What Does 'Eat More Fat' Actually Mean? A Practical Guide to Healthy Fats for Insulin Resistance

"Eat more fat" is one of the most common—and most confusing—pieces of advice for reversing insulin resistance. It’s the core principle of ketogenic and low-carb diets, yet it’s often delivered without a practical guide. Viewers are left stranded in a sea of questions and decades of ingrained fear from the "low-fat" era. They hear the instruction but can't visualize what it looks like on a plate, leading to frustration, hopelessness, and a real fear that they are trading one health problem for another by "stuffing their arteries with fat". The audience is not just asking for a food list; they are asking for a new framework for thinking about fat itself.

The audience's worries are threefold. First, there's the practical confusion: what does a meal of "mostly fat" look like without being a literal knob of butter? Second, there's the fear of weight gain: if fat is so high in calories, won't eating more of it just make them fatter instead of helping them burn their own body fat? And third, there is the deep-seated fear of cardiovascular disease: viewers express genuine concern that a high-fat diet will raise their cholesterol, clog their arteries, and damage their gallbladder. Without clear guidance, the advice feels irresponsible and dangerous.

The most crucial insight from the experts is that "eat more fat" is not about quantity, but about quality and replacement. The goal is to strategically replace inflammatory, insulin-spiking carbohydrates and processed fats with specific types of healthy, whole-food fats. The key is understanding that not all fats are created equal. Some fats heal your metabolism, while others actively harm it. The practical advice is to learn which fats to embrace and which to eliminate entirely.

Several creators provided detailed, practical guidance on which fats to eat, how to use them, and why they matter for insulin resistance.

• • Dr. Robert Lustig: He offers the most comprehensive scientific breakdown, categorizing fats into seven distinct classes with different effects on mitochondrial health.
  • ◦ The Good: Omega-3s (from fish and algae) are the most beneficial and anti-inflammatory. Monounsaturated fats (like olive oil) are also excellent but should be consumed at room temperature, as heating past their smoke point creates harmful trans fats.
  • ◦ The Nuanced: Saturated fats are not uniformly bad; he distinguishes between neutral red meat fats and potentially anti-inflammatory dairy fats. MCTs (from coconut oil) can be beneficial but can also overwhelm the liver if consumed in excess.
  • ◦ The Bad: Omega-6 fatty acids (from processed seed oils like soybean oil) are pro-inflammatory and far too common in modern diets. Trans fats are "the devil incarnate"—a synthetic poison that the body cannot metabolize.
• • Kait Malthaner: She provides a simple, actionable grocery list of high-fat foods that support insulin sensitivity. Her advice is perfect for beginners who need to know what to buy and eat right away.
  • ◦ Her top foods include: Olive oil (good quality), wild-caught salmon, eggs (emphasizing the nutritious yolk), avocados (also a source of potassium), and grass-fed butter (often used in "bulletproof coffee" to extend a fast).
• • Dr. Boz [Annette Bosworth, MD]: She adds a crucial layer of nuance about the form of fat.
  • ◦ She warns that pulverized or powdered fats, such as those in almond or coconut flour, can stimulate insulin as much as a handful of carbs, even if the label says low-carb. Her core advice is to chew your fat and protein and prioritize whole, unprocessed food sources.
• • Dr. Pradip Jamnadas (on The Diary Of A CEO): He reinforces the consensus on good versus bad fats.
  • ◦ He recommends healthy fats like extra virgin olive oil, small amounts of butter, ghee, and coconut oil, and strongly advises prioritizing oily fish for omega-3s. He also explicitly warns against consuming vegetable seed oils due to their high omega-6 content.

Go into your kitchen and identify your primary cooking oil. If it’s a vegetable or seed oil (like canola, soybean, corn, or sunflower oil), make a decision to replace it. Your immediate action is to swap it for a more stable, healthier fat like grass-fed butter or ghee for your next cooked meal.

• Mistake: Fearing all saturated fat and choosing low-fat products, which are often high in sugar and refined carbs.
  Fix: Understand the nuance. As Dr. Lustig points out, some saturated fats (like from dairy) can be neutral or even beneficial. Prioritize natural fats and eliminate sugar.
• Mistake: Overheating healthy oils. You can turn a good fat into a bad one by cooking with it improperly.
  Fix: Use extra virgin olive oil for cold uses only. For cooking, switch to more heat-stable fats like butter, ghee, or coconut oil.
• Mistake: Believing "low-carb" or "keto" processed snacks are healthy just because they use almond or coconut flour.
  Fix: Recognize that pulverized fats still cause an insulin response. Prioritize whole-food sources of fat over processed alternatives to keep insulin low.

• • "One of the biggest problems diabetics have is, muscle loss due to lack of protein. Also since diabetes and heart disease often go hand in hand, it is unwise to tell diabetics to eat nothing but fat. That is the epitome of irresponsible!"
• • "If you are insuline restistant, it often comes with side effects of high LDL cholesterol. Do NOT eat too many eggs if you have high cholesterol!"
• • "The cause of insulin resistance is high amounts of dietary fats (like the ones In eggs, salmon, meats, avocados, nuts, oils, etc.). These dietary fats modify the insulin receptor on the intercellular surface of cells... which leads to insulin resistance."
• • "Any one having High cholesterol and high triglycerides can do keto diet plz tell me"

The command to "eat more fat" is not a license to eat indiscriminately. It is a strategic directive to replace refined carbohydrates and inflammatory seed oils with healthy, whole-food fats. Understanding the fundamental differences between types of fats—embracing anti-inflammatory omega-3s while rejecting pro-inflammatory omega-6s and synthetic trans fats—is the key. By making this quality shift, you lower the foods that spike insulin and increase the foods that promote satiety and metabolic healing, finally giving your body the signal and the fuel to burn its own stored energy.