The word fat has many meanings. Two of them are fat in the food we eat and fat that we put on our bodies as a result of eating too much bad nutrition and not enough exercise. It is unfortunate that the word fat is used to describe these two totally different meanings. Because the same word carries those meanings many of us tempt to believe that as a result of eating fat free food we will not gain fat on our bodies.
The truth is that eating fat does not necessarily mean that this fat will be put on our bodies as extra pounds. Fat has more calories per gram than many other ingredients. Eating a lot of fat means consuming much more energy than our body needs and extra energy means the body turning this energy into layers fat reserves. It is really the energy in the fat and not the fat itself that is fattening.
So don’t think that just by avoiding fat you will avoid getting fat – that is just not true. Fat free food is less tasty than food with fat. Many times in order to compensate for the lost of taste food companies add sugar and other ingredients to their products. Processed sugar is a very low quality source of energy. In fact the body can only use that energy for a very short time after it was consumed. Since most of us are not going to jog right after consuming sugar the body will have nothing to do with that extra energy but convert it to fat.
Sugar turns into fat in our body. Many people do not realize that or just ignore that fact. Consuming fat free food that is rich in sugar is not different than consuming food with a lot of fat or just consuming a lot fat and calories. The body is an amazing machine and it is very efficient. Energy that can not be used or is not needed is reserved for the future and the way in which the body reserves energy is by building extra layers of fat. So when we eat fatty food we actually just consume too much energy – the reason we gain weight is not because we eat fat that sticks to out body but because that fat has too much energy and the excess energy is converted to layers of fat by our body. And when we eat fat free food that is rich in sugar our body will again have excess energy that can not be used and that will be converted to layers of fat too.
To conclude it is important to understand that fat free does not mean healthy or non fattening food. Always check the nutrition facts of the food you consume to determine that you are not consuming too many calories or too much sugar. It is better to have some fat in your food and less sugar than too much sugar and no fat at all. As always the best diet is one that preaches for moderation in the quantity of food and in its nutrition. Make sure your calories are consumed from nutritious ingredients and not from just sugar and fat.
