Mind Your Macros: Fats/Lipids

Minding Your Macros Part 2: Fats/Lipids

What do you think of when you think of fats? Do you think of butter? Lard? Various Mixed oils? What if I told you that there were several other sources of fats out there? Would you care? Would you believe that all fats are bad and that they are to be avoided at all costs? Or would you believe that fats are the holy grail and that sugars are the devil? Well hopefully, in examining the following information, we can discover some facts about fats.

Fats/Lipids: Introduction

The topic of fats is very large. It spans from energy storage to hormone composition to body healing. We use fats everyday of our lives and they are an essential part of our diet. However, just as with anything else, the quality of what you put into your body is directly related to what you get out of it. What are we getting out of intaking healthy fats? I’m glad you asked?

Fats/Lipids: Energy Storage

The human body uses glucose as energy. But how do we store energy for a later time? The muscles can only hold so much glycogen (glucose) for themselves and the liver can only hold so much for the rest of the body (see previous article on carbohydrates). So where can we store the extra energy that our body consumes? The answer is fat. The extra sugar is stored as triglycerides, which are three fatty acids that are attached to a glycerol backing(1). These are then stored in fat cells and deposited around the body. During times of prolonged glucose deficiency or increased glucose consumption, like sleeping or exercise, the body begins to break down these triglycerides for the glucose and uses them in the energy making process(2). 

Now I hear you asking “where does fat come into this?” The fat comes into play when it meets up with the sugars. Remember when I said that triglycerides were three fatty acids with a glycerol backing? Well the fatty acids can also be used for energy. This occurs in cases where there is no more glycerol to strip off and the body needs energy(3). The body can then convert the fatty acids into small chunks that it can then use instead of glucose. This is commonly referred to as ketogenesis because those chunks are named ketones(4). 

These ketones can be used in place of glucose in times where glucose is scarce. The caveat to that is that the waste products produced by such a process. The waste products include acetone and CO2, of which acetone gets expelled from the lungs when we breathe and CO2 will as well. The issue comes from an individuals ability to expel these byproducts. If someone isn’t able to get rid of the CO2 in a high enough capacity they can end up with ketoacidosis which, if severe enough, can be life threatening(5).

This is not me saying don’t do keto. We do it everyday, what I’m saying is that forgoing glucose for fats entirely may not be the best for you. If you are going to do anything with your diet, do the research!

To sum up: don’t cut out healthy fats, they help with energy production.

Fats: Hormone Building Blocks

When it comes to the body knowing anything, hormones are involved. You’re hungry? Hormones told you that. You’re happy? Hormones told you that. You’re stressed? Hormones told you that. See where I’m going here? Hormones are the bodies main way of signalling to itself that things need to get done. How does fat factor into this? Fat, in this case cholesterol, is the building block for a litany of different hormones all of which are essential for life as a person(6). These hormones help regulate everything in the body from blood pressure to your response to stress. All of these hormones are derived from cholesterol which your body can produce 80% of(7). That’s right, your body (more specifically your liver) will produce 80 percent of your cholesterol that you need, requiring only a measly 20% from foods. 

That having been said too much cholesterol in the body from dietary intake can lead to blockages in your arteries.

To be clear, don’t fear cholesterol, your body makes it everyday and uses it to create the hormones that control everything from stress to growth. Just make sure that you don’t ingest too much dietary cholesterol. Again do your research and look into what your cholesterol numbers are and take the steps that you find appropriate.

Fats: The Toxin Holding Cell

We’ve already talked about how fat can be an energy storage facility, but it can also be a toxin sequestration device. A lot of the toxins that we absorb on a daily basis are lipophilic. These toxins can include but are not limited to PCB’s (certain industrial chemicals that are no longer in use), DDT (a pesticide still used in certain countries) and heavy metals (prevalent in the environment and industrial waste)(8). When we ingest these toxins and the body can’t get rid of them for one reason or another, they are stored in adipose tissue and stay there until the fat is burned(9). This, mind you, is not a good thing but it is better than having heavy metals and such running around your blood stream causing havoc. This is something to think about when trying to loose weight or burn fat. When you burn fat you release the toxins that may be stored in your fat. If you don’t have a healthy enough liver and excretory system then the toxins will just be released back into the blood stream, do some damage and then end up right back in more adipose tissue again. This may be the case for some people who are trying to loose weight but their liver, kidneys or bowels aren’t functioning at the required levels (i.e.: not regularly having bowel movements). 

To reiterate, fat will hold toxins until the body is functioning well enough to eliminate them. This is not saying everyone should gain weight, but saying maybe think about the body and it’s purification systems before “releasing the pounds” as it were.

Fat: The Internal Band-aid

When we have systemic inflammation it can affect a number of systems including our arteries. If we have too much sugar in our diet or if our blood pressure is too high we can get tiny micro tears in the inner layer of our arteries called the endothelium(10). This causes further inflammation and summons immune cells to the area. It also causes cholesterol to get drawn to that area. The cholesterol gets trapped in the now inflamed area and oxidizes due to the free radicals caused by the metabolic waste of the damaged cells. This in turn causes a kind of plaque to form on the inside of the artery. When this happens it invariably leads to a small narrowing of the artery. Alone this is not so bad. Under normal circumstances the cells would heal and the blockage would be broken down. If the inflammation persists, however, then the cycle repeats over and over, the arteries becoming narrower until the heart has to pump noticeably harder and this increases blood pressure which in turn will cause more inflammation and the cycle continues.

There are three ways that we can avoid this: 1) don’t have as many inflammatory foods in the diet, 2) lower the amount of dietary cholesterol that we eat and 3) consume plenty of soluble fibre to reabsorb any extra cholesterol that is in your small and large intestines during digestion.

Fats aren’t necessarily the whole problem when it comes to heart disease but why only eliminate part of a problem? Why not reduce as many factors as possible?

To summarize this entirely too long post: Fats are a complex topic. They store energy, they are the building blocks to essential hormones, they act as a toxin holding cell and they try to heal some injuries. I could, and probably will at some point, go into a five or six part series delving into: Omega 3 vs Omega 6, Plant based sterols vs animal fats, a deeper dive into gluconeogenesis using fats (ketogenesis) and so on. For now, however, I will simply say to avoid overly processed fats such as: anything hydrogenated, and anything with trans fat. And again, I implore you, do some research for yourself and take your health into your own hands.

Take care and eat well,

Keenan