You may incorrectly consider fat your enemy, assuming the fat you eat turns into fat on your hips. While you should be wary of fat, that's not how fat storage works. Any nutrient can be stored as fat if you eat too much food. Fat is important to any healthy eating plan, but because it packs more potential energy than protein or carbohydrates, you should limit it to avoid exceeding your calorie allowance.
Fat
On a molecular level, fat is a hydrocarbon -- its structure makes it a perfect energy storage unit, but not a good energy source. As a non-polar, insoluble molecule, fat is difficult for your body to break down so the energy can be used. But it makes it a perfect way to keep energy locked away for a rainy day. When you eat too many calories, your body converts the extra carbohydrates to fat in case it doesn't get enough energy one day. If you don't overeat, the fat you eat gets emulsified in your stomach and passed to your small intestine, where it gets broken down by lipase from your pancreas. The fatty acids are absorbed into your bloodstream, where they are responsible for proper body function and vitamin absorption, and the waste products are excreted.
Calories
Calories are how energy is measured. Carbohydrates and proteins both have 4 calories per 1 g, but because fat stores energy so well, it carries 9 calories per 1 g. This means you can eat more than twice as much protein or carbohydrate as you can fat, and get the same number of calories. That's not to say that low-fat versions of foods are always lower in calories -- manufacturers often add sugar and other high-calorie ingredients to make up for the taste lost by removing the fat. But in terms of whole foods, low-fat foods like fruits and vegetables will fill you up for much fewer calories than fatty foods like peanut butter.
Guidelines
Most people should get 20 to 35 percent of their calories from fat -- if you eat a typical 2,000-calorie-per-day diet, this translates to between 44 and 78 g of fat per day. Less than 10 percent should be saturated fat, which is bad for your heart, and you should avoid trans fats entirely because they carry no benefit and are only found in processed food.
Choosing Foods
Get your daily fat from foods like fish, poultry, olive oil and avocado. These are healthy unsaturated fats that are goof for your heart. Avoid saturated fat foods like fatty cuts of meat, whole milk and butter. A good rule of thumb is if the fat is solid at room temperature, it saturated and you should avoid it or eat it sparingly. Be careful when choosing low-fat versions of processed foods -- read the label to be sure the calorie count is lower. If not, don't buy that food.
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