Desi Ghee: Why Fat Is Essential for Comfort
- Desi Panjeeri Team
- Dec 21, 2025
- 4 min read
Why foods without fat never feel satisfying
For years, we were told to fear fat.Low-fat yoghurts, fat-free snacks, skimmed milk, dry salads — all marketed as healthier, lighter, better. And yet, somehow, none of them ever felt satisfying.
You could eat a whole bowl and still feel oddly empty.Physically full, but emotionally unsatisfied.
This isn’t a coincidence.It’s biology.
Fat — especially traditional fats like desi ghee — plays a powerful role not only in nutrition, but also in comfort, satiety, hormones, and emotional wellbeing. When we strip fat from food, we don’t just remove calories. We remove grounding, warmth, and the sense of “this meal was enough”.
Let’s talk about why.
The Myth That Fat Is the Enemy
The fear of fat didn’t come from ancient wisdom or traditional diets.It came from modern diet culture — especially the low-fat movement of the late 20th century, which oversimplified nutrition and blamed fat for weight gain, heart disease, and poor health.
But many cultures that rely on healthy fats — South Asian, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern — have thrived for generations with foods rich in ghee, olive oil, butter, and animal fats.
The problem was never fat itself.The problem was highly processed food combined with refined sugar, stress, and disconnection from hunger cues.
When we removed fat, something broke.
Why Fat Makes Food Feel Comforting
Comfort food isn’t just about taste.It’s about how food makes your body and nervous system feel.
Fat plays three critical roles here:
1. Fat Slows Digestion (And That’s a Good Thing)
Fat slows the rate at which food leaves your stomach.This means:
You feel full for longer
Your blood sugar rises more gradually
You avoid sudden crashes and cravings
This is why a meal with ghee feels steady and grounding, while a fat-free meal feels fleeting.
Without fat, food passes through too quickly — leaving you hungry, restless, and searching for snacks.
2. Fat Signals Safety to the Brain
From an evolutionary perspective, fat meant survival.It was energy-dense, sustaining, and reliable.
Your brain still recognises this.
When you eat food containing healthy fat, your body releases hormones that signal:
Safety
Sufficiency
Satisfaction
This is why warm foods cooked in ghee often feel calming — especially during stress, illness, or emotional overwhelm.
Comfort isn’t weakness.It’s regulation.
3. Fat Carries Flavour (And Memory)
Many of the foods we associate with comfort — daal, khichdi, halwa, paratha — rely on ghee not just for richness, but for aroma.
Fat is what carries:
Spices
Warmth
Depth
It’s why food cooked without fat often tastes flat, even if it’s technically “healthy”.
Comfort food nourishes the senses as much as the body.
Hormones Need Fat to Function
This part is rarely talked about enough.
Many hormones — including oestrogen, progesterone, and cortisol — are made using cholesterol and fat-based building blocks.
When diets are too low in fat, especially for women, it can contribute to:
Hormonal imbalances
Irregular cycles
Low energy
Mood swings
Constant cravings
Traditional fats like desi ghee provide:
Fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K)
Short-chain fatty acids that support gut health
Stable energy without spikes
Removing fat doesn’t make hormones behave better.It often does the opposite.
The Satiety Problem With Low-Fat Foods
Have you noticed how many low-fat foods still leave you hungry?
That’s because when fat is removed, manufacturers often replace it with:
Sugar
Starches
Artificial thickeners
These stimulate appetite without satisfying it.
Your body isn’t confused — it knows something is missing.
Satiety doesn’t come from volume alone.It comes from nutrient density and fat presence.
A small bowl of daal with ghee can feel more satisfying than a large plate of fat-free food — because your body finally feels fed.
Desi Ghee as a Symbol of Nourishment
In South Asian culture, ghee has always meant:
Care
Healing
Strength
Celebration
It’s added to food for children, elders, postpartum mothers, and those recovering from illness.
Not because it’s indulgent — but because it’s restorative.
When we demonise ghee, we’re not just rejecting a food.We’re rejecting cultural wisdom around nourishment and comfort.
Relearning Trust With Fat
Fear of fat disconnects us from our hunger cues.
It teaches us to:
Eat mechanically
Ignore satisfaction
Override intuition
Reintroducing healthy fats like ghee can help rebuild trust:
Trust that food can be both nourishing and comforting
Trust that fullness is not failure
Trust that pleasure has a place in health
You don’t need excessive amounts.You need intentional inclusion.\
Comfort Is Not the Opposite of Health
One of the biggest lies we’ve been told is that food must be either:
Healthy or
Comforting
But real nourishment is both.
Food cooked with ghee:
Grounds the body
Supports the brain
Balances hormones
Creates emotional satisfaction
Health isn’t about restriction.It’s about sustainability.
And sustainability requires comfort.
Final Thought
If food without fat never feels satisfying, it’s not because you lack willpower.
It’s because your body is asking for what it has always needed.
Warmth.Depth.Nourishment.
And sometimes, that nourishment looks like a spoon of desi ghee melting slowly into your meal — reminding your body that it is safe, fed, and cared for.
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