In our last post, we took a look at the actual calorie distribution associated with some of the popular lifestyle eating habits in circulation today. One thing that can be seen from this sort of analysis is that many of the plans that call for severely restricted intake (or uptake) of a certain category must also require a heavy consumption of another category, assuming the overall amount of food being consumed remains constant. For instance, someone following a 2000-calorie diet, and a high protein, low carb regimen requires the calories be made up in the form of fat. That leads me to wonder about the risks of a high fat diet.
High Fat Diet Risks – Real Or Not?
Photo Credit Spigoo
We’ve already established that eating the right amount of fat per day is a good thing. It’s necessary for proper function. However, just as with so many other things in life, overconsumption of fat has its price as well. There have been a number of studies that suggest that diets high in fat may increase the risk of certain cancers, diabetes, poor sleep, and a host of other ailments. More recently, researchers found that rats on a diet that was 55% fat has substantial reductions in their physical endurance and cognitive ability. They also discovered those rats on a high fat diet had a larger heart, which they attributed to a lack of efficiency associated with reduced endurance.
After some consideration, I would have to say that there I don’t see the logic in consuming more than about 35% of my daily calories from fat. I know from personal experience that it tends to make me feel nauseous. Throw in the fact much of the research that highlights the negatives of high fat diets, and I’d have to say I don’t believe they make sense. This probably also precludes low carb diets, because in order to keep the fat content down, one would have to really cut back on calories.
So what do you think? Is my logic sound, or am I missing something? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
