Author: Paige Maurer

What’s For Dinner: Protein Enchilada Pasta

Simple changes to recipes you make can have a HUGE impact on the amount of calories along with the macro and micronutrient profile of the recipe. The original recipe link can be found at the end of this post.

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound chicken breast 
  • Salt and ground black pepper
  • 1 box (14.4oz) Protein Pasta
  • 3 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
  • ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • 28 ounces enchilada sauce, mild
  • 4 ounces non-fat Greek yogurt or light sour cream
  • 1 medium red bell pepper, chopped 
  • 6 green onions, chopped 
  • 1 ½ cups 2% Mexican blend shredded cheese

INSTRUCTIONS 

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Salt and pepper chicken. Spray a large skillet with non-stick spray and cook chicken over medium hear until fully cooked(170deg temp). Remove chicken from skillet, let rest for 5 minutes, then cut into bite-sized portions.
  • While the chicken is cooking, bring a large pot of water with a dash of salt in it to a boil. Cook the pasta for about 5 minutes then strain and set aside. The pasta will finish cooking in the oven.
  • In the skillet, add the applesauce, flour, and enchilada sauce. Bring to a simmer, stirring until all ingredients are mixed and the enchilada sauce begins to thicken.
  • Reduce the heat to low. Add Greek yogurt or light sour cream.
  • Add the red pepper, green onions, and chicken to the sauce.  Stir until everything evenly coated.
  • Evenly layer pasta into a 9×13-inch glass baking dish. Pour the sauce with chicken and vegetables onto the pasta and spread evenly.  Sprinkle with the cheese and bake for 20 minutes.

NUTRITION

Servings: 8

Nutrition Facts/Serving:

Calories: 395kcal Carbohydrates: 47.1g Protein: 34.4g Fat: 9.3g Saturated Fat: 3.1g Cholesterol: 57.2mg Sodium: 1002mg Potassium: 142.1mg Fiber: 7.1g Sugar: 6.3g Vitamin A: 15.7mcg Vitamin C: 0mcg Calcium: 8.6mg Iron: 0.8mg

*Nutrition facts calculated from third party source

Original Recipe: https://www.simplylakita.com/cheesy-chicken-enchilada-pasta/

Diet Pills: They’re Not Your Alli

When I was in the eighth grade, I read a magazine article about how sitting naked in front of a mirror while eating would help you lose weight. This was the same year I started sneaking my mom’s little blue diet pills. These were my first disordered tendencies towards losing fat, but they definitely weren’t my last. Ya’ll, I was thirteen years old. THIRTEEN. I had no idea what was in those pills at the time, and I’m sure many still don’t…so let’s take a look.

Alli

Alli was the first diet pill I took. I snuck it out of the cupboard because I saw my mom taking them in an attempt to lose weight. Alli is a form of Orlistat. Orlistat inhibits the breakdown of fat in the gut, causing your body to absorb less calories. It’s been shown to decrease weight by roughly 6lbs on average, decrease blood pressure, and decrease type 2 diabetes, but this comes at a cost. As your body is no longer breaking down ingested fat, it is missing out on a lot of the great fat-soluble vitamins and can have some nasty side effects that can come out of your behind quite forcefully.

Thermogenics(Fat-burners)

The next(and last) diet pill that I tried was a “Thermo”. Thermos are usually a stack of ephedrine, caffeine, and asprin. Ephedrine is now restricted for sale due to its health complications. When ephedrine and caffeine are combined they can decrease appetite and increase metabolism for temporary weight loss.

Caffeine alone can increase metabolism by 3-11% and can increase fat burning by up to 29%. Caffeine is one of the most researched substances for performance and weight loss.

Side effects to both caffeine and ephedrine consist of increased heart rate, increase in anxiety, sleep issues, irritability, jitteriness, and more. Caffeine is an addictive substance, as well; whereas, ephedrine is not labeled as addictive.

CLA

Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) is a pretty common weight loss supplement. It’s marketed at reducing appetite, boosting metabolism, and breaking down fat; however, a study posted in 2012 showed that it causes only ~3lbs of weight loss compared to a placebo pill.

Side effects include some pretty severe digestive issues, insulin resistance, and fatty liver. Its potential side effects aren’t worth 3lbs of weight loss, in my opinion.

