The fats of life: the types of bodybuilding-friendly fats you must eat to aid muscle gains

Flex, June, 2002

There's more to managing fat in your diet than just cutting the greasy edges off a juicy steak. In fact, there are so many forms of edible fats that you could say the "fats of life" are as different as those girls who starred in the TV show The Facts of Life. Some you'd invite into your life, others you'd avoid at all costs.

Consuming dietary fat has for years been incorrectly blamed as the sole cause of excess bodyfat. An entire segment of the diet industry was built on the premise that if you cut dietary fat Out of your diet, you wouldn't be fat. Everyone from yo-yo dieters to health nuts, and even some bodybuilders, fell for that overly simplistic message.

We know better now. Today, most bodybuilders understand that changing the type of fats in their diets is just as important as cutting back on the amount. Some fats should be eaten. Research demonstrates that consuming certain fats can help a bodybuilder retain muscle mass while dieting, accelerate fat loss, enhance nerve performance and even help build lean muscle mass. That's not fat. That's phat.

There are two basic kinds of fat: saturated and unsaturated. Fats that are mostly unsaturated are "good" and fats that are highly saturated are "bad." These labels are too simplistic to scientifically explain the roles of fat in a diet, but it's good shorthand for bodybuilders to think of unsaturated as good, since this group includes some fats that can have beneficial effects on muscular physiques.

THE "BAD" FAT: SATURATED

Saturated fats tend to be solid at room temperature. Examples of foods that contain a high degree of saturated fat include butter, beef tallow and (surprisingly) coconut and palm oils. These are the fats that pack on the blubber if not restricted or eliminated from your diet.

Bodybuilders do not need to consume saturated fats. Actually, a diet without saturated fats would be perfectly healthy, but unrealistic given that they are in almost every type of meat. Your goal should be to minimize consumption of saturated fats by relying on chicken and turkey breast, fish and beans as your primary sources of protein. Red meat is also acceptable if you choose lean cuts and cut away or drain all visible fat. That's basic bodybuilding eating. These sources are low in saturated fats and high in protein. Other meat sources such as ground beef and dark meat from chicken and turkey are higher in saturated fats. For bodybuilders and those seeking healthier foods, it's better to eat these only occasionally. Our advice: Minimize consumption of saturated fats while taking in the protein your body needs for muscle growth.

THE "GOOD" FAT: UNSATURATED Unsaturated fats tend to be liquid at room temperature. Healthier than their saturated counterparts, unsaturated fats can be. further classified as monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. Polyunsaturated fats include omega-3s and omega-6s. Here's what's good and not so good about these types of dietary fat.

Monounsaturated Fats Research suggests that monounsaturated fats aren't as fattening as saturated fats. Monounsaturates also offer the advantage of helping to keep insulin from spiking as it does when carbohydrates are consumed. Nonetheless, the calories in a gram of monounsaturates are more than double that of carbohydrate (nine calories per gram as opposed to four).

Two good sources of monounsaturated fats are olive oil and peanut oil. All-natural peanut butter has become a popular food for bodybuilders -- despite its high fat content, it has a high concentration of monounsaturated fats. Along the same lines, olive oil is considered a good replacement for most vegetable oils and has the "heart smart" benefit of being rich in antioxidant polyphenols.

Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fats Consuming plenty of omega-3 fats is crucial for bodybuilders, and FLEX recommends supplementing with them to get all you need. Omega-3s are essential, meaning that you must consume them in your diet -- either from food or supplements -- because your body cannot manufacture them. The diets of most Americans are deficient in these crucial nutrients. Omega-3s have the power to shift fat metabolism away from storage and toward burning of bodyfat as heat. Due to this effect on metabolism, omega-3 fats are less fattening calorie-for-calorie than saturated, hydrogenated (another type of fat, which is discussed in the sidebar "From Worst to Best: A Fat Countdown") or even omega-6 fats.

Interestingly, research reveals that omega-3s may have muscle-preserving benefits. Therefore, bodybuilders cutting calories in preparation for a competition can expect to benefit from taking in foods that are high in omega-3s. In fact, pro bodybuilders often consume plenty of flaxseed oil, fish oil, walnut oil and/or algae-source docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) during this phase.

Another benefit of omega-3 supplementation is joint protection. Omega-3S help defend your joints against damaging inflammatory and autoimmune responses to hardcore training.

In addition, omega-3s can be beneficial to bodybuilders on low-fat diets. Omega-3S help maintain muscle despite the lowered steroid hormone levels that come with low-fat diets. Another concern with low-fat dieting is that it can cause depression. Luckily, DHA can help prevent this form of depression. Fish, fish oil capsules and DHA capsules are effective at boosting DHA levels; flaxseed oil is less potent in this regard. Nonetheless, flaxseed oil may be easier to consume than fish oil owing to the fact that flaxseed oil has no taste. It also has about double the concentration of omega-3s per teaspoon (55% versus only 30% for fish oil). The usual recommendation is either 40 grams per day of flaxseed oil or six grams per day of fish oil at 30% total omega-3 fats (usually 180 milligrams [mg] of eicosapentaenoic acid [EPA] and 120 mg of DHA per 1,000 mg capsule).