Dear Fearing Fat,

Alice fears your lack of fat. Although you didn't mention your weight, 900 calories a day is considered a very low calorie diet. Your body won't store any calories you take in as fat because you are not taking in enough of them to support your basal metabolic rate. As a matter of fact, your body will burn more energy if you take in more calories. For a personalized eating plan to help meet healthy goals, a good source of assistance is Columbia's nutritionist (call x4-2284 to make an appointment), or one at your school if you're not a student here. Fear of fat, and consuming concerns about how we look, are both common and difficult to live with: the nutritionist might be a good person to talk with about these feelings, too.

Now to the fat physiology stuff: no matter what your body weight, 900 calories and seven grams of fat a day severely deprives you of the nutrients your body requires. It is extremely difficult to obtain everything the body needs on a daily basis at an intake of even 1200 calories of nutrient dense foods. Being a college student requires energy and concentration -- both of which are difficult to achieve on a 900 calorie diet.

We also cannot manipulate how our bodies utilize food and energy. Since fat is a concentrated source of energy, our bodies tend to preserve it and burn it slowly. Carbohydrates are the preferred source of energy -- our bodies will use carbs first. We can also utilize protein for energy. So, even if you are eating enough protein, your body will burn the protein if you take in too few calories, and then there won't be any protein available for the growth, maintenance, and repair of body tissues. This means that you will not be able to repair muscle tissue and manufacture hormones, enzymes, and antibodies. As a result, you may feel fatigued and may find yourself getting sick often. Another result of low calorie intake is a loss of lean body tissue. This occurs when our bodies break down muscle tissue for energy.

This brings Alice to the next point -- your metabolism. A loss of lean body tissue SLOWS your metabolism. The only way to replace muscle tissue is to eat enough calories to sustain your weight and perform resistance training. There have been cases where thyroid hormones are decreased, and so metabolism is slowed, as a result of chronic low calorie intake. This occurs naturally as a protective measure -- it's the body's way of conserving energy. This, too, may be reversed through proper balanced nutrition.

An extremely low fat diet may be detrimental to your body in ways you never imagined. Fat is essential in our diets for absorption of vitamins A, D, E, and K. Without these vitamins, one cannot properly absorb calcium (which leads to brittle bones); blood may not form or clot properly; and, hormone production may be negatively affected, just to name a few of the multiple problems that can arise from an extremely low fat diet.

Alice

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