Fat has also taken a bad rap over
the years, but it is very essential to your health and well-being. Like in all things,
balance and moderation is the key.
For decades, the mantra for healthy eating has been “eat a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet.” Touted as a way to lose weight and prevent heart disease and other chronic conditions, millions of people have followed this advice. Seeing a tremendous marketing opportunity, food companies re-engineered thousands of foods to be low-fat or fat-free. The low-fat approach to eating may have made a difference for the occasional individual, but as a nation, it has neither helped us control our weight nor has it helped us become healthier. In the 1960s, fats and oils supplied Americans with about 45 percent of their calories. About 13 percent of the population was obese and less than one percent had type 2 diabetes. Today, Americans take in less fat, getting about 33 percent of calories from fats and oils; yet 34 percent of the population is obese, and eight percent has diabetes (mostly type 2)
Research has shown that the total amount
of fat in your diet is not linked to weight or disease. What actually matters
is the type of fat in your diet. Trans fats and saturated fats increase your
risk of cardiovascular disease, while monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats
do just the opposite. But then you ask, “What about cholesterol in food?” The
answer is, for most people the mix of fats in their diets influences
cholesterol in their bloodstreams far more than cholesterol in food.
Almost all foods contain some fat. Even
foods like carrots and lettuce contain small amounts of fat. That’s a testament
to how important fats are for your health and well-being. Fat provides a
terrific source of energy for your body as well as a great depot for storing it.
It is an important part of cell membranes, helping govern what gets into and
out of your cells. Your body uses cholesterol as the starting point to make
estrogen, testosterone, vitamin D, and other vital compounds. Fats are also
biologically active molecules that can influence how your muscles respond to
insulin. Also, different types of fats can fire-up or cool down inflammation in
your body.
You can basically break the fats in
your diet into three categories; good, bad, and very bad.
Good Fats
Unsaturated fats are called good
fats because they can improve blood cholesterol levels, ease inflammation,
stabilize heart rhythms, and play a number of other beneficial roles. Unsaturated
fats are predominantly found in foods derived from plants, such as vegetable
oils, nuts, and seeds. They are liquid at room temperature.
Furthermore, there are two types of
unsaturated fats: monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. Monounsaturated fats are
found in high concentrations in canola, peanut, and olive oil, in avocados,
nuts like almonds, hazelnuts, and pecans, and seeds such as pumpkin and sesame.
Polyunsaturated fats are found in high concentrations in sunflower, corn,
soybean and flaxseed oil. They also are found in foods such as walnuts,
flaxseeds and fish.
Research has shown that replacing
carbohydrates in your diet with good fats reduces harmful levels of LDL and
increases protective HDL in your bloodstream. A randomized trial called the
Optimal Macronutrient Intake Trial for Heart Health showed that replacing a
carbohydrate-rich diet with one rich in unsaturated fat—predominantly
monounsaturated fats—lowers blood pressure, improves lipid levels, and reduces
the estimated cardiovascular risk.
Bad Fats
Saturated fats are called bad fats
because they increase your total cholesterol level by elevating harmful LDL. Your
body can produce all the saturated fat that it needs, so you don’t have to get
any from your diet. In the U.S. and other developed countries, saturated fats
come mainly from meat, seafood, poultry with skin, and whole-milk dairy
products. A few plant sources, such as coconuts and coconut oil, palm oil and
palm kernel oil, also are high in saturated fats.
As a general rule, it’s good to
keep your intake of saturated fats as low as possible. Saturated fats are found
in many foods, including vegetable oils (that are mainly unsaturated fats), so
you cannot completely eliminate them from your diet. Because red meat and dairy
fat are the main sources of saturated fats for most people, minimizing them in
your diet is the primary way to reduce your intake of saturated fat.
Very Bad Fats
Trans fatty acids, more commonly
known as trans fats, are made by heating liquid vegetable oils in the presence
of hydrogen gas—a process called hydrogenation. Partially hydrogenating
vegetable oils makes them more stable and less likely to spoil. It also
converts the oil into a solid which makes transportation easier. Partially
hydrogenated oils can also withstand repeated heating without breaking down,
making them ideal for frying fast foods. This is the reason partially
hydrogenated oils have been a mainstay in restaurants and the food industry.
Trans fats are worse for
cholesterol levels than saturated fats because they raise bad LDL and lower
good HDL. They also increase inflammation, an over-activity of the immune
system that is associated with heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and other
chronic conditions. Even small amounts of trans fats in your diet can have
harmful health effects. For every extra two percent of daily calories from
trans fat (the amount in a medium order of fast food French fries) the risk of
coronary heart disease increases by 23 percent. It is estimated that
eliminating trans fats from the U.S. food supply would prevent between six and
19 percent of heart attacks and heart attack-related deaths (more than 200,000)
each year.
Recommendations for Fat in Your Diet
Are you confused at this point
about the type of fats and their varied effects on your health? If so, remember
to replace the bad fats in your diet with the good fats. Here are some
suggestions to help you limit the bad fats in your diet.
·
Eliminate trans fats from partially hydrogenated
oils. Check food labels for the presence of trans fats and avoid fried fast
foods.
·
Limit your intake of saturated fats by cutting
back on red meat and full-fat dairy products. When possible replace red meat
with poultry, fish, beans, and nuts. Also, try switching from whole milk and
other full-fat dairy foods to lower-fat versions.
·
Use liquid vegetable oils rich in
polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats in place of butter in your cooking and
at the table.
·
Eat one or more sources of omega-3 fats every
day. Good sources are fish, walnuts, canola or soybean oil, ground flax seeds
and flaxseed oil.
