Iron Fit Personal Training

Whether you are a high level athlete, regular gym attendee or someone who doesn’t hit the gym, fat consummation is on your mind. You think about it, it crosses your mind when you are going to eat something and you a currently being bombarded in the media about watching your fat consumption. There’s enough being thrown at you to make you completely confused about what to eat, as well as how much fat to eat. Everyone talks about reducing fat, but they forget to tell you that you need to consume fat! That’s right, you need to make sure you have good sources of fat in your diet. But what is the difference between good fat & bad fat?

First we need to look at what fat is. Fat is a crucial nutrient for normal body functions. It supplies us with energy, it helps other nutrients work effectively and it’s essential in our survival. Fats come in various forms such as oils, animal fats and vegetable fats. It plays a role in protecting our organs and maintaining a solid body temperature. However their are also some “bad” forms of fat that cause problems for our bodies and our future. Let’s look at the types of fats and some examples, so we at Iron Fit can help you better understand your body.

Mono – Unsaturated Fats
This type of fat is currently confusing many researchers and scientists. However, recent studies are showing that this type of fat may reduce your risk of developing heart disease. They have also been found to lower your cholesterol if you eat this type of fat instead of saturated fats. Common occurrences of this type of fat are found in canola or olive oil, peanuts, avocados and creating types of nuts. Now Iron Fit isn’t saying to eat a ton of products containing these items, but they are a smarter choice of fat.

Saturated Fats
These fats are big contributors to heart disease, and they tend to raise blood cholesterol levels. Eating this type of food over a long period of time greatly increases your risk of cardiovascular disease and the chances of a stroke. Sources of this fat are fast food (deep friend especially), meat, chicken skin and processed foods such as cakes, pastries and today’s dairy products. You should be eating this type of fat in moderation, and not over consuming it on a daily basis.

Trans Fats
This is the type of fat you are looking to avoid. They provide no benefit to your health, and there really is no reason to consume them. This fat is created and is not naturally  occurring. They increase your bad cholesterol and they lower your good cholesterol levels, and by putting the pieces together, your chances of a stroke and heart disease go way up consuming this fat. Restaurants use this fat because of the taste and it’s very cheap to make. You can find trans fat in many fried foods, pizza, pies, crackers and a bunch of other baked goods.

Now that we have broken down the types of fat, how much should you eat in your diet? The typical adult (18 and older) should be consuming 25% – 35% of their daily caloric intake from fat. If you can stick around that 30% level of good fats and with the proper workout, you should be able to maintain a healthy diet and reach your fitness goals. We obviously want to lower your fat intake, but it’s very important to maintain the right balance.

Not sure how many calories you need in a day? Confused by the workouts you should be doing to see performance? Contact us at Iron Fit today to help. We make sure you have all the information you need to reach your goals successfully.