It's a common refrain I hear. I am vegetarian. How come the doctor says my fat level is high ? Isnt that supposed to be high only for meat eaters? . But if we look at the lipid(fat) report for vegetarians, the number that will be typically high is triglycerides. Triglycerides are nothing but fats circulating in our blood. But how come its high for vegetarians who tend to eat less fat.
Actually my triglycerides also increased when I stopped eating meat for a year. It was because I ate more carbohydrates, more specifically starch in the form of white rice to compensate for the lack of meat. All processed/refined (removal of fiber) carbohydrates are only slightly better than sugar as they release energy quickly. Potato and other roots falls into starch category. When we eat white rice and potato curry in the name of vegetable, we are not doing ourselves any favor. The starch (complex sugar) is broken down into (simple) sugar for our body to consume. Little did I know that excess sugar get converted by our liver to fats (triglycerides). That's how vegetarians get more fat than what they actually eat.
The conversion of sugar to fats also tells us that we are likely to be diabetic soon if no change is done to our lifestyle. We have excess blood sugar, when enough insulin is not secreted or when our cells become immune to insulin, insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is the first stage to many chronic disorders like diabetes. As you may have guessed, insulin is the hormone that signals our cells to absorb sugar from the blood. So, when blood sugar remains high, our body has no other option but to convert the excess blood sugar to fat. But why fat? Because fat is the most efficient form of energy storage. Remember 1 gm of fat has 9 calories, almost double than protein or sugar. Once I started eating meat, my triglycerides decreased as expected as my sugar (white rice) intake reduced considerably.
Nowadays, it's not only vegetarians, even meat eaters consume a lot of carbohydrates. In many households, meat takes the place of vegetables. So, we continue to eat the same amount of white rice and add in energy dense fats. Thats a double whammy. Alcohol has more calories than sugar and almost as much as fat at 7 calories per gram. Alcohol is typically consumed with meat dishes or oil-laden dishes. Sometimes all three together, alcohol, meat and white rice or parotta ( white wheat). That makes it a triple whammy.On top of it, our sedentary lifestyle has fewer uses for sugar. So, our liver gets all the excess sugar and converts to blood fats or triglycerides.
When the triglycerides are high, our body chooses small vehicles to transport fats around the body. Click here to learn why small fat transporters are bad.
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