Here is a refreshing antidote to the misleading hype surrounding the topic of fat - both the fat we eat and the fat we carry around. By explaining its biology and sharing the latest research, Connie Leas convincingly frees fat from its bad reputation. For example, she discusses how our much-maligned fatty tissue plays a critical role in maintaining health. Among other vital functions, it stores energy, produces hormones, builds cell membranes, bolsters immunity, and insulates our vital organs.The author also explains often-confusing terms such as triglycerides, polyunsaturated, omega-3, and trans-fat that are tossed around in the media, but which few people really understand. Having spent years researching this subject, Leas has transformed technical material from scientific research into a lively work of popular appeal. Chock full of useful - and sometimes startling - information, Fat: It's Not What You Think is a valuable health resource presented in an accessible, entertaining format. Connie Leas (Boulder Creek, CA), a freelance writer, has worked as a technical writer for many corporations in the military-support, payroll services, insurance, and biotechnology industries. fat It's Not What You Think By Connie Leas Prometheus Books Copyright © 2008 Connie Leas All right reserved. ISBN: 978-1-59102-612-9 Contents Foreword...............................................................................15Acknowledgments........................................................................17Introduction...........................................................................19CHAPTER 1. GOOD THINGS ABOUT FAT.......................................................23CHAPTER 2. WHAT IS FAT, ANYWAY?........................................................31CHAPTER 3. HOW YOUR BODY DIGESTS AND USES FAT..........................................37CHAPTER 4. WHAT YOUR FAT CELLS DO......................................................45CHAPTER 5. WHO SAYS YOU'RE TOO FAT?....................................................55CHAPTER 6. WHY YOUR BODY WANTS TO KEEP ITS SHAPE.......................................67CHAPTER 7. CHOLESTEROL CONTROVERSIES...................................................81CHAPTER 8. SATURATED FATS: HEALTHFUL FOOD..............................................95CHAPTER 9. OILS: ESSENTIAL AND OTHERWISE...............................................105CHAPTER 10. WHAT'S WRONG WITH TRANS FATS...............................................119CHAPTER 11. THE PROBLEM WITH LOW-FAT DIETS.............................................129CHAPTER 12. DIVERSITY AND BALANCE......................................................141CHAPTER 13. FAT, THE FARM, AND FAMILY..................................................151APPENDIX A. CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES PRODUCED OR ACTIVATED BY FAT CELLS.....................165APPENDIX B. DETERMINING YOUR BODY FAT USING GIRTH MEASUREMENTS.........................167APPENDIX C. FAT CONTENT OF FOODS.......................................................171References.............................................................................179Bibliography...........................................................................213Index..................................................................................215 Chapter One GOOD THINGS ABOUT FAT the fat you carry around has useful functions. It stores energy for future use, produces important chemicals, builds cell membranes and neural structures, provides padding, insulates against cold, supplies fuel, and supports your immune system. Fat can be your friend! STORED ENERGY The most obvious purpose of fat is for storing energy-something it does very well. Each gram of fat stores about nine calories' worth of energy, about twice more than a gram of carbohydrate. (Calories are the number of heat units you get by "burning" fuel.) One reason fat can store more energy than carbohydrates-gram for gram-is that it contains no water. Stored carbohydrates, on the other hand, are about two-thirds water. If, like plants, you stored carbohydrates for energy instead of fat, you'd be too huge to get around. Think of potatoes. A single pound of fat contains about 3,200 calories of energy-enough to get you through many days without food. If you're a typical woman, your body is about 25 percent fat; if you're a man, it's more like 15 percent. Because you're probably lugging around many pounds of fat, you can go for weeks without food. If you're an average-sized man, for example, you might be storing 141,000 calories' worth of energy in your fat tissue, enough calories, at 2,000 a day, to last seventy days. The more stored fat, the longer you last without food. (Because women are fatter than men, in times of famine they outlast men.) One man who weighed 456 pounds went for 382 days without food, under medical scrutiny, and lost 276 pounds. (He's listed in the 1971 Guinness Book of World Records .) Don't