The fitness mantra of staying fit, at the cost of excluding fat from the diet totally is now deemed to be obsolete. This is what the candidates having qualified for their personal training certification course opine.
Undoubtedly one of the most essential standards of fitness lies in controlling fat build up in the body and enhancing muscle mass. But, the fat content in the food must be regulated, not evicted totally.
What has a qualified personal trainer to say about fat consumption?
1) Regarding the choice of fat
Anything oily and greasy texture wise can be considered as fat. Cooking oil, ghee, butter, cheese, are however not the only answer in this regard. Fats are generally differentiated based on the source.
- Vegetable fat :- Seeds and nuts are rich sources of vegetable fat. Mustard oil, coconut oil, olive oil, groundnut oil, almond oil, soybean oil, all fall under this category. Some fruits can also be sources of fat, like the flesh of the tender coconut, olive, avocado.
- Animal fat :- Meat and fish are rich in fat, hence they are consumed in unextracted form generally. Certain animals are more fatty than the others. For instance chicken meat has less fat than mutton, or shrimp is less fatty compared to salmon. Lard is the most common form of extracted animal fat. It could be made of duck fat, beef fat or pork fat, and is used in deep and shallow frying.
- Dairy fat :- Any form of milk based fat can be considered as dairy fat, like butter, ghee, cheese, clotted cream.
These various sources of fats can be broadly classified under two headships, saturated or unsaturated fats. Fitness experts are of the view that unsaturated fats are healthier than unsaturated fat, because they can be easily absorbed by the body, hence the calorific value can be burnt out easily.
Generally plant based oils which remain liquid at room temperature are unsaturated fats. While, animal and dairy based fats are saturated fats, as they tend to solidify easily. That does not automatically make unsaturated fats better than the saturated ones.
Even the unsaturated fats must be consumed in moderation. In fact, fitness experts opine that unextracted fats in the form of nuts and seeds are more preferable than even the extracted unsaturated vegetable oils, because they are rich in fiber besides being sources of fat.
2) Maintaining a certain percentage of fat in the daily food intake
25% of the daily food intake must consist of fats. It roughly translates to one quarter of the total food consumption. Depriving the body of even the basic minimum required proportion of fat can be quite harmful for the body, as it is one of the three major macronutrients that one requires for proper metabolism.
Fat helps in brain development, bone strength, maintaining tensile skin and smooth hair health. Excluding these vital bodily functions from the definition of fitness at the cost of muscle building is not desirable.
3) Fat as a vital energy giving constituent in the food
When both carbohydrates and fat provide energy to the body, then why are fats necessary? For each gram of fat, 9 calories can be obtained, but for carbohydrates it is just 4.
Also, fats are necessary for instant energy needs. While it takes time for the carbohydrates to be converted into energy, hence they are stored as energy for later use.
Wrapping up
Raising trainers knowledgeable in matters of nutrition is an essential part of a personal training certification course. It is specifically designed to enable the gym trainers to help the fitness enthusiasts fulfill their fitness goals in a holistic manner.