Too much fat?

[Katieemerson1]

I know good fats are good but I am having a hard time knowing how much is too much. The book says choose 1 or more fats eat meal. So a handful of nuts and avocado at one meal? Later in the day more avocado? Coconut? That seems like a lot of fat? Is there such thing as too much? How do you guys portion it out?

[bzbear2]

I am not a moderator but the template says 1 portion of fat at EACH meal! 

[jmcbn]

My advice would be don't fear the fat. We need fat for satiety & for brain health, and with good healthy fats it really is quite hard to over do it.

A half an avocado would be a good sized serving for a meal, or a handful of olives, or a generous drizzle of oil (I don't measure, just pour), a HUGE dollop of home-made mayo, a few slices of compliant bacon.... Any one of these in each meal is good.

 

Go easy on the nuts - a serving is a closed handful but along with seeds they should be eaten in moderation only (say every other day, max) as they are notoriously hard on the digestive system, can be a food without breaks for many people, and are also an inferior source of fat due to their poor omega 3:6 ratio.

Hope this helps.

[Katieemerson1]

My template says one or more each meal which confused me. The book says one or more each meal so I'm not sure what template your referring too.

Thank you for the advice laying off the nuts! Re evaluating my meals. More veggies just a bit less fat. Thanks

[jmcbn]

The confusion maybe lies in the fact that you will also often use a fat for cooking, but you should add an additional fat to your meal as most of the cooking fat stays in the pan - hence the one or two mentioned in the template 

[Vian]

The thing is, when you start a paleo diet (whole30 is a form of paleo) you are eliminating a lot of carbs from your diet. You have to replace those carbs with something else your calories will be too low. Too much protein is wasteful and can be harmful to the kidneys, so the best choice is fat. You are replacing the carbs you used to eat (in the form of bead, pasta, other grains, and sugar) with fat. So don't fear the fat. If you limit fat, AND are following a whole30's with no grains or added sugar, you are going to be experiencing a severe caloric deficit, which is a recipe for being very hungry, and that is NOT the way to do a whole30. 

 

In the 4 years I've been paleo and AIP, and through the 5 whole30's I've done now, I've learned not to fear fat. I get 50-55% of my daily calories from fat (that means I choose full-fat everything and slather almost everything I eat with fat in one form or another) but I only eat 15-20% of my daily calories from carbs (mostly sweet potatoes, fruit, and other veggies) 

 

A typical meal for me has something like 40-50 grams of fat in it (to get 55% of my daily calories from fat, I eat about 120 grams of fat a day)

[Katieemerson1]

Thank you so much!!