Green Tea Extract

Green tea extract can be found in many weight loss supplements and even some multivitamins. The primary antioxidant in green tea extract has been shown to aid in fat burning by increasing norepinephrine. Multiple studies support its effectiveness in increasing fat burning and fat loss. Two controlled trials found that people lost 3lbs on average with green tea supplements. Green tea extract has few side effects, but may present as mild side effects being similar to caffeine.

Summing It All Up

Although some diet pills have research showing they may cause weight loss, the weight lost is not significant and could easily be water weight. It appears that the risk is greater than the reward. Since diet pills cause little to no lifestyle change, the likelihood of keeping any weight lost off in the long run is very low. Your energy and finances are likely better spent on learning how to balance your energy intake through proper nutrtion and staying consistent. One of the best ways to stay consistent is through hiring a coach. Email prtrainingstrong@gmail.com to get started


Resources:

Hursel, Viechtbauer, Westerterp-Pkantenga. The effects of green tea on weight loss and weight maintenance: a meta-analysis.

Onakpoya, Posadzki, Watson, Ernst. The efficacy of long-term conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) supplementation on body composition in overweight and obese individuals: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials

Dullog, Geissler, Horton, Collins, Miller. Normal caffeine consumption: influence on thermogenesis and daily energy expenditure in lean and postobese human volunteers

Padwal, Li, Lau. Long-term pharmacotherapy for obesity and overweight.

The Magic Pill

What if I told you there was only one thing you had to do in order to lose fat, put on muscle, get stronger, get a promotion, find true love, or to achieve anything else you desire in life? Would you do it?

Most people would respond ‘yes’, but few people actually will follow through. You see, the only thing you need to do in order to achieve any of your goals is be consistent. That doesn’t sound too challenging, right? Losing weight doesn’t take a special, fancy diet with certain foods being restricted or removed. It doesn’t take flashy workouts, expensive workout gear, the latest and greatest supplements, or even a gym membership. It takes showing up each day, consuming your calories lower than your energy expenditure majority of the time, and being consistent with those two things.

Putting on muscle and getting stronger require similar steps. Getting a promotion requires similar steps. Finding a partner requires similar steps. Show up each and every day with consistency. You’re not going to reach your goals doing what you’ve always done in the past. You’re going to reach them by showing up every single day with consistency in your habits.Be consistent. Be patient. Be relentless.

Why You’re Not Reaching Your Goals

It doesn’t matter if your goal is to lose weight, make more money, or even to finish a small project. If you’re struggling to reach your goals, there’s likely just one culprit: You’re patience sucks.

I know, no one likes to hear that they’re the reason they’re not achieving their goals. It’s easier to blame it on genetics or your kids crazy schedule, but at the end of the day the only one that can achieve your goals is you. We live in a world of instant gratification and convenience. That’s not all bad; however, when your goal is something that’s going to take months (or maybe even years), the instant gratification model isn’t going to work.

So, we’ve identified the problem, now what? How do we undo the lack of patience?

Long-term goals are best achieved through smaller, short-term goals. Is your goal to lose 100lbs? That’s awesome! However, that’s also pretty intimidating when you step on the scale and have lost 5lbs and think to yourself, “Ugh, 95lbs more to go”. This mentality often leads to us giving up on our goals. Instead, we set short-term goals as bench markers and something we can celebrate on our way to our long-term goal.

So your long-term goal is to lose 100lbs? Let’s set your first bench marker at 10lbs of fat loss. Going from 300lbs to 200lbs felt overwhelming, but going from 300lbs to 290lbs seems more manageable. Once you reach 290lbs, we get to celebrate that you’ve reached a goal and we set our sights on our next goal. Maybe this time we set it for 15lbs of fat loss.

You’ll be to your long-term goal sooner than you realize while enjoying the process, adhering to your program, and celebrating your journey.

The Sweet Truth About Simple Carbohydrates

First off, let’s clarify what carbohydrates are not:
Carbs have gotten a bad reputation in recent years with the increasing popularity of diets such as paleo and keto. Carbs are not bad. They will not make you gain weight if consumed and they are not these mythical little critters that turn to blubber if eaten after 8pm. So, what are they?

