Does Being Fat Cause Acne or Pimples?

If you have acne, you MUST eat fats.

Wait… what?

So you’re telling me that if I have acne, if I have breakouts, if I have pimples, that I SHOULD be eating lots of fat?

But um, there’s the good kind of fat and then there’s the… bad… kind of… fat.

And for those of you who already know this (and for those of you who know that even if you don’t have acne you should need fats), you’re ahead of the gang.

Proper fat intake is not only pivotal to healthy and great looking skin, it’s also very important to all aspects of health. Lipids, the scientific smarty pants term for fats, serve as essential building blocks for your cellular structure, valuable sources of energy, carriers for nutrients in your body, protection for different parts of your body, and the list goes on.

But that doesn’t mean you should just start stuffing down tubs of lard thinking that this is helping your acne. You have to eat the good kind of fats and stay away from the bad kind.

That’s right. The media, some of your friends, and that mean kid who used to tease you on the playground when you were in elementary school all tricked you and thousands of others into believe that fats were the bane of society. But they aren’t. Here’s why.

TYPES OF FATS

There are two types of fats, saturated and unsaturated. Unsaturated fats can break down into mono-unsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, and superunsaturated fats. Saturated fats breaks down into… well, for the sake of simplicity it actually just stays as “saturated fats.”

And just to preface, the words “fats,” “oils,” and “lipids” will be pretty much synonymous in this article.

SATURATED FATS

When you hear saturated fats, you probably think, “Oh, I’ve heard of this one, this is the kind of fat that everybody says is bad. I better stay away from this one.” At least, that’s what I thought at first.

In reality, saturated fats FROM THE PROPER AND CLEAN SOURCES are good for you and necessary for a healthy body and for clear skin. The reason why is because the right saturated fats help protect and stabilize the essential fatty acids you’re taking from oxidizing and instability.

SO HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU TAKE?

There’s still debate about this as there is no maximum or minimum amount that you should be taking. The important thing to remember is here is that saturated fats need to be taken WITH your EFAs. And the saturated fats that you are taken need to come from healthy and clean sources.

WHAT ARE HEALTHY SOURCES OF SATURATED FAT?

If you’ve seen my other videos you’ve probably seen me bring up Coconut Oil a few times. That’s because coconut oil is one of the cleanest sources of unrefined tropical saturated fat. Other sources are butter, ghee and fats contained naturally in kefir.

Generally, fat from animals is a dirty source of saturated fat due to the what livestock are fed, conditions they’re raised, and stresses the animals body naturally puts on their liver. If possible, these are not recommended sources to be combined with your EFAs.

UNSATURATED FATS

Earlier I mentioned that there were 3 different kinds of unsaturated fats: Mono-unsaturated fats are omega 7 and omega 9 oils, polyunsaturated fats are omega 6 oils, and superunsaturated fats are omega 3 oils.

“Wait… that sounds familiar… EFAs? What are you guys doing here? I thought you guys were from another section!”

I bet you didn’t think that EFAs were fats too, did you? Essential Fatty Acids? If you did, then great! If you didn’t, well… now you know. And if you’re tired of me talking like I’m teaching a kindergarten class… I’ll stop. Righttt after we take our nap time…

MONO-UNSATURATED FATS

Usually found in olive oil, avocados, and nuts like almonds and cashews. Like we learned from Step 1, omega 7 and omega 9, or mono unsaturated nuts need to be kept in ratio with the other omegas, omega 3 and omega 6.

POLY UNSATURATED FATS

Generally found in olive oil, safflower, sunflower, soybean, sesame, borage, primose, and many different kinds of nuts (please see my explanation of nuts if you wish to see which kinds of nuts look like what and which contain which essential fatty acids and in which quantities). Again, need to be kept in ratio with the other omegas, omega 3 and omega 7, 9.

SUPERUNSATURATED FATS

You guessed it, omega 3, our hero. Sources include flax, hemp, and cold-water fish oils like salmon, trout, mackerel, and sardines.

Need to be kept in proper ratio with omega 6 and omega 9. Which brings us to the most important and awesomest part…

THE MOST IMPORTANT AND AWESOMEST PART! THE FAT RATIO

So what is this fat ratio? Polyunsaturated to monounsaturated to saturated to supersaturated to coconut oil… what? All these SAT words, it makes you feel like you’re a high school junior studying for college entrance exams once again doesn’t it?

How much fat should I eat? What about low fat diets? How does that affect my acne? Will certain fats hurt my body and actually cause me to break out on my face? Are there any other sources of fat or do I have to eat coconut oil for the rest of my life?

All these answered…

NEXT: Stop Eating the Typical American Diet; It May be Causing You FAT ACNE

Be there, or be… a polyunsaturated fat. =)

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