You hear people say that you should be eating "good fats" and staying away from "bad fats" ...but do you actually know why or what...or how?
All fats have the same amount of calories, but they vary in their chemical compositions and effects on health.
The good:
Polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, omega 3 fatty acids.
These fats help to lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) while increasing HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol). These fats are found mainly in fish, nuts, seeds and oils from plants. Examples of foods that contain these good fats: salmon, trout, herring, avocados, olives, walnuts, peanuts, pistachios, almonds and liquid vegetables oils like soybean, corn, safflower, canola, olive, and sunflower.
The bad:
Saturated fats.
Saturated fat is the main dietary cause of high blood cholesterol; they raise the levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol. Saturated fat is found mostly in foods from animals and some plants. Foods from animals include beef, beef fat, veal, lamb, pork, butter, cream, milk, cheeses and other dairy products made from whole and 2 percent milk. All of these foods also contain dietary cholesterol. Foods from plants that contain saturated fat include coconut, coconut oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil (often called tropical oils), and cocoa butter.
The ugly:
Trans-fats and hydrogenated fats.
Trans fats are invented as scientists began to "hydrogenate" liquid oils so that they can withstand better in food production process and provide a better shelf life. As a result of hydrogenation, trans fatty acids are formed. Trans fatty acids are found in many commercially packaged foods, commercially fried food such as french fries from some fast food chains, other packaged snacks such as microwaved popcorn, crackers, chips and as well as in vegetable shortening and hard stick margarine.
So the moral of the story is: eat all fat in moderation, but eat more of poly/mono unsaturated fats, eat less of saturated fats, try to stay away from trans/hydrogenated fats, and we'll all be ok. :)
4 comments:
I went to a health seminar where a doctor was talking to us about trans fats. She said that the chemical make-up of trans fats is just one molecule off of rocket fuel's chemical make-up. So pretty much your ingesting rocket fuel when you eat foods cooked in it. Gross, huh?
Also, the US is one of the last countries to ban the use of it in restaurants. And we also have the highest obesity rate. I wonder if there's a correlation?
Yeah no kidding..I know in restaurants in the UK and Paris, trans fat has been banned for years.
Good information,giving readers basic facts on making decisions about fats in their diets.
P.S. Kristen I really like the look of this blog- it is really appealing and the brown color reminds me of chocolate (75% cacao at least!)
I love this blog! You are so great. Now that I have found this, I am going to be a daily reader.
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