The primary role of carbohydrates is to serve as an energy source to the body. They supply an ergogenic effect and elevate muscle glycogen on aerobic performance, work output, and high intensity activity. They basically help you do everything in life at a higher level. Did you know that carbs are the only energy source utilized by brain tissue? This makes it the preferred energy source for nervous system functioning. Appropriate and adequate consumption of carbs allows for better muscle recruitment, better muscle growth, and greater fatigue resistance. There are three types of carbohydrates: monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides. Today we’re going to be talking about the mono and disaccharides AKA the simple carbs or simple sugars.

Monosaccharides are single-sugar molecules, mono meaning one. These are our glucose, fructose, and galactose carbs. Glucose is our most common mono and the building block of larger sugars. It is the primary energy substrate for cells and composes glycogen. Glycogen is extremely important as it is stored in the cytoplasm of cells in muscle tissues and the liver until needed for ATP, which is what fast-acting energy is! You can consume glucose via intravenous fluids or some sport drinks in the form of dextrose. Fructose is our monosaccharide that is found naturally in fruits and vegetables. These carbs cause less insulin secretion than other sugars. Galactose is our mono that combines with glucose to make lactose, the sugar found in milk.

Disaccharides are made up of two simple sugars, di meaning two. These are our sucrose, lactose, and maltose carbs. Sucrose is a combination of glucose and fructose. This combo creates our most common table sugar and occurs naturally in most fruits. Maltose is two glucose molecules combined. Maltose normally occurs as a polysaccharide, also called a complex carbohydrate, and is broken down during digestion; however, maltose also occurs during fermentation and is the primary carbohydrate found in beer.

Pre-Exercise Simple Sugars Provide:
-Readily available fuel sources of energy
-Help fight fatigue to help you keep pushing through tough training sessions
-Help muscle contraction

Not all of your carbohydrate intake should come from simple carbohydrates, but we will discuss complex carbohydrates(polysaccharides) on another day. Simple sugars have been found to regulate muscle protein synthesis. Simply put, it helps stimulate and regulate muscular growth. This occurs by an increase in insulin secretion from the pancreas. The greater the insulin secretion, the greater the muscle growth. This is especially true when insulin levels are elevated when amino acids are present. Essentially, insulin is anabolic to muscle. Unfortunately, insulin is also anabolic to fat. Carbohydrates play an extremely important role in fueling the body for action and recovering after activity. Simple sugars in conjunction with amino acids from protein should be your go-to for recovering from a workout.

Post-Exercise Simple Sugars Help:
-Refuel depleted energy
-Stimulate insulin secretion for muscle growth
-Increase energy levels to keep you moving

Inadequate carbohydrate intake while exercising can have a detrimental effect. Individuals that partake in regular exercise or have active jobs may see a decrease in motivation and effort in blood glucose is too low. Inadequate carbohydrate intake for a prolonged period of time will likely cause decreases in single session and multi-session performance due to chronically low muscle glycogen. These individuals may also see a decrease in muscle growth due to the lack of insulin secretion and chronically low muscle glycogen. Thankfully, there seems to be no known effect on the body with too much carbohydrate intake if calories are properly balanced. So, what is the “optimal” carbohydrate intake?

Studies show that on non-training days under 0.5g/lb, light training days 1g/lb, moderate training days 1.5g/lb, and heavy training days 2g/lb is optimal for body composition purposes. Not all of your carbohydrates should be from simple sugars, however. Remember how simple sugars spike insulin levels? Our body only optimizes this insulin spike during or after a bout of exercise. Meaning, simple sugars are great for during and post-exercise or elevates bouts of activity, but aren’t essential throughout the rest of your day. The goal for the rest of your carbohydrate intake should be from complex carbs.

To sum it all up, simple sugars:
-aid in muscle growth
-supply fuel for fast-acting energy
-aid in recovery
-are great around high levels of activity, but are not necessary all day or even every day

References:

Baechle TR, Earle RW. Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning. NSCA 3rd Ed. 2008. 208-211.

Burke LM, Kiens B, Ivy JL. Carbohydrates and Fat for Training and Recovery. J Sports Sci. 2004 Jan; 22(1): 15-30.

Burke LM, Loucks AB, Broad N. Energy and Carbohydrate for Training and Recovery. J Sports Sci. 2006 July: 24(7): 675-685.

