Fitness Fats
by Udo Erasmus, Ph.D.
Working with animals and with people, I have found that certain fats improve energy level, performance, and fitness. In animals, I have seen benefits in performance dogs and racehorses. In humans, I have seen football players, hockey players, cyclists, runners, tri-athletes, body builders, and weight lifters, strength as well as endurance athletes, consistently improve performance. People who begin to use fitness fats correctly report dramatic improvement in energy levels within days of getting them into their diet.
Fitness fats keep you slim. They get results. Fitness fats are anabolic. They increase the body’s ability to metabolize oxygen, and therefore increase oxidation rate, metabolic rate, energy level, stamina, and performance. You can do more reps, and muscles grow faster. They speed recovery after fatigue, as well as healing. All of this is because they increase oxygen metabolism. Fitness fats are also anti-catabolic. They’re part of protein metabolism, and prevent muscle breakdown. Without fitness fats, protein can become toxic (a warning for those who eat lots of protein to build muscle, and avoid fats because they have been misinformed by rampant fat phobia), Protein toxicity on a fat-less diet was shown around the turn of the century in studies done with starved dogs. Lack of fitness fats causes weakness and clumsiness (motor in-coordination).
Fitness fats improve performance by improving calmness under pressure, and improving our ability to concentrate. Further they help us sleep better and help us get more rested with less sleep requirement.
Fitness fats are required for testosterone production and insulin function, both of which are important for muscular development.
Fitness fats improve performance in yet another important way. They make red blood cell membranes more flexible, which makes them slide through our capillaries more easily, which in turn means: better delivery of nutrients and oxygen to our cells, tissues, organs, glands and muscles.
Fitness fats improve performance because they improve the capacity of our liver and kidneys for detoxification. Every inner organ requires them for optimum function. Fitness fats also enhance the ability of glands such as thyroid to do their jobs. Every gland needs its supply of the fitness fats.
Fitness fats improve performance by improving gut integrity. They help us get better digestion and better absorption of nutrients, providing more fuel for performance. They help prevent us from getting energy-robbing allergic reactions secondary to poor digestion. Fitness fats help maintain a healthy gut flora, promoting the growth of the friendly microorganisms in our intestines, and keeping the unfriendly ones from thriving.
Fitness fats regulate the production of several important enzymes with vital functions in our cell membranes. They also improve ATP production. Fitness fats improve immune function, and prevent infection form eating our tissues. They also protect us from the toxic influences of many oil-soluble pollutants, such as pesticides, PCB’s and chlorinated hydrocarbons. These oil-soluble poisons exit our body with the oil part of the sweat. Fitness fats also have anti-inflammatory properties. They help to minimize joint, tendon, and ligament strain and help heal these after performance. Finally, fitness fats make us healthier. Anything that makes us healthier improves our ability to perform.
Fitness fats help us lose fat, by increasing the rate at which we burn calories. They make us feel more energetic, so we feel more like being physically active. The number one reason why people refuse to exercise is that they haven’t got the energy. Fights fats provide the needed energy. Fitness fats elevate mood and lift depression. We are less likely to overeat because of being depressed.
Fitness fats help cub cravings for sugar, junk foods, and the wrong kinds of fats. Fitness fats help our kidneys dump excess water, which constitutes much of some people’s extra weight. Without the fitness fats, our kidneys cannot do their job properly and we retain water in our tissues. Finally, because fitness fat improves energy levels and mood, and also make skin nice, they induce us to feel like we’re worth taking care of.
What are fitness fats? They are fat molecules that our body cannot make, that we must have to be able to function, and must therefore get from foods. That is why a no-fat diet will eventually kill, and a low-fat diet can make you very sick. Fat avoidance deprives us of the fitness fats that our body must have to survive and to thrive.
Fitness fats need care. Fitness fats are sensitive to spoilage. Light, air and high heat destroy them quite rapidly. For this reason, great care must be taken in their production, packaging, storage and use. I make them with specially designed machinery that excludes light and oxygen completely, and runs at low temperatures.
I package fitness fat in brown glass bottles, and put a box around the bottle to exclude all light. I recommend frozen storage for long-term keeping (3 to 5 years). Oils shrink on freezing-therefore glass bottles won’t break-and refrigerated storage for short term keeping (6 months). I suggest using up the oil within 4 to 8 weeks of opening a bottle.
How much and how to use? Use enough fitness fats to make skin smooth. Dry skin is the most easily recognizable sign of fitness fat deficiency. I use the skin to measure optimum requirement, because our skin gets the fitness fats only after the rest of the body has what it needs. Fitness fat optimums range from 1 tablespoon for a little person, to 7 or 8 tablespoons for some of our world-class body builders, the really big guys.
Mix fitness fats into protein and power shakes, or use them with all foods-salads, salad dressings, steamed vegetables, yogurt, mashed potatoes, cereals, bananas, juices, soups, mixed into egg yolks, mixed with extra virgin olive oil, and more. They make foods taste better. Fitness fat lowers the glycemic index of sweet and starchy foods, thereby dampening the negative insulin response to high glycemic foods.
Take anti-oxidants with fitness fats. Fitness fats give you energy by building a strong fire in your body. But a strong fire also throws sparks (free radicals) that can damage tissues. Anti-oxidants are the spark control that picks off the free radicals, preventing random tissue damage. Vitamins A, C, and E, and the minerals zinc and selenium are the most common anti-oxidants used, but coenzyme Q10, lipoic acid, and others are also good. In addition, all whole foods especially vegetables, contain hundreds of different kinds of powerful anti-oxidants. So make sure you eat your veggies.
How long to see results? When athletes and body builders begin using the fitness fats in the right amounts (3 tablespoons per day is a good place to start), they notice results within as little as two days. People who are not exercising may lose a few pounds of fat within a week or two of beginning to take fitness fats provided that they don’t over eat fattening sweet foods or starches.
In summary, fitness fats play a key role in improving energy levels, stamina, performance, recovery, healing, and fats loss. They also improve brain function, skin condition, digestion, cardiovascular health, immune function, joint function, and general health. They also prevent many health problems. Make sure you get them!
About Udo Erasmus, Ph.D.
Udo Erasmus is an internationally recognized authority on the role of fats, oils, and cholesterol in human health. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Honours Zoology with a major in Psychology from the University of British Columbia, followed by graduate studies in biochemistry and genetics. Several years of research in the field of nutrition led to him write his first book, Fats and Oils, which earned him a Ph.D. in nutrition and was later expanded and republished as Fats That Heal Fats That Kill.
Links:
