The problem with fat

Eat less fat, be less fat - right? Well, it's not that simple. There are two main problems with eating a lot of fat.

1 Too much food

The first concerns overall food intakes. Fat is high in energy, but at the same time is not especially filling. The result is that when you eat fatty foods, it's easy to take in more energy than you need. And when you do that, the body stores what you don't need as fat.

For example: one meal of a large burger with fries, a big drink and ice cream-style dessert will contain so much fat (and sugar), it'll give you half a day's entire energy needs. But junk food like this may not even fill you up, so you'll soon want to eat more. That's why people who eat lots of fast food run a big risk of becoming obese.

Obesity is a major risk factor for (type 2) diabetes, heart disease and a range of other illnesses.

If you're serious about losing weight, you'll need to cut back on the amount of food energy (kilojoules) you eat overall. Cutting out the foods that pile on the kilojoules without filling you up is an obvious place to start.

This problem relates to all types of fat.

2 Good fat, bad fat

The second problem with fat concerns certain types of fat - the saturated and trans fats known as "bad" fats.

These fats are bad because they lead to an increase of fatty deposits in the arteries, which can cause heart disease and other illnesses. Saturated fats are mainly animal fats and some vegetable fats like palm and coconut oil. Trans fats are commonly found in takeaways and the commercial margarines used in cakes, muffins and the like.

But there are also "good" fats, which have the reverse effect of reducing the risk of fatty deposits in the bloodstream, and therefore lowering your risk of heart disease. Good fats are unsaturated and are found in vegetable oils like olive, canola and sunflower, and also in fish and nuts.

Eating "good" fats, provided they do not contribute to your eating too much overall, does not seem to be a health risk. But eating "bad" fats very definitely is.