Fat Facts

Fats occur naturally in food and play an important role in nutrition.

Fats and oils provide a concentrated source of energy for the body.  By concentrated I’m speaking of the caloric density of fat.

1 gram of fat contains 9 calories compared to carbohydrates and protein which both contain only 4 calories in 1 gram.

To break it down even further, a gram of each is the same size but fats pack more than twice the amount of calories!

(this is the reason low fat diets originally made sense to follow*)

Fats are used to store energy in the body, insulate body tissues, and transport fat soluble vitamins through the blood. These are all reasons why we must eat fat.

Fats also play an important role in food preparation by enhancing food flavor, adding mouth-feel, making baked products tender, and conducting heat during cooking.

This is where it all goes down hill!

Fat is flavor; butter, fried food, mayonnaise, bacon, cheese

For example a whopper loses 40% of it’s fat when the mayonnaise is removed!