for ketogenic, and it is actually designed and developed around a bodily state where your body transforms itself from a predominantly carbohydrate fueled system to using fat as its main energy source. Okay, it does sound kind of transformers like, but it actually does work that way. Think of your car, now imagine transforming your petrol or gasoline fueled engine to a battery powered electric engine. It’s the same premise, just a different fuel source, in the case of the body the petrol or gasoline is glucose derived from carbohydrates and the battery or electric power is derived from fat.
Once your body achieves this transformation, it is then in a state of ketosis. This is achieved by essentially starving your body of carbohydrates and moderating the protein intake to the bare minimum needed for bodily functions. In turn, your body converts its main energy source from glucose to fat and this is achieved via liver as your body breaks down your dietary fat in ketone bodies. These ketones are burned by your body for fuel, and by burn we mean gets metabolized but everyone seems to respond to the term burn when used in conjunction with the term fat, so we thought we’d do it too.
But is the ketogenic diet really all that it is being hyped up to be? A straight answer is yes, yes it is and here's why:
The benefits of maintaining your body in a constant state of Ketosis lowers your body's insulin levels, aids in improved hormone regulation, lowers chronic inflammation and promotes, in most cases, significant healthy weight loss.
In addition to these benefits, almost everyone that I know has documented the improved focus and concentration, higher energy levels and an overall better state of mind. And these aren’t just inferences or potential benefits of the keto diet, these are based on numerous publications that outright the ketogenic diet as a way of life.
However, just like everything else in this world, the keto diet has a few drawbacks, some of which have been noted as quote unquote deal breakers for many who have attempted this way of life.
I think the biggest reason behind people sticking with the keto diet has to be the infamous “keto flu”. The keto flu is a phenomenon experienced during the initial stages of the keto diet; essentially when your body is busy transforming from a glucose fueled organism to a fat fueled machine! The transformation from glucose to ketones as an energy source is literally a miserable experience for most. Symptoms include nausea, constipation (due to a drastic drop in fiber rich carbs in your diet) headaches (some people have reported migraines, ouch!), severe fatigue and insane sugar cravings. And guess what, the symptoms may last up to 10 days! That is a very long time to feel that crappy don’t you think?
The way I see the Keto flu is essentially going through glucose withdrawal, and yes it’s going to suck. How do you bypass this t? Well many of the pro-keto experts out there will have you believe that you just need to stay well hydrated, unfortunately there is no scientific evidence available to back this claim making this suggestion anecdotal at best. That being said, not everyone goes through the keto flu experience, with some only experiencing the effects for a few days. Why? Well from our point of view it’s basically the luck of the draw type of vibe going here where there is no predetermined factor that will decide whether or not you will experience keto flu.
Another downside to living the keto life is surely the fact that the diet is extremely strict. Unlike other diets that focus on calorie restriction as a means of promoting weight loss, the keto diet changes your metabolic systems. Now let’s go back to our car analogy; once your car has been converted to a battery powered electric car, do you think it can occasionally run on a little bit of petrol or gasoline here and there?
Of course not, the car will most likely break down. And the same can be said for your body once it has undergone the transformation into a state of ketosis. You cannot consume more than 50 g of carbs a day or else you will not maintain a state of ketosis. You cannot consume more than 20% of your total daily calories from protein sources, as protein can still be converted to glucose and bingo bango you’re no longer in a state of ketosis. This makes it extremely daunting to stay on track with this diet, as your options are very very limited.
And finally, and quite crucially, despite what the documentaries and pro keto fanatics might have you believe not all athletes can operate efficiently while being on a ketogenic diet. The only real difference makers that have noted the benefits of ketone fueled athletic performance is during ultra endurance athletic events, such as the iron man etc. That is a very small percentage of athletes out there making it more and more difficult to justify being keto as an athlete.
So based on all that has been said, what do we think about the ketogenic diet? Honestly, out of all the high fat, low carb diets out there this one seems to be the most legit. It has the most scientific backing and at the end of the day it is the diet that makes the most sense within this context. However, it is a really restricted way of living, with significant downsides despite all the positives it might bring to your lifestyle.
So I guess it’s a case of each to their own? Okay fair enough that isn’t a real answer, but to tell you the truth, keto is similar to being vegan or pescatarian. It really isn’t for everyone despite the significant amount of evidence that backs each of these as prolonged lifestyles. Hence why we said it is really about individual preference, because we firmly believe that if you:
1. Truly believe in a way of life and
2. Enjoy the experience on a daily basis
Thus whatever diet or lifestyle makes you feel these two experiences as a bare minimum is the diet for you.
