Do you know why fat was demonized in the 1970s ? Because it was discovered at the time that: 1 gram of fat contains 9 calories; whereas 1 gram of carbohydrate or protein contains only 4 calories.
Conclusion (frankly stupid): since fat is more calories than sugar, it would be better to eat sugar !
Added to this is the "cholesterol myth" that certain dietary fats clog the arteries which is totally false.
Fortunately, everyone today recognizes that there are excellent fats such as avocado, egg yolk, olive or rapeseed oil, different varieties of nuts or small oily fish.
Now the question a lot of people are asking themselves is: do we need to eat more fat? Should we drastically reduce sugars of all kinds, including vegetables and fruits?
The answer is a little technical, but it's definitely worth going into that detail :
Low-carb diets
Clearly, hundreds of thousands of people around the world have lost tens of pounds (and seen their lives transformed!) The day they eliminated starches and sweets from their diets.
It must be recognized that some people also succeed in losing weight with "low-fat" diets (low in fat and high in carbohydrates)!
In fact, excess fat makes you fat too. Because some "keto fans" believe that you only gain weight from excess sugar, which is then converted to body fat.
This is simply not true: excess calories will be stored, whether from sugars or from fat.
The worst part, of course, is eating a diet high in carbohydrates AND high in fat!
Think of a butter croissant (which is really the worst thing you can eat, if you add the trans fats in it).
Or cheese pasta. Or potato chips dipped in cream. In this case, you are burning the carbohydrates AND storing the fat you eat.
The key, if you eat a lot of good fats, is to significantly reduce carbohydrates.
Note that the reverse is also true, in theory: if you consume a lot of good carbohydrates (sweet potatoes, semi-brown basmati rice, squash, buckwheat, vegetables, etc.), you should significantly reduce the fat in your diet.
Fat tends to suppress hunger, while some sugars tend to whet your appetite - which can turn your "low-fat" diet into torture!
Moreover, a diet too low in fat may exposing you to serious deficiencies in omega-3 or vitamins A and E (which are fat-soluble vitamins, assimilated by fat).
This is why “low-carb” is recommended rather than “low-fat” to lose weight.
However, it should be noted that there is also a minority of people whose constitution does not support a high fat diet. These people will therefore find it much easier to lose weight by reducing the fat in their diet.
This is how nutrition is : it's complicated, and it depends a bit on each one.
But the good thing about understanding all of this is that you can try it out for yourself and see what works best for you!
What to avoid as much as possible is ultra-processed foods.
If there is a "big enemy" in food, it's industrial products that are so adulterated that they have little to do with what you find in nature.
Ultra-processed foods are a category of foods that are highly processed and made mostly from substances extracted from foods, such as fats, starches, added sugars, and hydrogenated fats. They are designed to be convenient, cheap, and have a long shelf life, and are generally ready to eat or heat. Examples of ultra-processed foods include soft drinks, chips, chocolate, candy, ice cream, sweetened breakfast cereals, packaged soups, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, fries, and more.
High consumption of ultra-processed foods has been linked to health concerns ranging from increased risk of obesity, hypertension, breast and colon cancer, and even death. According to a study published in The BMJ, ultra-processed foods are the main source (nearly 58%) of calories eaten in the US, and contribute almost 90% of the energy we get from added sugars.
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