Hey friends - Happy Monday Question:  Why does more fat help you lose weight? I know it does, because I saw the results over the weekend.  On Friday, I got a Mickey D's craving and had 10 piece chicken nuggets (410 calories) that I fit into my daily allotment of cal's, and the next day, I dropped a pound.  WTF?

I'd like to know the SAME thing!  I was so frustrated last week because I swear I gained and lost the same 2 pounds all week long -- then this weekend I ate probably 10 grams more of fat each day, though only probably 300-400 more calories each day and still eating reasonable foods (just a little more of them) and I had lost 2.5 pounds this morning since Friday morning.... What in the world!?!?

It would be interesting to know what your diet caloric intake is versus those recent days, ,plus what you activity level is. It's been said 1000x, you need to eat to lose, fuel the weight loss.  You may have hit on your magic #.

Dietary fat is necessary as it is a vital component for building body tissue and cells, great during muscle building, and it aids in the absorption of some vitamins and other nutrients. I'm sure I'd disqualify McD's in this category because it's, let's just say, a very impure food (processed, salty, etc.), so maybe you lost weight because you had more calories and hadn't been eating enough calories?

She said she allotted for the extra McD's calories.  However, it is quite possible that she absorbed more of the calories. I'm starting to get the feeling that we absorb different foods differently. Like the breading on the nuggets for example.  I'm pretty sure that's simple/white carbs which would be absorbed quite easily versus say an equal serving of a whole grain.  McD's chicken nuggets are white meat now. I wonder how differently that is broken down than dark meat.  Not to mention since she's been banded surely the food stays in her stomach longer that most. Perhaps it has a longer time to break down said fat and carbs thus making absorption different.  Hell maybe she even had extra protein this week that she normally wouldn't have that aided in the loss.  *****ally knows? I really think it all comes down to a balance thing. Our bodies need a little bit of everything.

Maybe I did consume more protein.  I just looked up the nutritional stuff of nuggets and it's 25 grams of protein for 10.  Not too shabby.  Shoot, if having nuggets will help my weight loss, I'll eat nuggets everyday and screw the healthy crap I've been consuming.

Maybe Shari will know why fat helps so much. 

There's more than white meat in those nuggets, Chris...possibly even more than chicken meat How much it matters, I can't really say right now, because Janina is kickin' my ass...right ON, girl!

Actually, looks like a lot of corn and preservatives are in the mcnuggets.  I don't much buy into the whole "it's all corn because they fed the chicken corn meal!", but there is definitely a lot of other corn products in their chicken nuggets.  Not to mention preservatives, some that have been considered carcinogens.  But worrying about all this gets me back into the whole place where I don't to be. I just want to be naive and not think about what's really in my food. If it makes me fat or sick, then I avoid it.  Tired of thinking about all the stuff that can kill me. Just let me live damnit! lol

What happens when we don't have enough fat in our diet?

• Dry, scaly skin
• Hair loss
• Low body weight
• Cold intolerance
• Bruising
• Poor growth
• Lower resistance to infection
• Poor wound healing
• Loss of menstruation

You also need fat in the body to utilize your fat soluable vitamins, A,D,E, and K. Without it, you can actually develop a form of malnutrition.

Maybe a better, more graphic illustration of what can happen is this (go easy on me here-- these pics ain't for the faint of heart): http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/rny/a,messageboard/action, replies/board_id,5465/cat_id,5065/topic_id,3505199/

While you DO need fat, Janina, the TYPE of fat is also important. McNuggets are probably not a great choice (but hey, you knew that-- and I'm not policing you, understand. You can eat just about anything on occasion!) Here's why: A ten piece order of McNuggets contains 24 grams of total fat, but it breaks down this way: 24 total grams 16.5 grams mono- and polyunsaturated fat 5 g saturated fat 2.5 grams of TRANS-fat According to researchers at Harvard University, "...bad fats, meaning saturated and trans fats, increase the risk for certain diseases while good fats, meaning monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, lower the risk. The key is to substitute good fats for bad fats. An order of ten McNuggets has 7.5 grams of disease-causing craptastic fats: more than a third of the total fat.  There are many ways to get good fats into your diet-- I am only just now starting to add them in. Choices like tree nuts (walnuts, cashews, in very small amounts), avocado, olive oil, corn, soybeans, fish-- can really help you maintain a good fat balance. In my case, I am switching up from non-fat dairy to reduced fat dairy as well. Hope this helps! Here's the rest of the details of how FAT aids in digestion, but basically, you just need to know that A) You need some! and B) You need to be choosy about which sorts you have. _____________________________________

