Saturated Fat = Fuller Face?
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free skin care · Fri May 25, 2012 4:28 am

I feel like whenever I eat more dark chocolate and/or coconut oil (raw organic), my face starts to look fuller/plumper and less empty-ish. Does anyone know why this would be?! Confused

I notice fish oil does this a bit too..

free skin care · Fri May 25, 2012 8:02 am

Loads of variables ....

Over what time frame, a day or longer? What do you mean by 'more'? As in more total fat and calories than the diet without chocolate/ coconut, or substituting these things into your diet? If the second one what are you taking out of your diet to allow for the chocolate/ coconut? Are you literally adding in the oil with no accompaniment? Which fat is in the chocolate, cocoa butter only or a cheaper substitute? What percentage of sugar and how high/ low carb is your diet without the chocolate?

free skin care · Fri May 25, 2012 9:11 am

Firefox7275 wrote:

Loads of variables ....

Over what time frame, a day or longer? What do you mean by 'more'? As in more total fat and calories than the diet without chocolate/ coconut, or substituting these things into your diet? If the second one what are you taking out of your diet to allow for the chocolate/ coconut? Are you literally adding in the oil with no accompaniment? Which fat is in the chocolate, cocoa butter only or a cheaper substitute? What percentage of sugar and how high/ low carb is your diet without the chocolate?

Perhaps several days to a week for timeframe? I'm not sure. I eat dark chocolate and coconut oil everyday. There is no diet without those things. But when I consume more, like an extra square of dark chocolate or bigger portions of coconut oil, my face looks fuller, including my lips. But it's not due to weight gain. My weight doesn't change. (I weigh myself everyday.) This happens if I drink organic unsweetened coconut milk also. The dark chocolate is 70% dark chocolate. (Sometimes a higher percentage if I fancy it.) Yes the only fat in the chocolate is cocoa butter. (I wouldn't eat something with a cheap substitute. I eat it for the health benefits.) I do not consume any sugar except what is in the dark chocolate (or my cereal, which is low sugar cereal.) I eat a very strict diet due to many health problems. The dark chocolate doesn't up my carb percentage. It ups my fat percentage though! Normally I only have one square a day.

Yes, the coconut oil alone. No accompaniment. Or as I said, this happens also with unsweetened organic coconut milk. This is why I am attributing it to saturated fat. Which I literally don't get from food other than from dark chocolate or coconut oil/milk. (I might get like a gram of sat. fat from something else but you get what I mean.)

My diet is high protein and lower carb. Not low carb but just lower carb. (I have pcos, blood sugar issues and other health problems, so I'm very strict.)

There are no changes in my diet or weight when this occurs. The only difference is more saturated fat. But as I said, I notice this with fish oil a bit also.

free skin care · Fri May 25, 2012 9:39 am

I eat dark chocolate everyday and my face doesn't ever look fuller. I wish it did, but it doesn't. My weight is stable. I have a lot of oil everyday, though not coconut oil. Do you think that the fuller face could be something else you're consuming?

free skin care · Fri May 25, 2012 9:57 am

So what are you taking out of the diet to account for the extra fat/ carbs in the extra chocolate or coconut oil? You must be removing something or eating more overall calories. Your weight not changing is highly unusual, your weight should change from day to day and from morning to night due to hydration levels. This is more noticable in females than males. If this is not happening that *might* suggest you are chronically carb depleted and/ or dehydrated.

This is not in any way a criticism just a statement of fact: the human body evolved for feast and famine. The more we deprive it (meal skipping/ restrictive diets) the more likely it is to store calories when it can, tho with fat this tends to be in the abdominal area. Also of relevance is that fat stores are mobile, the body is constantly breaking down and reforming stores. With targeted diet and exercise it is (somewhat) possible to manipulate this and reduce the stores on the abdominal area. If one was not to lose any bodyfat logically stores would increase slightly elsewhere.

Still one possibility is that you are laying down fat on the face: the body finds it easier to convert saturated fat to bodyfat due to the similar molecular structure, and some research suggests it will do so as preference with animal fats. Appreciate chocolate and coconut are not animal fats but it *may* be these are being burned off and the cals that would normally have been burned off are now being stored as fat.

Another possibility is that your body is burning off the fats in the chocolate and coconut as fuel so the body is converting carbs in your diet to glycogen. Since 1g of glycogen is stored alongside 3g of water this can visible affect water balance. Newcomers to weight training sometimes see an initial 'puffiness' in their muscles due to increased glycogen storage.

A final possibility is manipulation of hormone levels, because hormones are comprised of protein plus fat. I don't just mean the sex hormones but also the hormones involved in blood sugar control, appetite, sleep etc. Your health issues and low animal fat diet may be of relevance here. Not sure if any of that really answers your question, they are just musings not a definitive answer. It's a while since I've studied this stuff so I could have missed the bleeding obvious!! Laughing

free skin care · Fri May 25, 2012 11:19 am

I've bought some CO and raw chocolate today so I will tell you whether I experience the same plumping! I know Miranda Kerr swears by CO so I had to have some! It has a lot of saturated fat but very little Omega 6 and it when unrefined this makes a good combination. I am still learning to put healthy and saturated fat in the same sentence but I am getting there!

free skin care · Mon Jun 04, 2012 11:05 am

Haven't noticed this but since I increased saturated fat people have guessed my age as younger. Certainly not eating saturated fat isn't anti aging but probably pro aging- gives the wrinkled, narrow face look.

free skin care · Tue Jun 05, 2012 5:52 am

look at some of these young models who eat next to nothing. Their skin is think looking and really bears some qualities that someone much older would have. I think that you must be careful with the amount of sat fat that you eat, but all fats have their purpose and you shouldn't totally give them up.

free skin care · Tue Jun 05, 2012 8:19 am

I thought I should show this post from a thread on EDS called "Plumping a gaunt face":

SandraD4880 wrote:

Are you thin, average or overweight in your body? It makes a difference in your face.
I've found cheese fat goes straight to my face! I try not to eat it, and successfully didn't during my 10 month vegan days. After being a vegan, my face isn't what it used to be. Some of the fat came back, but not all. Cheese helps me, but then it's also bad for other reasons Sad

I recently saw some pics of Vegan Me 2006-2007, I looked sooo old. My NL Folds were ATROCIOUS! I think that's what started them! I was toooo skinny. I remember I was 100 lbs (5'2") and it just doesn't look good on my frame. Now I'm 125.

I think Angelina Jolie looked MUCH better in the movie Hackers than anything else she's ever been in. She looks scary now, and those arms need some meat!

http://www.essentialdayspa.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=37379

Cheese fat is mostly saturated fat. So I'm not the only one who has noticed saturated fat does this. I read that saturated fat makes up half of a cells membrane and gives cells stiffness and integrity. And this:

"Saturated fatty acids are critical to maintaining the structure and rigidity of our cells"

http://trusted.md/blog/vreni_gurd/2007/04/06/saturated_fat_the_misunderstood_nutrient#axzz1wvqQ46mj

free skin care · Tue Jun 05, 2012 8:31 am

It's funny, though, because I eat lots of cheese. I love cheese. However, it doesn't go to my face. I wish it did. I am on the thin side, though. I wonder if that makes the difference?

free skin care · Tue Jun 05, 2012 10:51 am

I certainly wouldn't go a day without butter or coconut oil, that's for sure.

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