In the past, we were urged to banish that four-letter word…

 … from our diets and from our lives – whenever possible.

So naturally, we switched to low-fat foods…

But the shift didn’t make us healthier! This is because we cut back the healthy fats as much as we cut back the harmful fats.

FATS …. almost everything you need to know:

You may well be wondering: “isn’t fat bad for you?”

Response: your body needs some fat to survive.

>It’s the body’s major source of energy.

>Fat is required for proper absorption of certain vitamins and minerals.

>Fat is needed to build cell membranes, the vital exterior of each cell, and the sheaths surrounding nerves.

>It is essential for blood clotting, muscle movement, and inflammation.

However for long-term health some fats are better than others….

…. Not all fats were created equal.

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Good Fats include:

• monounsaturated and
• polyunsaturated fats.

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Bad Fats:

• industrial-made Trans Fats.

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Saturated Fats – fall somewhere in the middle.

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All fats have a similar chemical structure: a chain of carbon atoms bonded to hydrogen atoms.

What makes one fat different from another is the length and shape of the carbon chain and the number of hydrogen atoms connected to the carbon atoms.

Seemingly slight differences in structure translate into crucial differences in form and function.

Bad Fats

The worst type of dietary fat is the kind known as trans fat. It is a byproduct of a process called hydrogenation that is used to turn healthy oils into solids and to prevent them from becoming rancid. When vegetable oil is heated in the presence of hydrogen and a heavy-metal catalyst such as palladium, hydrogen atoms are added to the carbon chain. This turns oils into solids. It also makes healthy vegetable oils more like not-so-healthy saturated fats.

Early in the 20th century, trans fats were found mainly in solid margarines and vegetable shortening (. As food makers learned new ways to use partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, they began appearing in everything from commercial cookies and pastries French fries.

Eating foods rich in trans fats increases the amount of LDL cholesterol in the bloodstream and reduces the amount of beneficial HDL cholesterol.

Trans fats create inflammation, which is linked to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and other chronic conditions.

They contribute to insulin resistance, which increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. – in fact, trans fats can harm health in even small amounts:

for every 2% of calories from trans fat consumed daily, the risk of heart disease rises by 23%.

Trans fats have no known health benefits and that there is no safe level of consumption. Today, these mainly man-made fats are rapidly fading from the food supply.

In-between Fats

Saturated fats are common in the American diet. They are solid at room temperature — think cooled bacon grease, but what is saturated fat? Common sources of saturated fat include red meat, whole milk and other whole-milk dairy foods, cheese, coconut oil, and many commercially prepared baked goods and other foods.

The word “saturated” here refers to the number of hydrogen atoms surrounding each carbon atom.

The chain of carbon atoms holds as many hydrogen atoms as possible — it’s saturated with hydrogen.

But is saturated fat bad for you?

A diet rich in saturated fats can drive up total cholesterol, and tip the balance toward more harmful LDL cholesterol, which prompts blockages to form in arteries in the heart and elsewhere in the body.

For that reason, most nutrition experts recommend limiting saturated fat to under 10% of calories a day.

Further analysis shows not enough evidence to conclude that saturated fat increases the risk of heart disease, but that replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat may indeed reduce risk of heart disease.

Good Fat

Good fats come mainly from vegetables, nuts, seeds, and fish. They differ from saturated fats by having fewer hydrogen atoms bonded to their carbon chains. Healthy fats are liquid at room temperature, not solid. There are two broad categories of beneficial fats: monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.

Monounsaturated fats.

When you dip your bread in olive oil at an Italian restaurant, you’re getting mostly monounsaturated fat. Monounsaturated fats have a single carbon-to-carbon double bond. The result is that it has two fewer hydrogen atoms than a saturated fat and a bend at the double bond. This structure keeps monounsaturated fats liquid at room temperature.

Good sources of monounsaturated fats are olive oil, peanut oil, canola oil, avocados, and most nuts, as well as high-oleic safflower and sunflower oils.

Although there no recommendations on monounsaturated fats many experts say to replace saturated and definitely trans fats. 

Polyunsaturated fats.

When you pour liquid cooking oil into a pan, there’s a good chance you’re using polyunsaturated fat. Corn oil, sunflower oil, and safflower oil are common examples. Polyunsaturated fats are essential fats. That means they’re required for normal body functions but your body can’t make them. So you must get them from food. Polyunsaturated fats are used to build cell membranes and the covering of nerves. They are needed for blood clotting, muscle movement, and inflammation.

There are two main types of polyunsaturated fats:

> omega-3 fatty acids
> omega-6 fatty acids

Both types offer health benefits.

Eating polyunsaturated fats in place of saturated fats or highly refined carbohydrates reduces harmful LDL cholesterol and improves the cholesterol profile. It also lowers triglycerides.

Good sources of omega-3 fatty acids include fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, and sardines, flaxseeds, walnuts, canola oil, and unhydrogenated soybean oil.

Omega-3 fatty acids may help prevent and even treat heart disease and stroke.

In addition to reducing blood pressure, raising HDL, and lowering triglycerides, polyunsaturated fats may help prevent lethal heart rhythms from arising.

Evidence also suggests they may help reduce the need for corticosteroid medications in people with rheumatoid arthritis. Studies linking omega-3s to a wide range of other health improvements, including reducing risk of dementia, are inconclusive

Omega-6 fatty acids have also been linked to protection against heart disease. Foods rich in linoleic acid and other omega-6 fatty acids include vegetable oils such as safflower, soybean, sunflower, walnut, and corn oils.

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WELL – there you go!

almost everything you need to know about FATS!

Take care folks

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TYLER LEES-SCHMUT

Co-Owner / Instructor / Author @

Contact us Now for a Free Consultation*