Digestion and Absorption of Food Fats

By Mary G. Enig, PhD

Maintenance of a healthy digestive system requires input from lipids, whi*****lude molecules such as cholesterol, appropriate saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, and other lesser known components such as glycosphingolipids.

Cholesterol is the precursor to bile acids, which are needed to digest and absorb long-chain fatty acids. Cholesterol is also recognized for its physiological importance in the skin and the intestine where it plays an important structural role as a component of the organ membranes.Cells lining the digestive tract are particularly ri*****holesterol.

Saturated fatty acids play their role in membrane integrity by providing appropriate fatty acids for certain parts of membrane structures. Among their various roles are the signaling activities that, for example, tell the gastrointestinal musculature when to contract. Polyunsaturated fatty acids also provide raw material for membranes, and work as precursors to the various prostaglandins, needed to maintain important functions of intestinal motility.

Glycosphingolipids are lipids with single sugar molecules attached found in cell membranes, especially in the brain. They also protect against gastrointestinal infections, especially in infants and children. Whole milk is an adequate source, especially human milk. Fat digestion of phospholipids and other lipids makes up very minor, but sometimes important, parts of the building blocks for tissues. These special lipids are usually made by the body and diet is not the major source.

Digestion of fatty acids from triglycerides is different for the regular long-chain fatty acids (14 carbons to 22 carbons) than it is for short- and medium-chain fatty acids (4 carbons to 12 carbons). Usually about 95 percent of the fat is available for digestion when the mixture of fatty acids is varied.

The digestion of regular fats and oils, which are usually long-chain triglycerides, requires bile acids as well as lipases. In adults this digestion usually starts in the small intestine and is done with the aid of lipases and bile acids. The bile acids allow the triglycerides to be properly emulsified and the lipases break the triglycerides into individual fatty acids and monoglycerides in the small intestine. When these parts are absorbed through the wall of the intestine, they are reassembled into triglycerides and carried into the body through the lymph system on chylomicrons.

Short- and medium-chain fatty acids from fats such as milk fat or coconut oil or palm kernel oil are broken off from the triglycerides without the need for bile acids. They are then shuttled directly to the liver through the portal artery without the use of chylomicrons. In the case of a meal with a large amount of lauric acid, some of this medium-chain fatty acid does travel via chylomicrons through the lymph system.

Fat digestion of cholesterol and other sterols is frequently not described accurately. Both cholesterol and other sterols do not provide any calories, and the amount that is absorbed is relatively small except in infants. Adults probably absorb only about 25 percent of the cholesterol they consume, and even less of the other sterols. Cholesterol plays a role in membrane structure as well as for production of bile acids and hormones. Other sterols are not usually part of the body’s tissues unless they are consumed in large amounts.

People ask why fat is digested more slowly than either protein or carbohydrate, and sometimes think that this means that there is a problem with digestion of fat; however, the slow digestion is really only nature’s way of maintaining an even amount of the energy distribution.

Fat digestion in infants is somewhat different from fat digestion in adults, especially if the infants are fed human milk. The digestion of fats in the infant begins in the mouth with the function of several digestive enzymes that are special to the infant. The fatty acids are broken down in order to be well digested. A special enzyme coming from the mammary gland enables most of the cholesterol from the human milk to be absorbed by the infant. Cholesterol is a very important nutrient for the infant, especially for its role in brain and other central nervous system development. The typical infant formula is greatly lacking in cholesterol and also lacks the enzyme that aids in the absorption of cholesterol.

 

I knew Shari would know. :)  Thanks girl!