Fats

This weeks topic in “I know it is bad for me but just how bad is it” is fat.  The minute we think about a “diet” or eating healthy we think eliminate fat or fat-free.  Let’s look a little deeper into fat.

You can hear fat talked about with different names such as saturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, and monounsaturated fat, lipids, trans fat, etc. There are 4 main categories of fats; I will break it down for you in hopefully more common terms.

Saturated Fats – These are the biggest dietary cause of high bad cholesterol or LDL levels.  This is the fat you want to avoid or limit to 10% of your calories.  These fats are found in animal products such as butter, cheese, whole milk, ice cream, cream and fatty meats.  Some vegetable oils such as coconut, palm and palm kernel oils also contain saturated fats. Most other oils contain unsaturated fats and are healthy. Saturated fats are considered “bad fats”

Unsaturated fats – When used in place of saturated fats, these fats actually help to lower blood cholesterol.  However they still have a lot of calories so you still have to limit consumption.  Most liquid vegetable oils are unsaturated.  The exceptions were listed above. There are two types of unsaturated fats: Monounsaturated and Polyunsaturated. Some examples of mono include olive and canola oils, poly examples include fish, safflower, sunflower, corn and soybean oils.  Unsaturated fats are considered “good fats”.

Trans fatty acids – These fats form when vegetable oil hardens in a process called hydrogenation and can raise LDL or bad cholesterol levels.  They can also lower HDL or good cholesterol levels.  Trans fatty acids are often found in processed foods, fried foods, commercial baked goods and margarines.  Good news is this fat has gotten such a bad rap that it is being eliminated in processing.  This is where you see a lot of products labeled “No trans fat”.  Not to be confused with fat free but it is at least taking out the worst of it.

Hydrogenated and Partially hydrogenated fats - This refers to the process listed above in Trans fatty acids.  This includes products such as butter and margarine. Foods made with hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils should be avoided because they contain high levels of trans fatty acids, which are linked heart disease.  You will find this in the list of ingredients the above three are listed in the nutrition label although it is not always separated.

That gives you a little bit of background on types of fats.  Fats actually have a function in your diet.  Fat is one of the three nutrients, along with protein and carbohydrates, which supply the body with calories and is essential for proper functioning of the body. Essential fatty acids are not made by the body therefore must be obtained from food.  There are supplements such as fish oil that can be added to help you with getting enough good fatty acids.  However anytime you use a supplement you should use it as just that to supplement your diet not to take place of it.  So just what does the fatty acids do for us?  They help in controlling inflammation, blood clotting, and brain development.  But that is not all…they also help maintain healthy skin and hair and move vitamins A, D, E and K through the blood stream.

So cutting fat is a little more involved than just switching to fat free.  This does not mean you want to look for higher fats because they are essential.  The typical American diet has plenty of fat the trick is to minimize and move towards the good fats.  This is something to keep in mind…If the fat is in liquid form when it is cool it is better for you than if it hardens when cool (saturated).  Butter and animal fats harden when cooled use them sparingly, olive oil or vegetable oil stay at a liquid state so they are better for you.  This doesn’t mean you can use them freely they still have calories and plenty of them so you still need to cut them to a responsible amount.  Another thing to think of reduced fat or fat free is not always best, it depends on what it is and this will take some time to figure out.  One which comes to my mind is peanut butter, reduced fat peanut butter is stripped of the good fats you are better off using a natural blend.  How is that for a little food for thought?  Watch your food labels it is very interesting.