Fats in our diet. It’s a place of nutrition that has many people confused and with good reason. For many years we have all heard about how bad consuming fat was for us, how it causes us to gain weight, develop cardiovascular disease and increase our risk of other health problems like strokes. Due to the confusion, people will normally see all fats as being poor, when in fact our bodies need fats to function properly. The trick here is to know which kind of fats you are consuming in addition to understanding the good fats from the bad.
Why Do We Need Fat?
Fat’s are important to the healthy function of our bodies. Our brains are comprised of approximately 60% fat. Our heart gets 60% of it’s energy through burning fat. Everything from helping your metabolism and immune system stay healthy to insulation of neural pathways and increasing the flexibility of mobile walls, fat plays a significant part way our body works. Take the fat away and we’d quite literally shut down.
Fat Types
Before we can know which foods to include and which to avoid so as to eat the right kinds of fats, we need to comprehend the standard fat types we commonly encounter in our diets.
Monounsaturated Fats
These are good fats. They are liquid at room temperature and are found in plant oils such as olives, avocados and nuts. You need to be consuming these oils because those who do have been shown to be at lower risk for cardiovascular disease.
Polyunsaturated Fats
These also are good fats. This class of fat comprises the Omega-3 fatty acids which you have heard so much about, and may be found in food like sunflower, soybeen and flaxseed oils in addition to fish.
Saturated Fats
Saturated fats are solid at room temperature and are primarily going to be your animal fats. These are generally likely to be the fats you will want to avoid. However, once exception that I am aware of is coconut oil. All the signs for coconut oil seems that it is a saturated fat that’s truly healthy and very good for you. Some studies also suggest that consuming coconut oil will accelerate your own body fat burning capabilities.
These are the worst. Trans fats are created through a process of hydrogenation in which vegetable oils are heated in the presence of hydrogen gas. This is done in order to produce the oils last longer prior to repainting. While this is a fantastic thing for the food manufacturers, it is a really bad thing for you. Avoid trans fats, and partially hydrogenated oils at all costs because they won’t just raise your LDL (bad) cholesterol, they’ll also reduce your HDL (good) cholesterol. Unfortunately many processed foods contain trans fats, but the worst offenders will be cookies, cake mixes, candies, snack foods and baked goods. All of your favorites, right? Check your labels, and don’t consume trans fats in the event that you can avoid it.
Making Better Choices
Now you know the names of the players, how does this translate into healthy food choices? Essentially you’re likely to need the fats in your diet to be from whole plant food resources, or packed healthy fat containing resources which are as near to unprocessed as you can get. Making choices like using olive oil rather than shortening. Add food items such as avocados, salmon and walnuts into your daily diet will go a long way to ensuring that you’re getting all the nutritious fats that your body needs. Limit your saturated fats from animal sources by chosen leaner cuts of meats, or pulling the skin from your chicken. Every grocery store I’ve been in supplies at least a few choices when it comes to ground meat. You can go really lean by opting to use ground turkey. If you really prefer beef, then choose something that’s at least 90% lean. These tiny steps all add up when it comes to making healthy decisions.
How Much Fat?
Not only do you will need to know about the kinds of fats you eat, but in addition, you have to know about the quantity. So just how much fat is too much fat? The USDA recommends that you eat no more than about 20-35% of your total daily calories as fat. Most health and fitness programs will indicate no more than 20%. You should also limit your overall consumption of saturated fat to 10 percent or under. If you’re someone that has a history of cardiovascular disease, then dropping that number even lower to below 7% is advised. As I previously mentioned, restricting trans-fats is vital and the best thing to do is avoid it at all costs. The USDA recommends no more than 1 percent of your total daily calories come from trans-fats.
Conclusion
Don’t fear fat, learn about it. Choose foods which provide your body the fats which it has to function rather than the ones that will clog up your arteries. Avoid trans-fats and restrict animal fats. Doing these things will add years to your life, in addition to enhance the quality of your life by keeping a healthy cardiovascular system. A growing number of these days we’re discovering how many health issues can be tied back to inadequate diet, and cardiovascular disease consequently. Take a step towards a better future by selecting better fat resources.
