Fat has had a rough few decades. If you grew up reading food labels, you'll remember when fat was the villain of the story — and then, almost overnight, when sugar took its place. So let me answer the question people ask me most directly: is fat good or bad for you?
Neither. Fat is essential. And the constant hunt for a single dietary enemy is, I think, the thing doing us the most harm.
Why we keep looking for a villain
Back in the 1970s, fat was cast as the bad guy. Food manufacturers responded exactly as you'd expect: shelves filled with "98% fat free" and "no added fat" products. But something had to replace the fat, and what went in was largely sugar. Fast forward and the spotlight has swung the other way — now it's "sugar free" on every label.
We've simply flipped from one side to the other, looking for a culprit. But there isn't one. We need carbohydrates, which break down into sugars. We need fats. We need protein. The real work is finding the right balance for you — your health goals, your body, your circumstances.
What your body actually uses fat for
Before you can decide how much fat to eat, it helps to understand what it's doing in there. Fat isn't just stored energy sitting around waiting to be burned.
Fat insulates you and keeps you warm. It's a reserve of energy for lean times — admittedly less relevant in a world of 24-hour supermarkets, but the system is still built that way. It forms the myelin sheath around your nerves, which is what allows signals to travel quickly; your reaction time depends on fat. It makes up part of every cell membrane in your body, and you are made of cells.
Fat is also how you absorb and use vitamins A, D, E and K — the fat-soluble vitamins. Your hormones, including oestrogen, testosterone and cortisol, are derived from fats. And your brain is predominantly fat.
So the question was never whether to eat fat. It's which fats, and in what proportion.
Saturated fat, cholesterol and why I'm wary of extremes
You'll see fats described as saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. Saturated fat turns up in just about any food containing fat, and here's the key point: your body can make what it needs from other fats. You don't need to chase it in your diet.
Your liver uses saturated fat to make cholesterol — and yes, you genuinely need cholesterol. It builds cell membranes, makes hormones, repairs cells, and produces the bile salts that let you absorb fat in the first place. Cholesterol is not the enemy either.
What you don't want is an excess. This is why I'm cautious about very high-fat approaches like the ketogenic diet as a general recommendation. When saturated fat intake is very high, your blood lipids will typically rise — total cholesterol, LDL, triglycerides — and your doctor will rightly flag it. Too much of anything isn't great for us.
To be fair to keto: it can be genuinely useful for certain people and certain conditions, but in those cases it belongs under clinical supervision, not picked up from a podcast or a social media post.
The fats worth actually focusing on
Here's where I'd put your attention: the fats your body cannot manufacture. These are the essential polyunsaturated fats — the omega-3s and omega-6s.
Omega-6 fats are abundant in processed foods, breads, and animal products like chicken, beef and eggs. Most of us are getting plenty, often more than plenty. What I consistently see in clinic is the other side: people not eating enough omega-3. The ratio between the two has drifted, and correcting it is one of the simplest high-value changes you can make.
The best omega-3 sources are oily fish — sardines, anchovies, mackerel and salmon lead the way. Tuna contains some, but less than people assume. On the plant side, flaxseeds, chia seeds and walnuts are your standouts, with most nuts and seeds contributing to varying degrees.
Monounsaturated fats round things out: olive oil, avocado and coconut oil. And here I'll repeat myself, because it matters — use them as part of cooking and meals. Spooning coconut oil straight from the jar, as some corners of the internet suggest, is extreme behaviour dressed up as health advice.
The one group I'd genuinely limit
If there's a fat to leave on the shelf, it's hydrogenated fats and the trans fats they produce. These are oils that have been chemically altered so they stay solid at room temperature, largely for shelf life and storage. They offer your body nothing useful.
You'll find them concentrated in processed baked goods and deep-fried food — biscuits, cookies, cakes, pastries, doughnuts, hot chips. I try not to label foods good or bad, but these are the ones I'd have register barely at all in your week.
So how much fat should you eat?
I wouldn't have you counting grams. Fat should be a meaningful but moderate part of your overall intake — present at most meals, not the centrepiece of your diet. If you're after practical structure instead of arithmetic: have a couple of meat-free nights a week, build in more fish nights, and use nuts and seeds as snacks, in trail mix, or scattered over your porridge. Flaxseeds and walnuts are doing real work there.
Get those habits right and the proportions tend to look after themselves.
Key takeaways
- Fat is neither good nor bad — it's essential for your nerves, cell membranes, hormones, brain and vitamin absorption.
- The decades-long hunt for a single dietary villain (first fat, then sugar) has distracted us from balance.
- You don't need to seek out saturated fat; your body makes what it needs from other fats.
- Focus on omega-3s — oily fish like sardines, mackerel and salmon, plus flaxseeds, chia and walnuts.
- Most of us already get ample omega-6 from processed foods and animal products, so correcting the ratio means adding omega-3, not cutting everything.
- Use olive oil, avocado and coconut oil as part of meals rather than consuming them by the spoonful.
- Limit hydrogenated and trans fats found in processed baked goods and deep-fried food.
This is the kind of nuance that gets flattened in headlines, and it's why I take a holistic view with every client at me&my wellness. Your fat intake doesn't exist in isolation — it sits alongside your protein, your fibre, your sleep, your stress and your movement. When we look at the whole picture, the answer stops being "cut this out" and becomes something far more useful: what does your body actually need more of?
This advice is general in nature. If you have specific concerns, existing blood lipid results, or want guidance for your personal situation, please consult a health practitioner.
Want to go deeper on this? Book a free 30-minute discovery call with Anthony at meandmywellness.com.au