Can We Eat Too Much Healthy Fat?

Unfortunately, the answer is a big, fat 'yes'! Just because something is labelled as good doesn't mean we need to overindulge in it. While 'healthy fats' are a better alternative to artery-clogging saturated and trans fats, overdoing it can still lead to weight gain and health issues. Healthy fat is still a fat, and just like unhealthy types of fat, is loaded with calories and extremely dense. If we eat too much, we will gain weight and if we are lean - it goes straight to our liver and other organs. Not only that, but excessive amounts of any type of fat increase our risk of other dis-ease in our bodies. Fat is a hormonally active tissue, it produces estrogen, which can make some of us prone to certain cancers such as breast, colorectal and prostate cancer. Even with the healthiest types of fat, such as avocado, flax seeds, chia seeds and nuts, which seem to be all the rage right now - it is so important to watch the quantities.

To put it into perspective, a single avocado can have up to 500 calories. Although this number may be eye-opening, it doesn’t mean we should stay away from healthy fat altogether. It is the oils in these foods that feed our body (brain) in Omegas 3,6 and 9 so we must have them with each meal. The important thing is to limit our portion sizes.

Our 10 year old loves these foods and if we load him up with them thinking we are doing the right thing - we will be setting him up for an awful puberty and doing far more damage than we know. This is a very common misconception and we see heavy overloaded livers in our clinic every day ranging from ages 8 through to 87.