Fats
I have a love hate relationship with fats in my diet. I hope that you do not have this issue. This section is to help you with every aspect of meal prepping and consuming fats on a day-to-day basis. The body is very complex, and I will try to put this information in the simplest way possible.
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First, we must talk about what fats are and how our body needs them. This is especially important for us because of several of our medications that we must take or our feeding tubes. Then we will talk about the different types of fats. Next, we will talk about the macros, the calories, and the meal prepping. We will finish the fats category with different tips and tricks with our medications.
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So to kick this topic off, what do fats in our diet actually do?
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Fats are the essential tool for a lit of processes that happen in our body without us seeing or feeling the effects. One example of this is helping certain vitamins (The fat-soluble vitamins) breakdown and move throughout the body. I take two capsules of A, D, E, K in the morning. consuming fats help protect your cells in your body. Most of the cells in your body have a protective lipid (fat) membrane. This layer is the wall to the fortress. Only certain things can pass through with the help of channels and other organs in the cell. Healthy fats also line some of the key organs in the body. Of course, the certain layers of fats help each organ in a different way. The heart and the lungs have a lipid sack around them that hold fluid to help with different pressure levels. This helps these organs stretch or compress. Fats that we consume also help keep bacteria in or out of the correct spots in our stomach and intestines to help with digestion. One of the more major roles that fats take on are hormone control. the thyroid and different parts of the brain use fats as blockers and or carriers of different compounds to move or release hormones throughout the body. Another job that fats have is lining the nervous system. Fats hold certain charges that help accelerate the process of sending signals to the body. Plasma and fast coat these soft tissues to protect them and to help boost the signals from the brain or top of the spine to the necessary area through the body. With that said these are just a few examples of why fats are important.
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Now lets cover what are fats in our diets actually made up of and how they react with the body. Another name for fats is lipids. These breakdown into 3 different categories.
1. Triglycerides
2. Cholesterol
3. Phospholipids
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Triglycerides are basically the fats that we eat and can be stored in the body. These are composed of two compounds, fatty acids and glycerol.
The fatty acids can differ in length and the amount of carbon with hydrogen. This affects how fast we can access these compounds for fuel.
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This helps us break down triglycerides into the categories that we see on the back of foods.
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Types of triglycerides
1. Saturated- solid at room temp
2. Unsaturated - liquid at room temp
3. Monounsaturated - liquid at room temp
4. Polyunsaturated - liquid at room temp
5. Trans - solid at room temp
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Omega fatty acids are types of polyunsaturated fats. the number in the omega fatty acids determine where there are extra hydrogen bonds.
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Cholesterol is a fat like substance that we do not need to consume because our liver takes care of that naturally. These types of fats are only found in animals. We must watch 2 levels of cholesterol in our body. These are the LDLs and HDLs. The LDLs are low density proteins, these are the BAD cholesterol according to the health world. The HDLs are the GOOD types of cholesterol. These are the kind our livers produce.
The LDLs are not dense so they can move throughout the body and clog your blood vessels. The HDLs help carry cholesterol back to the liver for the organ to get rid of it.
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Phospholipids are much like triglycerides. they have glycerol at the center with attached fatty acids. the main difference is that they have a phosphate molecule. Phospholipids are not necessary in our diet. The good thing is that there are no concerns in our diet when it comes to these.
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The daily intake for a person without CF is advised to consume about 25-30% of fat in their diet. We must consume high amounts of fats in our diets while fighting CF. With CF we need to eat a little a little bit more but the issue with that is the bad fats seem to increase in our diets as well.
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So let’s cover the good and the bad fats. Trans fats, and Saturated fats are the two that lead to heart issues. Monosaturated fats are considered a good fat and a prime example of this type of fat is olive oil. Polyunsaturated fats such as omega 3 and omega 6 are considered good fats. The recommended amount for omega 6 is 17 grams for males and 15 grams for females. Examples of these fats are vegetable and nut oils, salad dressing, and margarine. Omega 3 fat is suggested as 1.6 grams for males and 1.1 grams for females. This fat can be found in fish, soy products, and several oils.
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Macro nutrients and caloric intake.
1 gram of fat = 9 calories.
Depending on your goals you can use the percentages from above. So, for instance I am trying to bulk. So, I multiply mu body weight by 18. This equals 3,240 calories. If I use the suggested 30% for fats I would need to consume 972 calories of fat. This in grams would be 108 grams of fat a day.
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If there are any questions you can always email me at 65roseathletics@gmail.com or send a message at the get in touch buttons throughout the website.
If you would like to schedule a 1 on 1 nutrition session where we sit down on a zoom call and talk about your daily life, medications, activity levels and goals, you can do this in the 1 on 1 Coaching.