Fats – Food You Can’t Live Without
Posted by : Angelo Esposito
When embarking on a diet designed to lose weight, many people commit the same common mistake: they try to eliminate all fats from their meal plan. To many, fat = excess weight. Nothing could be further from the truth. Fats are essential to one’s health and well-being, and many body functions depend on having the right kinds of fats readily available. So let’s clear up some misconceptions by educating ourselves on the different types of fats, and how they’re used by the body.
One type of fat is the kind made by the body taking in excess calories. If you eat more than your body needs for maintenance, it stores what it can’t eliminate. Back when we were all just beginning to learn to walk upright, it was evolution’s way of getting the human species through the lean times. (And, believe me, it was more famine than feast in those days.) While not as bad as other types of fats (which we’ll get to in a minute) this type of fat is generally not good for you. In addition to making your clothes shrink (!), excess fat tends to clogs one’s arteries, restricting the flow of blood to vital organs. It builds up cholesterol in the blood stream, and causes your blood pressure to skyrocket. (Can anyone spell heart attack?) So, keeping one’s caloric intake under control is essential to good health and maintaining a good-looking silhouette (for both women and men).
Dietary fats are those that are contained in foods from plants and animals. They comprise one of the three macronutrients (along with carbohydrates and proteins) that supply the body with fuel. Fat, as I’ve stated earlier, is essential to health because it supports a number of bodily functions. Some vitamins, for example, must have fat in order to properly dissolve and be used by the body’s cells.
And so, while fats are essential to one’s health and well-being, not all fats are good fats. Like those rotten apples lurking in the bottom of some barrels, some fats are bad for you.
Saturated fats – usually found in animal sources (e.g. meat and pork) raise blood cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels, which increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. A diet rich in saturated fats is the second leading cause of America’s obesity problem. (This, by the way, is how you spell heart attack!)
Another kind of fat that is bad for you is Trans fats. These fats occurs naturally in some animal foods, but is most commonly the result of food processing, usually with partially hydrogenated oils. This is the type of oil, by the way, that most fast food chains use. It’s cheap to produce, and increases the shelf life of the chain’s food products. Trans fats are also widely used in frozen, and pre-prepared foods. (Try reading a few dozen labels. You’ll be amazed at how many times the words, ‘partially hydrogenated vegetable oil’ rears its ugly head.) Like saturated fats, trans fats raise LDL and lower healthy high-density lipoproteins (HDL), and so once again, we run into our old friend, cardiovascular disease.
So, if fats are essential for bodily functions, what is one to do? Luckily, there are two types of fats that are good for you. Monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. Both of these fats are found in most plant-based food and naturally-occurring oils (such as olive oil, peanut oil, and safflower oil). Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are abundant in nuts (walnuts, almonds, etc.) Certain kinds of fish (most notably salmon and mackerel) contain rich amounts of omega-3 fatty acids which have been shown to reduce cholesterol and lower blood pressure.
Follow these tips to change the fats in your diet:
+Avoid products that list partially hydrogenated vegetable oil as one of its prime ingredients;
+Sauté with olive oil instead of butter;
+Use olive oil in salad dressing and marinades. Use canola oil when baking;
+Eat unsalted peanuts, walnuts, almonds and pistachios instead of potato chips;
+Substitute avocado for cheese in your sandwiches; and
+Eat 4 ounces of salmon and mackerel twice a week instead of meat.
The next time a friend tells you that he or she is going on a fat-free diet, educate them on the need for healthy fats, and then pop a handful of walnuts in your mouth, and laugh all the way to healthy living.
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