Lets talk about fat for a while. There is so much confusion and misunderstanding.

Let us examine why we have accepted in the past that fat makes us fat or why fat is unhealthy.

First there is the calories. It is true that there are 9 calories in a gram of fat and 4 calories in a gram of protein and a gram of carbohydrate. It seems logical therefore that to reduce the fat has a greater advantage, if the objective is just to reduce calories. In foods that are "reduced fat" the macro nutrient that has increased is generally carbohydrate.

Second there is the link between fat and cholesterol. Again it is true that dietary fat is the raw material from which the body makes cholesterol. It is also true that if you add more fat to your diet your cholesterol will increase, but only if you continue to eat a lot of carbohydrate at the same time that you add the fat

Although fat is the raw material used to make cholesterol, it is insulin that runs the machinery that actually makes it. Thus if you reduce the level of insulin, the cell can't convert fat to cholesterol almost no matter how much fat is available.

This is why Atkins and others observed that if you reduce the amount of carbohydrate when you add the fat, not only will you not see any increase you could even see a reduction in cholesterol levels. This is what has happened to me.

The problem with the typical diet is that it is almost all fat and carbohydrate.

Your reading of Atkins will have told you that it is carbohydrate that has the most profound effect on the production of insulin. and it is insulin, as all diabetics know that makes the most change in blood sugar levels. Fat does not do anything as far as insulin is concerned. As all that we eat consists of three basic macro nutrients.. Protein, Carbohydrate, and fat we should examine what the various combinations actually do. The biggest influence on Insulin is High carb and Low protein. This is why all the books say that if you are eating carbohydrate then do not eat it alone and have some protein with the same meal. A cereal brakfast with a slice of toast is worse than the same slice of toast and scrambled egg on top.

I may be going on a bit in the emphasis but it is so seductive to accept the mantra that fat makes you fat when it is so patently untrue.

The creation of fat in our bodies is a metabolic function and is affected by two hormones Insulin and Glucagon it is NOT fat becoming fat.

Insulin has the effect of lowering elevated blood sugar, it shifts the metabolism into storage mode and converts glucose and protein to fat. It also is the transporter of fat from blood cells into fat cells. Unfortunately when we lose "fat" we do not lose the actual cell itself, it just empties. It is still there to fill up again. During our early life we create fat cells and they are with us for life unless of course we have lypo suction .

Glucagon is more of a friend , it shifts the body into burning mode, converts dietary fat into ketones and releases fat from their little fat cells into the blood, and reduces the level of cholesterol. It therefore allows us to use fat for energy. This is where the fat goes (which was the original question). If more ketones are produced than can be used for energy then these are expelled by the breathe, through urine and stools.

What combination produces the most glucagon? PROTEIN and FAT.!

So why am I fat and why is my brother, who when we were young ate exactly the same as I, slim? It is not fair but nevertheles a fact. The reason is that I was either born with or aquired a lower resistance to insulin. I certainly have not eaten more fat!