CHAPTER 16

DIETARY FATS—

Optimal Health and Recovery, and Avoiding Injuries

 

 

 

 

Yes, anyone can effectively learn to burn body fat for endurance energy—and that is a key to success for athletes. But there is another aspect of fat equally important for the endurance athlete. This is dietary fat—including oil—found in foods. These fats, when properly balanced, help one recover from a workout and racing, repair injuries by correcting inflammation, control pain, and perform many other critical tasks.

 

 

 

While most athletes take anti-inflammatory drugs, the fact is they don’t work as well in controlling pain, inflammation, and speeding recovery. The body already possesses the natural ability to control pain and inflammation better than any drug—through the balancing of dietary fats. In addition, the balance of dietary fats can play a vital role in preventing chronic illness and help promote healthy aging.

The building blocks of dietary fats are called fatty acids, just like glucose and amino acids are the components of carbohydrates and protein, respectively. The relative balance of these fatty acids is a key for optimal health and endurance. Among the injuries common in endurance athletes are those associated with pain, bone loss, and muscle, joint, ligament, and tendon inflammation; many also have allergies and asthma. These and many other problems are associated with an imbalance of specific fatty acids from dietary fat.

Do you have an imbalance of fats? This is the first question to ask yourself and it can be done with a simple checklist. Many athletes are unaware that their fats are not balanced until some injury or illness becomes obvious or chronic. These problems are typically accompanied by certain signs, symptoms, and lifestyle habits. The following checklist is a simple self-assessment survey that can help you determine the likelihood that you have an imbalance in fats. Check the items below that apply to you:

 

 

 
  • Aspirin or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs improve my symptoms.
  • I have chronic inflammation or “itis” type conditions, such as arthritis, colitis, or tendinitis.
  • I have a history or increased risk of heart disease, stroke, or high blood pressure.
  • I often eat restaurant, take-out, or fast food.
  • I follow a low-fat diet.
  • I often feel depressed.
  • I have a history of tumors or cancers.
  • I sometimes suffer from reduced mental acuity.
  • I have diabetes or family history of diabetes.
  • I am over age fifty.
  • My blood tests show increased triglycerides or cholesterol.
  • I am carbohydrate intolerant.
  • I have seasonal allergies.
  • I suffer from intestinal problems such as diarrhea, constipation, or ulcers.

If you checked one or more of these items, there’s a higher chance that you have a fat imbalance. The more items you check off, the more likely it is you have a problem.

 

 

Acute versus Chronic Inflammation

Acute inflammation is the body’s way of responding to and repairing itself from the daily wear and tear of physical stress. All this activity requires recovery. An easy bike ride or even just a walk produces chemicals that cause mild inflammation throughout the body as part of a complex recovery process. An acute injury produces inflammation too—a cut hand, a damaged joint, or an irritated stomach. The reddish, swollen, hot area of a cut finger is an example of this normal inflammatory process. Once the initial inflammation has got the healing under way, the body produces anti-inflammatory chemicals to stop the inflammation process and allow the healing to be completed.

Problems arise when the body is unable to produce sufficient anti-inflammatory chemicals because of an imbalance of fats (excess physical stress or even a lack of recovery may also contribute). When this happens, chronic inflammation can develop. Without proper balance of fats and adequate anti-inflammatory actions, even an easy workout can contribute to an ongoing chronic inflammation.

 

 

The Big Fat Lie

For decades, fat has been widely criticized as the “bad” component of our daily diet. Low- and no-fat foods have become synonymous with losing “weight” and being healthy. These notions, of course, are untrue when we look at the macro picture. The fact is, fat is one of the most beneficial substances in our diet, and is often the missing ingredient for endurance athletes in developing and maintaining optimal health and human performance. But the food industry’s ongoing, wellfinanced misinformation campaign against fat has misled the public. No wonder there’s an epidemic of fat phobia. Just think of the billions of dollars spent each year on low-fat and fat-free foods and you’ll understand why you might not have been told the whole truth about fat. In addition, this anti-fat campaign has contributed to actual deficiencies in fat that have contributed to inflammatory conditions such as heart disease, osteoporosis, and others. The bottom line on dietary fat: Too much or too little is dangerous. It’s simply a question of balancing the good fats and avoiding the bad.

The good fats are those that nature has provided, including olive oil, coconut oil, and the fats from fish and other animals.

The bad fats are the artificial and highly processed ones, such as trans fats and overheated fats in fried foods, all of which can cause serious health problems. Foods such as potato chips, french fries, and fried chicken, to name just a few, are examples of those containing bad fat. Many of these bad fats are found in packaged foods and restaurant meals. Consume these and you can disturb the balance of fat and promote chronic inflammation.

 

 

Some Benefits of Fat

Scientists have known of the importance of fat in the diet since discoveries made in 1929 by researchers who demonstrated that certain fats were essential for human health. Let’s highlight some of the many healthy functions of fat in a healthy diet.

Disease prevention and treatment. Certain dietary fats consumed in balanced proportions can help prevent many diseases. For instance, we now know that dietary fats are central to controlling inflammation, which is the first stage of most chronic illness. Increasing certain dietary fats has been shown to reduce the growth or spreading of cancer and improve recovery in heart disease. Many brain problems, including cognitive dysfunction such as Alzheimer’s disease, can also be prevented with fats. A healthy brain is made up of over 60 percent fat.

Energy. Fat not only produces long-term energy but prevents excessive dependency upon short-term energy needs from sugar. Fat provides more than twice as much potential energy as carbohydrates do: nine calories per gram as opposed to only four calories. Your body is capable of obtaining much of its energy from fat, if your fat-burning mechanism is working efficiently. Even the heart muscle uses fat for energy.