Garthe I, Raastad T, Refsnes PE, Koivisto A,, Sundgot-Borgen J. Effect of Two Different Weight-loss Rates on Body Composition and Strength and Power-related Performance in Elite Athletes. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2011 April; 21(2):97-104.

Howarth KR, Phillips SM, MacDonald MJ, Richards D, Moreau NA, Gibala MJ. Effect of Glycogen Availability of Human Skeletal Muscle Protein Turnover During Exercise and Recovery. 2010 Aug. https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00108.2009.

Kenney WL, Wilmore JH, Costill DL. Physiology of Sport and Exercise 5th Ed. 2012. 50-52.

Big Gulps: Why You’re Forgetful and Not Losing Weight

Our body weight is comprised of 50-70% water, so it’s no surprise that water should be a daily staple in your fluid consumption. We dehydrate through sweating, digestion, and even breathing. It’s suggested that even at 1% dehydration, our cognitive function can be impaired. By the time you start to feel thirsty, your body has already dehydrated by 2-3%!

Feeling hungry constantly? This could also be due to dehydration. Adequate hydration will not satiate the sensation of hunger. So, are you hungry or just really thirsty and forgetful? Many of us forget to consume water throughout the day. Our day gets packed with meetings and projects. You dehydrate. You become even more forgetful. Work becomes more difficult as thinking becomes more difficult due to a lack of fluid intake. Are you seeing a pattern, yet?

Dehydration can lead to drowsiness and slower metabolic functioning, as well. Adequate hydration aids in lipolysis, which is the breakdown of fatty acids or lipids. Water helps to increase metabolic function by increasing mitochondrial activity. Easiest way to break this down: WATER = breakdown of FAT = YOU LOSING FAT MASS!!

Alright, you get it. Water intake is important, but how much do we need and how do I make sure to get enough on a busy schedule? A study in 2004 states that ~91oz for females and ~127oz for males is adequate. If you’re doing any activity that raises body temperature, i.e. exercising or sweating out in the summer sun, make sure to increase the amount you are ingesting.

Tips and Tricks for More Gulps:
-Try carrying a bottle of water everywhere you go. BONUS: be environmentally conscious and friendly by carrying a reusable bottle!
-Water’s too plain? Try adding a fresh slice of lemon or lime
-Drink water before, during, and post-exercise to replenish what you’re excreting
-Try a water schedule. Set a 60-90min timer on your phone. When the timer goes off, take a few sips and reset your timer
-Check your pee. Colorless or light-yellow pee usually means you’re adequately hydrated

http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/reports/2004/dietary-reference-intakes-water-potassium-sodium-chloride-and-sulfate.aspx
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17921465

“Eyes Up, Head Up, Chest Up!” Why You Should Ditch The Gym Bro and Hire a Professional

We’ve all heard the hype man in the gym yell at his buddy while sporting his cut off/bro tank/no shirt, “Eyes Up! Head Up! Chest Up!” while his friend quarter squats 225lbs. After that they move to the bench where they bench press 225lbs for a few sets, slam some mass gainer, do a few curls in the squat rack and head home. Fast forward a year and they’re still quarter squatting 225, slamming mass gainer, and benching 225lbs while still looking the exact same as they did a year ago. While they are enjoying their gym sesh and doing better than the other ninety percent of the population that’s sitting at home binge watching Netflix all night, these aren’t the people you want to take advice from while trying to make lifelong changes to your physique and health.

5 Reasons You Should Hire a Professional

1. When Your Car’s Broke, Do You YouTube How To Fix It?

We have so much at our disposal with these amazing computers sitting in our pockets and palms all day. A workout you find online might be fun every once in a while, but this is not the most effective or efficient way to make safe, lifelong adaptations to your body. Think about it, the average American owns 8 to 12 cars in their lifetime. When your car starts making some odd noises, you take it to a mechanic. Majority of the population could not google search the issue and fix the car themselves.

In your lifetime you get one body, not 8 to 12. However, when our knees hurt, our body doesn’t look the way we want, or we develop Type 2 diabetes, we google search fad diets and crazy workouts that we stick to for a week or two. Why are we willing to spend money on something that’s replaceable, yet have a difficult time justifying investing in the only body we will ever have?

