One of the interesting things about our health these days is the emphasis that is placed on keeping fit, losing weight and keeping one’s body weight at a certain number, regardless of age. However, there is an imbalance with this picture, because there are many dangers to an overweight person’s health that are not apparent at first glance. The typical person is overweight, but either they don’t realize it or they don’t care, because they are living with this ‘spin’.

The average person now stands at a startling 32.8% obesity, meaning that one quarter of the population is considered to be obese or overweight. At the same time, the average American is now getting about 26% of their daily food energy intake from fats and 9.5% from proteins, leaving them with a paltry 10% of the daily allowance for protein.

Reasons for the above dramatically reflect what most people think is a ‘natural’ occurrence. With the advent of the Standard American Diet (SAD) and urbanization, America and the rest of the west has been radically changed in many ways, most notably the acceptance of fast foods and fast foods are now part of the standard western life-style. In America, a whopping 66% of the population continues to eat from fast food restaurants, and 40% of this population is considered obese.

It has long been known in the medical community that obesity is at least partly caused by overconsumption of processed carbohydrates like sodas, doughnuts, cookies, white pasta, fruit juices, and potatoes chips, as well as trans fats from things like margarine, shortening and hydrogenated oils ( usually found in fried foods, potato chips, and vegetable oils).

Another fact that is now becoming viscerally clear is that fat is absolutely necessary for a healthy body, inside and out, and it’s important to make sure that you understand the types of fats that are healthy and which ones are not.

There are unhealthy fats and there are healthy fats, but for the purposes of this article we are going to distinguish the healthy fats from the unhealthy ones, and also give you a chance to learn the healthy fats – and the unhealthy ones – in a little more detail.

Levels of Fat

There are several ways to get a measure of how fat you really are, but the easiest is to get a copy of your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and viola! You have your BMR, and you know immediately how fat you are. Now, picture the average American as 16 or 17 years of age, and you’ll have a good idea of what your BMR is for those individual years.

But there’s a problem with taking a BMR. It’s based on very bland and boring foods. For instance, let’s say you eat a piece of yesterday’s (highly processed) chocolate chip cookie and think you workout pretty well. All the chocolate chip cookies you ate will provide about 190 calories, at most, but what of the glycemic index of the chocolate chip is it? What percentage of those calories are going to be stored as fat? It’s not likely to be very much, if any, because most of the calories are ‘good’ calories in the form of carbs. What’s more important to consider is whether or not you are eating at appropriate levels to keep your BMR at a sufficient level to support your basic body functions.

But what is sufficient BMR? Let’s use our example above. We’ll take you through the various levels of calorie intake to show you that, at most, any additional calories you intake greater than what you need will be stored as fat.

Level 1: Small minus 20 grams

This is the level where you should probably only be trying to get fruits and vegetables in. At this level, you might ‘need’ to add a banana or half of a cup of spaghetti if you’re hungry.

Level 2: 200 grams plus one extra chip or serving of carb

At this level you are actually going to be getting enough carbs to satisfy your cravings, but you will also be taking in enough fat to make sure that you are healthy. If you are a guy, this might be the level where you have to add a few muscles to your body. Personally, I increase my levels to this level when I am working out a lot and really hitting my weight peak.

Level 3: Sufficient Starch

At this level you are going to be getting the right amount of starch/sugar and you’ll be getting it without the added cost of a lot of calories. Again, this is the level where you want to ingest the bulk of your carbs at this point because you’ll be getting enough of the carbs you need and you’ll have the fat you need to balance it all out.