It is not the first time that someone who wants to start with a low- carbohydrate diet asks me: “Why do I have to eat so much fat, I am not going to lose weight?” And my answer is standard: ‘You need fats to be able to burn fat and therefore lose weight. Don’t skimp on eatingfats. I often get the question from my customers: ‘I hardly eat any fats, eat everything light and lean, but I …’. Because really, you absolutely need the fats.
Fats are extremely important
And that is quite a shock to many and it can also be difficult to understand that these fats cause fat burning. And I understand it all too well. Many have a history of diets that avoid fats. Prescribe that you should use as many low-fat and light products as possible . Not only because fats are seen as ‘bad and dangerous ‘, but also because fats are high in calories . And it is precisely those diets that are also based on strict calorie restriction. Time for an article on why fats are really an essential part of the low-carbohydrate lifestyle.
Eat fats and limit your carbohydrates
And here I would like to immediately touch on an essential point. Because eating a lot of carbohydrates and fats is not a good idea and you will not lose weight. But if you are going to eat low carbohydrates , then you need the fats in the form of coconut oil , cream butter, fatty fish, olive oil, full-fat dairy , nuts and avocado.
How about this now? And to understand why you need fats to burn fat, it is important to understand both carbohydrates. I often get the question where are carbohydrates and where are few carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are now labeled as …as fats put in your body.
Burning fats versus burning carbohydrates
To many it seems completely contradictory to eat less carbohydrates , but more fats. Especially if you want to lose weight. To understand this you need to know what carbohydrates and fats do in your body. Like a car, we need to fuel our bodies. We need fuel to get through our day and have energy and we need fuel for our vital bodily functions. Our human body has two primary sources of fuel namely carbohydrates and fat.
Carbohydrates (or glucose) are the body’s primary fuel source, while fat is the secondary energy source. Our body will always be the first to use the carbohydrates (glucose) present in our body as fuel. When these are used up, our body switches to using fats as fuel.
Think of it as a switch. As long as there are carbohydrates (or glucose) in your diet, your body remains in the so-called ‘carbohydrate burn’ or ‘sugar burn’. When this supply is exhausted, you no longer eat carbohydrates or that fuel is exhausted, the switch in your body looks for the fats to use as fuel. You are then a so-called ‘fat burner’.
The great thing is that our bodies can naturally switch back and forth between the two fuels. Unfortunately, many people have trouble switching back and forth between the two forms of fat burning, which makes burning fat more difficult. We also often eat too many carbohydrates too often, so that our body does not even get round to using fat as an energy source.