Hormones. The hormonal system is responsible for controlling many healthy functions in our brain, muscles, metabolism, and elsewhere. The hormones produced in various glands are dependent on fat—in the adrenal glands, the thymus, thyroid, kidneys, and other glands. Cholesterol is one of the fats used for the production of hormones such as progesterone and cortisone. The thymus gland regulates immunity and the body’s defense systems, especially earlier in life. The thyroid regulates temperature, weight, and other metabolic functions. The kidney’s hormones help regulate blood pressure, circulation, and filtering of blood.

Eicosanoids. Hormone-like substances called eicosanoids are necessary for such normal cellular function as regulating inflammation, hydration, circulation, and free radicals. These substances are produced directly from fat in the diet. In addition to chronic inflammation, eicosanoids are also important for regulating blood pressure and body-wide hydration. An imbalance can trigger constipation or diarrhea, especially during long endurance events. Eicosanoid imbalance may also be associated with menstrual cramps, blood clotting, tumor growth, and other problems, and may increase pain.

Insulation. The body’s ability to store fat permits humans to live in most climates, especially in areas of extreme heat or cold. It also enables athletes to compete in these environments. In warmer areas of the world, stored fat provides protection from the heat, preventing too much water from leaving the body, which can result in dehydration. Some evaporation is normal, of course, especially for temperature regulation, but fats under the skin regulate evaporation and can prevent as much as ten to twenty times more water from leaving the body. In colder lands, increased fat stored beneath the skin prevents too much heat from leaving the body. An example of fat’s effectiveness as an insulator is in the Eskimo’s ability to withstand great cold and survive in good health. Eskimos eat a high-fat diet (and despite this have a very low incidence of heart disease and other ailments).

Healthy skin and hair. Fat has protective qualities that also give skin the soft, smooth, and unwrinkled appearance which many people try to achieve through expensive skin conditioners. The healthy look of skin comes from the fat inside. The same is true for your hair. Fats, including cholesterol, also serve as an insulating barrier within the skin. Without this protection, water and water-soluble substances such as chemical pollutants would enter the body through the skin. With the proper balance and amount of fats in your diet, your skin and hair develop a healthy appearance.

Digestion. Bile from the gall bladder is triggered by fat in the diet, which helps aid in the digestion and absorption of important fats and fat-soluble vitamins. Most of the fats in the diet are digested in the small intestine—a process that involves breaking the fat into smaller particles. The pancreas, liver, gall bladder, and large intestine are also involved in the digestive process. Any of these organs not working properly could have an adverse impact on fat metabolism in general, but the two most important organs are the liver, which makes bile, and the pancreas, which make the enzyme lipase. Without sufficient fat in the diet, the gall bladder will not secrete enough bile for proper digestion.

Fat also helps regulate the rate of stomach emptying. Fat in a meal slows stomach emptying, allowing for better digestion, especially of proteins. If you are always hungry it may be because your meal is too low in fat and your stomach is emptying too rapidly. Fats also slow the absorption of sugar from the small intestine, which keeps insulin from rising too high and too quickly—essentially, fat in a meal lowers its glycemic index. Additionally, fats protect the inner lining of the stomach and intestines from irritating substances in the diet, such as alcohol and spicy foods.

Support and protection. Stored fat offers physical support and protection to vital body parts, including the organs and glands. This is particularly important for runners who have higher levels of gravity stress. Fat acts as a natural, built-in shock absorber, cushioning the body and its various parts from the wear and tear of training, and helps prevent organs from sinking due to the downward pull of gravity.

Fats also can protect the body against the harmful effects of X-rays. This occurs through physical protection of the cell, and by controlling free-radical production, generated as a result of X-ray exposure. In addition to medical X-rays, we are constantly exposed to X-rays from the atmosphere in the form of cosmic radiation. This is important as most endurance athletes train and compete outdoors. Cosmic radiation also penetrates most objects, including airplanes. The average person gets more cosmic radiation exposure during an airline flight from New York to Los Angeles than from a lifetime of medical X-rays.

Vitamin and mineral regulation. Most people know that vitamin D is produced by exposure of the skin to the sun. However, it is actually cholesterol in the skin that allows this reaction to occur. Sunlight chemically changes cholesterol in the skin through the process of irradiation to vitamin D3. This newly formed vitamin D is then absorbed into the blood, allowing calcium and phosphorous to be properly absorbed from the intestinal tract. Without the vitamin D, calcium and phosphorous would not be well absorbed and deficiencies of both could occur. But without cholesterol, the entire process would not occur.

Besides vitamin D, other vitamins, including A, E, and K, rely on fat for proper absorption and utilization. These important “fat soluble” vitamins are present primarily in fatty foods, and the body cannot make an adequate amount of these vitamins on its own to ensure continued good health. In addition these vitamins require fat in the intestines in order to be absorbed. A low-fat diet could be deficient in these vitamins to begin with and also could further restrict their absorption.

Certain eicosanoids from dietary fat help carry calcium into the bones and muscles. Without this action, calcium levels in bones and muscles can be reduced, resulting in the risk for stress fractures, muscle cramps, and other problems. Unused calcium may be stored, sometimes in the kidneys, increasing the risk of stones, or in the muscles, tendons, or joint spaces as calcium deposits.

Taste. A favorite function of fat is that it makes food delightfully palatable. Low- and no-fat products are usually quite bland, and often manufacturers add sugar to these products to improve taste. Fat also satisfies your physical hunger by increasing satiety (the signal given to the brain that the meal is satisfying and you can stop eating). With a low-fat meal, the brain just keeps sending the same message over and over: Eat more! Because you never really feel satisfied, the temptation to overeat is irresistible. In fact, there’s a good chance you can actually gain weight on a low-fat diet by overeating to try to get that “I’m not hungry anymore” feeling.