Why do we eat fat to lose fat? page

[jqbancroft]

Ok--maybe I just need to re-read the book, but as I'm thinking about my ability to explain what I've learned through primal eating I've realized that my understand of fat is pretty slim. I understand carbs pretty well, and why we need as much protein as we do, and I understand that saturated fatty acids aren't the devil that we need to get plenty of Omega 3's...but, I've read a lot lately that all diets end up being a high fat diet because the end goal is for your body to get energy from it's fat stores. So, if our body is getting from dietary fat, why does it need to get fat from the body? Is there where calorie deficits come in? And, also, what are the benefits of a higher fat diet? Does it help anything (besides sating hunger)?

I guess what I'm getting at it is--I know that eating a lot of fat isn't BAD, but I don't know why it's GOOD.

[lizch]

I read somewhere (Taube's'ss book I think....sorry for the apostrophes and s suffixes but I remember someone getting their panties in a wad because some hapless forum member put the s or the apostrophe or both in the wrong place, and I can't remember where it's supposed to be, so I thought I'd party on it....)

Anyway....I read somewhere that a high carb diet IS a high fat diet, because the liver converts the carbs to fat and circulates that fat through the vessels. So you get all the downside of carbs (insulin) and you end up with the fat anyway. Far better to eat the insulin-neutral fat.

[kennelmom]

Eating protein is pretty self-limiting. You can really only eat so much before you're just forcing it down. If you are limiting carbs, you only have one other way to get calories and that's fat.

[Grumpycakes]

Most of the fats that are in the CW diet are PUFAs -- margarine, vegetable oil, etc. Historically speaking, it seems that of the fatty acids, humans have consumed something like 60-70% saturated fat, 20-30% monounsaturated fat, and 0-10% polyunsaturated fat. We've evolved on that ratio and it is healthy for us. But with an overabundance of PUFA and lack of saturated fat, the body is malnourished. With malnourishment comes stress, and when the body is under stress it stores as much of the good fat as it can. You need to eat enough saturated fat and MUFAs to be properly nourished (essential vitamins and minerals from vegetables and fruit aside) and "tell" your body that it's okay to let go of its stores of fat.

[Suse]

actually this is a little something I've been wondering about infrequently. If we have large stores of fat in our body, why doesnt that get used if we didnt eat a lot of fat. I would think the slimmer we get the more dietary fat we would need to eat? But I dont know, I know that it seems we need more fat perhaps in the beginning.. aggghhh confusion. Need to re-read all my books again. The trouble with starting down this primal blueprint path is that I have information overload

[NDF]

Anyway....I read somewhere that a high carb diet IS a high fat diet, because the liver converts the carbs to fat and circulates that fat through the vessels. So you get all the downside of carbs (insulin) and you end up with the fat anyway. Far better to eat the insulin-neutral fat.

Not quite.

If you are eating in a surplus - that is, more calories than you require to maintain your weight - than you will store the excess as fat, whether the excess is coming from fat, carbs or protein.

You can lose weight on a higher carb diet(assuming you aren't suffering from any metabolic issues). When you eat more carbs, you oxidize more carbs and burn less fat, when you eat a lower carb diet, you oxidize more fat. BUT, assuming the same calorie level(and not metabolic issues), a deficit is a deficit whether the calories you are eating are coming from fat, carbs or proteins.

[NDF]

actually this is a little something I've been wondering about infrequently. If we have large stores of fat in our body, why doesnt that get used if we didnt eat a lot of fat. I would think the slimmer we get the more dietary fat we would need to eat? But I dont know, I know that it seems we need more fat perhaps in the beginning.. aggghhh confusion. Need to re-read all my books again. The trouble with starting down this primal blueprint path is that I have information overload

You are correct re burning stored body fat in the absence of dietary fat. But you will burn stored body fat in the absence of adequate calories for your current maintenance. So long as there is a deficit, you will burn stored body fat. Eating adequate protein and adding weight training to your dieting efforts, and the majority of the total weight lost will be fat as opposed to fat and muscle.

[elwyne]

Fat is your body's most basic fuel source. This is why excess calories are stored as fat.
If your body is trained (via years of eating high-carb) to use glucose as its primary fuel, that is what it will do. As long as there is sugar present, fat stores will remain untouched. Even when sugar ISN'T present, your body may cannibalize your muscles to make glucose before it uses your fat stores (this is why muscle wasting occurs).
However if you train your body to preferentially burn fat, it will. How do you do this? Eat fat.

Not to mention it works wonders for satiety, cellular health, and general yumminess.