A high fat diet is low in carbohydrates and can leave muscles with a lack of energy-providing fuel. This can affect your game. Eat well and play well.
At 9 kcal per gram, fat has more than twice the amount of calories as carbohydrate or protein and therefore it is easy to consume a lot of calories in a small amount of food.
Although a small amount of fat is essential for good health, too much (particularly saturated fat) increases our risk of heart disease, certain types of cancer and obesity.
For the active person, a high fat diet is probably going to be too low in carbohydrate and can leave muscles without the necessary fuel. For golfers, a diet high in saturated fats provides not only long-term health risks but impedes performance with potential weight gain and a lack of energy-providing fuel that potentially causes fatigue and low concentration levels.
Achieve a healthy intake of fat:
- Reduce saturated fat, for example, butter, cream, fatty meat, cakes, pastries, biscuits, crisps, deep fried foods
- Be aware of hidden fat in processed foods and takeaways
- Trim any visible fat off meat and remove the skin from poultry. Choose lean cuts of meat
- Stir frying cooks food quickly in just a little bit of oil
- Instead of frying, grill, boil, back, microwave or barbeque
- Use low fat Greek yoghurt or quark as a substitute for cream in cooking
- Substitute mayonnaise with yoghurt or fromage frais based salad dressings
- Eat monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, for example, fish, olive oil, avocado, nuts and seeds