STORY TIME: OPRAH AND THE ATKINS DIET
During my second year of my bachelor of science degree at University I attended a seminar about nutrition. It was a very insightful experience as the speaker really made us get in touch with the fundamental concepts of nutrition. That being said, the part of the seminar that stuck with me the most was the story of Oprah and her experience with the Atkins diet.
According to the speaker, during the early days of Oprah’s career, there were some concerns raised regarding her weight. As we all know, it is no secret that back in the day, network television hosts all fit the stereotypical mold of what was deemed attractive and sexy. I mean, sex sells right? Now Oprah has always struggled with her weight, it was a sort of mental roadblock for her during that time of her career. It destroyed her confidence, made her question her self worth and it was during this vulnerable time that Oprah heard about this amazing diet that will make you lose so much weight so quickly. Yip, it was the infamous Atkins diet.
So Oprah jumped on the bandwagon and gave the diet her all, and truth be told she did in fact lose weight on the diet. The problem was that Oprah unknowingly did something to herself that had an even further negative impact on her body.
Fun fact, Oprah loves avocados, she loves avocados so much that she bought an avocado orchard! Okay but why is this relevant? Remember back when we said that people on the Atkins diet could consume as much protein and fat as they desired? Well, Oprah leaned a bit more to the latter! During her time on the Atkins diet she consumed most of her calories from fatty foods. Now granted she did in fact consume good sources of fats, eating fairly healthy.
However, because of this, she ended up transforming her body into a state of ketosis! So much so that her body had a significantly high level of ketone bodies in her system and one of the biggest side effects of having a high ketone body concentration? Your body develops a scent…
Yip, Oprah became smelly, something that most of us can’t even imagine really? Because I mean, it’s Oprah? Anyway, the smell originates due to the high acetone concentration caused by the Ketones in her system. These ketones get excreted by the body through sweat and urine; during the initial changes in her metabolism the smell is kind of pleasant with many describing it as a fruity like sensation. However, once the process has been completed and you go into ketosis, that pleasant smell changes into a rancid ammonia-like odor. And that is what happened to Oprah, her body odor was vile, yet she continued on the diet despite the fact that she quite literally stunk!
Can you imagine this? I surely can not, but hey it was the 90s right?
Now, to be honest I am not sure whether the story was or is really true, but I found it very relatable and it has served as a lifelong reminder that perspective is a valuable tool when it comes to our diet. Oprah was so self absorbed about her weight that she was willing to literally live and smell like industrial grade cat litter in order to shed some weight. Of course, now she knows better and is a huge advocate for body positivity and loving yourself. But the world back then wasn’t kind, neither is this world we are currently living in; perspective is everything.
Your body needs to be healthy first and slim or skinny later, this is an undeniable fact! However, mainstream media and the birth of social media applications has made this insanely or damn near impossible to advocate for! Everywhere we go we are bombarded with “sex”; photos, videos, tikytokys… It never stops. Of Course we’re upset, of course we start questioning our worth and attaching our own value to how we are perceived or how many likes we can get per post on one of our social media apps.
You see, this story wasn’t a random addition to this article or just a cool segway to tell you guys about the darker days in Oprah’s career. No, this was very strategic, we have discussed what fat is, where it comes from, what it does and how it affects the way we eat. We looked at diets related to this category and what makes or made them so popular. But have noticed how we always referred to weight loss and not fat loss? Go ahead, track back and see for yourself. The reason we did this is very specific… And it is probably the most significant part of what fat is and how it affects. It is the perfect segway into our next part of this article series… A wake up call for you to take a good look at yourself.
ConClusion
Fat is important. Fat is vital to our existence. But fat has been misunderstood for the longest time. But now that you understand what fat is, what it does and the purpose it serves I hope you can look at fat in a new light.
At the end of the day all fat is not the same, and being able to differentiate between dietary fat and body fat is essential for all of us in the fitness world to be able to move forward and ultimately change the narrative, for good.
This article serves a greater purpose in our opinion as we believe that we need to educate you guys to understand what it is you are talking about when you talk about fat. Looking at the scientific makeup of fat, the function it serves in our bodies both from a physiological and dietary perspective and then the history of fat in our society and how it has impacted three entire generations' relationships with food is a long overdue conversation. And it is a conversation we’re going to dive a bit deeper into; in the next installment of this article series.
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