Fats in the Kitchen

When working with fats on your plate, it is important to do so judiciously. Because they are a concentrated source of energy, it can easily happen that their poorly estimated or measured amount can interfere with the resulting values of the energy balance. Especially when reducing weight, this is a challenge for every diner, which needs to be faced head-on.

In a high-carbohydrate diet, the recommended standard is a fat intake between 20-30% of the total energy intake. Since Lucka needs to reduce a few kilograms relatively quickly during full training, we try to limit the fat intake as much as possible.

Everything has its limits, though.

This also applies to the fat content in the diet, as a significant lack of it is health-risky. We therefore set a threshold where we do not want the total daily fat intake to fall below 20 percent of energy or below 40 grams.

When calculating the absolute amount of fats, we also distinguish which form we use:
If they are part of foods of plant origin (nuts, seeds...), the body extracts significantly less energy from them than from free fats (oils, lard, butter, fatty meat, and dairy products...). For these reasons, Lucka tries to avoid using the mentioned free forms and ensures the required amount primarily through nuts and seeds.

However, fats do not only serve as an energy source. They also significantly affect metabolic processes and thus influence their behavior. Therefore, it has its significance to monitor not only their quality but also the ratios of the fatty acids they contain:

1. In terms of quality, the primary factor is their freshness.
This means avoiding rancid sources and trying not to "destroy" fats in the kitchen, i.e., working with temperatures that do not overheat them. Rancid sources are potential sources of molds, whereas overheating fats produces carcinogenic trans fatty acids.

2. Concerning the ratios of fatty acids, we primarily address:

A) Saturated and unsaturated fats.
The ideal ratio is considered to be 1:2 (a long-term predominance of saturated fats in the diet is not health-advantageous). When predominantly plant-based foods are on the plate, there is no reason to stress over the consequences of a potential excess of saturated fats.

B) Omega-3 and omega-6 fats.
Their mutual ratio contributes to controlling inflammatory processes in the body (sufficient omega-3 fats exhibit anti-inflammatory effects, excess omega-6 has, on the contrary, a pro-inflammatory effect). Since ensuring enough omega-3s in a regular diet is no easy task, Lucka diligently supplements these fats.

As mentioned, we try to minimize the total amount of fats on the plate during preparation, and this for two reasons:

1. The first is the need to reduce weight.
To achieve the goal, it is necessary to lower energy intake. The most effective way is by limiting fat intake, as too low carbohydrate intake would lead to unwanted fatigue (insufficient brain nutrition and slower glycogen replenishment).

2. The second is an effort to boost energy metabolism.
The body produces energy from carbohydrates significantly faster than from fats. Thus, a predominance of carbohydrates accelerates metabolic processes, which is one way to accommodate training load while simultaneously supporting the reduction process.

The proportionately largest amount of fats for Lucka is at breakfast. There are two reasons for this:

1. Greater bile accumulation in the gallbladder, where the digestive tract is ready to effectively process more fats than in other meals.

2. Fats reduce the glycemic value of the meal and thus extend the feeling of satiety.
In our situation, this is very advantageous because our system is based on 3 meals a day. This eliminates the compulsion to snack on anything in the last minute before the morning workout.