Can't get enough fat

toneysisk · January 2022

I know this is odd: How do I eat more fat. My diet suggests I need more fat and carbs but not more protein. I don't want to eat butter or candy bars to get more fat, because I still need to look for more healthy carbs. And so many healthy carbs come with more protein, which I don't need. Cottage cheese might work, but I need to extra protein. Same with cheese. What are you thoughts to work around this? Thanks!

KristiiAly · January 2022

Avocado! I’ve heard it’s full of good fats.

wilson10102018 · January 2022

Pumpkin seed oil.

AnnPT77 · January 2022

Nuts, seeds, peanut butter, avocados, olive oil on salads or veggies or used in cooking (or nut oils or whatever).

Nutritionally, it's important to get a proper minimum of protein and fats. Those are the "essential nutrients" in the sense that our bodies can't manufacture them out of other nutrients, so we need to eat some for best health. Carbs are not "essential" in that sense, so you can generally eat those to preference (though those with certain health conditions, such as diabetes, may need to manage them more carefully).

For weight management, only calories matter directly. If you get sub-par nutrition, it's possible that doing so will increase cravings (so make it hard to stay within calorie goal) or affect energy level (so reduce calorie expenditure), and in ways like that nutrition can indirectly affect weight management. Calories are still the direct mechanism.

For either nutrition or weight management, you don't need to be exactly exact on nutrients every single day. A little over one day, a little under another day, so that it averages out close to goal over a small number of days: That should be fine. Even then, a gram or few low out of dozens of daily grams is not a big deal. Humans are adaptive omnivores. Yes, if you're regularly significantly under on the same nutrient, as you are with fats, it's good to work on improving that.

If you're within your calorie goal, not persistently getting too little of anything essential (including micros/fiber), then eating over protein or fat goal is fine, as long as you don't have a health condition that requires you to limit that nutrient (you'd know) and you're not taking any medication that requires you to limit certain nutrients (if you read that fine-print prescribing document, or look at equivalent info on the web for drugs you take, you'll know).

AZAlyssa · January 2022

I make sure that everything I eat has at least some protein and fat along with reasonable fiber-rich carbs. Eating a piece of fruit with a slice of cheese. Piece of whole grain bread with natural peanut butter. Crackers with sliced hard boiled egg and hot sauce. Low carb tortilla or pita with avocado or hummus. While I eat this way to be mindful of carbs, you could just add a little something extra to your protein-heavy meals to round out your macros.