Ever since diets started to become popular, there have been various trends – low-fat, high-fat, high-protein and so on. Nowadays, people are confused, because there are so many options you don’t know what to choose from.
While there are certain health conditions that are on the rise in the past few years (diabetes, heart problems) that require a special diet, people actually started to question everything. It seems like it all comes down to sugar and fat, and we are often confused in choosing the one which is more harmful.
The ketogenic diet seems to be the trend nowadays, and people seem to be following this high-fat, low-carb diet. Sugar is seen as the biggest enemy and pointed our as being the root cause of all health problems.
There are many types of sugar, and not all of them are bad. For example, refined sugar and processed carbohydrates are artificially made and they have no nutritional value, lacking vitamins, minerals and nutrients. This kind of sugar can lead to addiction, weight gain and several types of disease. It can be really easy to overeat on and it can create addiction. The more you consume it, the more you want – by developing a tolerance to it.
On the other hand, while the high-fat diets are very popular nowadays, eating a high-fat diet can cause you severe health problems. It’s extremely important that you are very careful regarding which types of fats you incorporate into your diet. Usually, high-fat foods often include processed ingredients such as bacon, for example. These kind of products are often packed with unhealthy substances such as salt, sugar, preservatives and nitrates and are thought to be very harmful for the body, causing inflammation and increasing the risk of certain types of cancer.
It’s very important to make the difference between processed fats and healthy fats, as it is with sugar. Buy organic products and only go for types of fat that are healthy, for example omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. The foods you choose should be as less processed as possible.
Extremely tasty foods are usually made with certain substances that will give your brain and mood a huge boost, but they will leave you craving for more. This comes from ancient times, when people were always going for ripe fruit, for example. Nowadays, most food manufacturers have taken this advantage and have turned it in their favour, producing foods that often have unhealthy amounts of sugar, fat, salt or preservatives that trigger our ‘reward’ instinct, but leave us craving for more every time.
Most tasty foods contain sugar, fat, salt and other unhealthy ingredients. The combination of all these ingredients makes these foods super tasty and enjoyable and raise dopamine levels inside our brains. The food industry strongly relies on this and takes advantage of it, and it’s not your fault when you overeat on this kind of foods, because you just can’t stay away from it.
Moral of the story?
Neither fat nor sugar is bad for you, if you eat them in moderation. There is no such thing as ‘which one is the worst’, because everything consumed in high amounts can harm you. The key of achieving a healthy diet is moderation. A balanced diet will keep you from losing weight and it will keep you healthy at the same time. Highly processed foods will leave your body always craving for more, while healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables will keep you full for longer and won’t leave you crashing and hungry for more.
Adjust your diet to the point where it works for you, not against you. You are what you eat – so make it healthy!