2. What Works for Some Probably Won’t Work for Most

We’ve all seen it on social media: the competitor that does one show/meet and now is taking up to twenty online clients. Unfortunately, what worked for them to succeed is not likely to be what you require to succeed. Every BODY is different and has different requirements to reach the same goal. Exercise programming is not a one-size-fits-all. This is why we have so many different nutrition and training styles. A professional can help you figure out which path is likely to help you succeed, as well as help you make changes along the way when something isn’t working the way it was intended.

3. Desire and Execution Do Not Go Hand-In-Hand

Week 1 Day 1 of starting a new program: You wake up super excited to start! You hit your food goals for the day and crush your workout.
Week 1 Day 5: You’ve been sticking to the plan for five whole days. You’re starting to feel better, but you’re not seeing results yet.
Week 2 Day 4: You had a rough day at work. Maybe you’ll skip the gym today. You worked hard and you’re tired, you deserve the night off, right?
Week 2 Day 5: It’s Friday. Sure you missed yesterday, but so what? You’re friend asks you out for drinks after work when you planned on going to the gym. Drinks sound more fun than pushing through a workout after a tough few days at work.
Week 4: You’ve completely fallen off of the wagon. Oops! Oh well, better luck next time. Better wait for January 1st of next year to try again.

Wanting to get healthy and fit is great, but what about the days when your motivation and desire are low? Many people don’t stick with their fitness goals because they don’t have anyone or anything holding them accountable on the days they don’t “feel like it”. We take care of the things we invest in the most, why not make that your health?

4. The Food Pyramid, The Mile Run, and Dodgeball

Odds are grade school P.E. was the last time you had someone teach you about exercise and nutrition. Research in the field of exercise and nutrition more than double every 6 months. That is a lot of new information that has come out since you were in grade school! It’s not your job to keep up with new research, but when we know better we can do better. Smart programming can help you reach your goals in a realistic timeframe that is safe and maintainable.

5. The Ultimate Investment Opportunity

We invest in random companies, our home, our cars, and much more so why not invest in your health? The estimated lifetime cost of treating diabetes in the US is around $85,000. The average cost of knee replacement surgery is $45,000. The average cost of a coach is $50/hr in person per session and the average cost of an online coach $150/month. This means you could have 1700 sessions or 47 years of online training for the same cost of having diabetes, and 900 sessions or 25 years of online training for the price of a new knee. How crazy is that? Working on your health under the supervision of a professional sounds like a better investment than diabetes or spending time in the hospital getting your knee sawed open, right?

Gym bros, youtube workouts, and fad diets aren’t likely to help you reach your goals in a timely, efficient, and safe manner. Find a knowledgeable and trusted professional in your area or online and invest in your health and fitness goals. Go crush your goals and live a long, healthy life!

Strong, Fast, Powerful: How To Peak Athletic Potential

Athletic development takes time and practice. Perfecting any skill requires repeated repetitions. When it comes to peaking athletic performance, this rule holds true. Sequencing for training tends to follow in a four-step fashion: General Fitness (also referred to and GPP), Maximal Strength, Strength and Endurance, and Maximal Speed. Most coaches take a block periodization approach when programming their athletes through this sequence in preparation for competition.

GPP and Maximal Strength occur during the accumulation phase. The goal of this phase is to develop basic motor skills and technique. Programming during this phase includes high volume along with medium to high intensities. Our novice athletes will stay in this phase for a longer period of time; whereas, elite athletes will adapt to these stressors rather quickly. The accumulation phase is usually trained for 4-6 weeks with a retention of 5 weeks before returning without loss in performance. During this phase, we are looking for physiological adaptations. We want to increase the level of homeostasis of the athlete. We are working aerobic capacity as well as maximal strength gains for general fitness. The goal should always be to rebuild muscular tissue and the use of energy substrates. The body’s ability to synthesize protein will increase, along with the storage of glycogen. Mitochondria created within the muscle fibers will also increase in order to create ATP and glycogen production. Simply put, we’re looking for the body to grow and repair.

