Short Articles on Weight Loss

EFAs: What are They?  How Do They Affect Weight Loss?

EFAs are just like vitamins. Your body must get them from food, because it cannot make them from anything else, and they are essential to life and health.

Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) are special types of fat that your body must have as "building blocks" for tissue. This makes them unlike other fats, which can only be burned for energy or stored as bodyfat.  Although EFAs can also be burned for energy and stored as bodyfat,  they have this additional vital structural function.

There are two fatty acids that are essential in this way: Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) and linoleic acid (LA). They are members of the "omega-3" and "omega-6" classes of fatty acids respectively.  Your body makes many different essential "building block" substances from each of them.

What happens when you don't get enough of the EFAs?  The first indication that you are likely to experience is increased hunger, cravings, aches, pains, and low energy levels.

Your body is not getting something that it needs -- something that only comes in food.  Naturally, it is likely to trigger some form of stimulus for you to eat.

Your body is also struggling with a shortage of an essential substance.  That means it needs to conserve whichever EFA is in short supply, to the degree possible.  This usually means lowering your energy output -- which probably means your body is not burning as much stored fat for energy. 

Obviously, this is not good if you're trying to lose weight. So you want to prevent these EFA shortages from happening.

(Note: There are many other nutrient shortages that are likely to cause the same kind of reaction: i.e. hunger, cravings, aches, pains, and low energy levels.  We discuss them in other areas of this website.)

Prevention is the best policy

To minimize the likelihood of hunger & low energy levels caused by EFA insufficiencies, you need to make sure you get enough of each EFA from food daily.

This is not difficult once you know how.

You need about two grams of ALA daily, and about ten grams of LA daily.  It is important to get these amounts without getting a lot of Calories besides.