Diets For People Who Crave Fat

Fat provides calories and is an essential nutrient for your cells and tissues. Yet there are two types of fats, unhealthy fats and healthy fats, and each plays a different role in increasing your disease risks and improving your health, respectively. Nonetheless, eating too much healthy fats can adversely affect your health. Giving in to cravings for any type fat increases your caloric intake and adds body weight. Consult your doctor about diets for people who crave fat.

Unhealthy fats

Fats contribute 9 calories per gram, more than proteins and carbohydrates, which each contribute 4 calories per gram. Eating unhealthy fats, such as saturated fat and trans fat, increases your caloric intake and risk of cardiovascular disease. Saturated fats are found in animal products, such as red meat, poultry, pork and dairy, while trans fats are found in processed foods and fried foods. Saturated fat and trans fats increase blood levels of LDL cholesterol, the bad cholesterol, and build up plaque inside your arteries, increasing your risk of atherosclerosis, blood clots, heart attacks and strokes.

Healthy Fats

Healthy fats include monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Monounsaturated fatty acids are found in olive oil, avocados and nuts, while polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as omega-3 fatty acids, are found in walnuts, flax seeds and fish. Omega-6 fatty acids are found in vegetable oils. Eating monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids may improve your blood cholesterol levels and lower your risks of developing cardiovascular disease.

Mediterranean Diet

The Mediterranean diet is based on foods that the Greeks ate before 1960, including fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds and olive oil with moderate amounts of yogurt, cheese and fish and minimal poultry and red meat. The majority of fats in the Mediterranean diet are monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Eating a Mediterranean diet lowers your risk of cardiovascular disease and helps you lose weight. Scientists at Second University of Naples in Italy found the Mediterranean diet with or without caloric restriction in overweight or obese individuals improves cardiovascular health, according to research published in "Cardiology Research and Practice" in 2011. Consuming a Mediterranean diet is associated with greater weight loss than a low-fat, calorie-restricted diet, according to research by scientists at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva, Israel, and published in the "New England Journal of Medicine" in July 2008. The results demonstrate the Mediterranean diet group has the highest monounsaturated fat to saturated fat ratio compared to low-fat, calorie-restricted diet group and low-carbohydrate non-restricted-calorie diet group.

Low-Fat, High-Protein Diet

A low-fat, high-protein diet may also reduce fat cravings and help you lose weight. Scientists at Maastricht University in The Netherlands found a low-fat, high protein diet consisting of casein and whey, the proteins found in milk, is more effective in weight control than a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet, according to research published in the "International Journal of Obesity" in March 2009. The results demonstrate a low-fat, high protein diet does not adversely affect cardiovascular risk factors in weight-reduced obese individuals.