The Strength Endurance and Power sequencing occur during the second phase, the transmutation phase. Think of this phase as the athlete morphing from general athleticism to beginning to truly excel at their specific sport. The goal is to take the strength gained in the accumulation phase and teach the athlete how to be able to use it with fast and with power. We are looking for motor and technical abilities related to the athlete’s performance goals. This phase places less stress on the physiological adaptation of the body, and places a greater emphasis on the neurological system as well as specific motor abilities. Programming during this phase will include high intensity with increasing velocity. This training block with be anywhere from 2-4 weeks long with a residual effect of 2-3 weeks.

Maximal Speed is achieved in the realization phase. This phase is where all the magic happens and is the most crucial for optimal sport performance. This phase in the pre-competition phases, also referred to as “peaking” an athlete. We are focused on acceleration and speed during this phase. We want our athletes to be as explosive and powerful as they can be heading into competition. Due to the neurological taxing of this phase, this block is only 1-2 weeks long and leads directly into competition.

As coaches, we want our athletes headed into season feeling stronger, faster, and more powerful than they ever have before. Not only does this give the athlete an elevated sense of confidence during practice and performance, but it gives the athlete the best chance to avoid injury and stay in the game. The goal of programming should always be to keep your athletes healthy, plain and simple. Stress their body enough to initiate adaptation, but not so much that we cause injury. Be safe. Be smart.


Cal Dietz and Ben Peterson. Triphasic Training Manual: A Systematic Approach to Elite Speed and Explosive Strength Performance.

The Food Fight: Part III Does Fat Make You Fat

Nutritional fat, or lipids, come in four primary forms: triglycerides, free fatty acids (FFA), phospholipids, and sterols. Fat has gotten a bad rep in the media due to excess fat consumption being linked to an increased risk for cancer, diabetes, and obesity. Contrary to popular belief, however, fat consumption has not been linked to cardiovascular disease (CVD) with over 21 recent research studies supporting this finding.

Fat is utilized for a multitude of purposes by the body. Fat is an important part of the cell membrane and of nerve fibers. Fat is our primary energy source, consisting of around 70 percent of our resting energy. It aids in support and cushioning of vital organs. The body’s natural steroid hormones are produced from cholesterol from fat and fat-soluble vitamins are stored and transported by fat.

Nutrition labels lay out saturated and unsaturated fat content. Unsaturated fats come as polysaturated or monosaturated, which is a fancy way of saying it has either one(mono) or two or more(poly) double bonds in their structure. Unsaturated fats are typically liquid at room temperature, with a few exceptions. Good ideas when looking to fulfill your unsaturated fats are almonds, nuts, plant oils, salmon, tuna, and avocados. Saturated fat is different than unsaturated as it has no double bonds, it is fully loaded with hydrogen atoms. Saturated fat is typically solid at room temperature. The AHA recommends 5-6 percent of your daily fat intake should come from saturated fats. Great ideas for saturated fat includes animal meat, coconut oil, and dairy. The types of fat we really want to avoid are called hydrogenated fat. This is the bad guy of fats. Hydrogen is added to “create” a saturated fat. We find this kind of fat in pretty much any processed foods. This fat is toxic and should be avoided.

Nutritional fat can be used for many performance and body composition outcomes. We use carbohydrates as a form of fast-acting energy, but just as fast as we use it we also deplete it. Limited levels of muscle and liver glycogen can make us feel fatigued, which is why fat consumption in moderation is extremely important. The use of free fatty acids can delay muscle exhaustion. Endurance training can increase the ability of the body to use fat as energy. However, there is no evidence that supports “fat loading” in improve endurance. Additionally, there is also no evidence to support fasted cardio and burning more fat regardless of what the gym bros might lead you to believe.

Nutrient timing of fat can be tricky. It is recommended to consume fat early in the day and late in the evening as fat is a slow digesting food that will help you feel full as well as help avoid catabolism. Due to the slow digestion of fats, we should avoid fat consumption around our most active parts of the day, ESPECIALLY around exercise when we want nutrients shuttled to our muscles as quickly as possible.

Suggested fat intake is 20-35 percent of your daily caloric intake. When you have a diet high in fat, typically characterized as about 35 percent, you are at risk for increasing your LDL levels as well as your risk for stroke, cancer, etc. When you neglect to consume enough fat, lower than 20 percent, you will see a decrease in energy levels as well as a decrease in immune functioning.

Nutritional fats will not make you fat if consuming the correct kinds and in correspondence to your goals. Be smart and eat your fats! Your body will thank you.