Sports Nutrition

Chapter 6:  The Story With Fats

You have heard a lot about fats in your life, no doubt.  But, when it comes to sports nutrition, none of that really matters.

One thing you need to realize is that when the stakes are higher, as in when your body needs to perform at a higher level, it is important for you to provide it with the foundation to do so.

Many of the things you will read here will not provide a balanced diet outside of sports.  These things are geared to provide your body with the foundation of producing higher amounts of energy and therefore endurance.

When it comes to fat, there is much to learn as well. 

What Is Fat?

Fat is a product that you ingest when you eat foods.  While there is not just one food group that it comes from, there are many things that you need to realize that do contain higher amounts of fat.

Fat comes from anything that is from animals.  This type of fat is called saturated fat and is the worst of the two types.  This would include:

• Meats of all types have fat; even lean meats will have some levels of fat in them.
• Eggs have a high fat amount in it.
• Milk, even low fat milk, still has a good amount of fat within it.
• Cheese too may be low fat, but will still have a good amount of fat in it.

Unsaturated fats are fats that come from vegetable products.  Your oils are high producers of fat.  It comes from vegetables of all types, but in different amounts. 

Unsaturated fats are a better, healthier version of fat to have within your body.

How Much To Consume

When it comes to how much fat you should be consuming, it is not as complex as that of your carbohydrate or your protein calories.

In fat intake, you should not consume more than 25 to 30 percent of your calories in fat.  Generally speaking, this is not hard to do, unless you are used to eating deep fried products or those that are covered with saturated butters and sauces.

Did we again just throw off your daily diet intake?  Sorry, but the body needs to be regulated here. 

Fat In The Body

Your body does need some fat though.  Have you heard of those diets in which people will cut out nearly all the fat in their diet?  Yes, you are right. 

Look back at our team playing theory. 

You need to consume a balanced diet of products, ones that will incorporate various amounts of fats to balance your needs.

Your body does only need a small amount of fat though.  It needs this to help with several functions.  From a sports nutrition stand point, fat is used to burn as energy.  Remember when we said that our bodies will first burn carbohydrates and then will result to proteins? 

Fat is next on the list of energy sources when there is not enough carbohydrates or glycogen available to burn.

So, why not load up on the amounts of fat that your body consumes as it seems to be a fundamental part of energy and fuel?  There are many reasons.

The main reason that you do not need to eat excess amounts of fat is because of how unhealthy it is to the rest of your body.

Too much fat in your body can cause a number of health problems starting with heart disease, the number one killer in the United States.  It can also lead to cancers, complications of other conditions and just an overall unhealthy lifestyle that is anything but beneficial to the body or to your sports life.

If you are consuming too much fat, you are probably not getting the right amount of carbohydrates that you need as well. 

Even more so, when we talked about carbohydrates, we told you that carbohydrates are easily burned by the body for energy.  When it comes to burning fat, it is harder for the body to do. 

Therefore, fat should not be considered as a needed element to consume in order to burn as energy for the body.

Three Times Fats Are Used

There are three main times in which fat will be used to burn energy in your body or will be needed for you to have on hand for that reason.

• If you are participating in extreme or intense exercise, your body will need more energy to burn then you have stored in glycogen or in carbohydrates readily available.  It will then turn to stored fat for help in providing you with the energy that you need.
• When your body is at rest or you are just doing low to moderate amounts of work, your body will then primarily use fat to burn as fuel.  During this time, just small amounts of fat will actually be burned, though.
• If you continue to exercise for long periods of time, such as when you do during a marathon, a long endurance race of any type, your body then needs to tap into fat stores to help it to power through all of these needs.

When it comes to fat and sports nutrition, it is something that you really do need to monitor.  If you should consume quite a bit of fatty foods, especially those that are made from saturated fats, you are putting your health at risk.

As far as sports nutrition goes, too much fat can cause your performance to slip.  The body does not perform as well as it does with carbohydrates or even by burning protein when you are consuming fats.