Good Fat, Bad Fat: We all need fats!
The benefits of Healthy Fats
Uriia Underhill, B.Sc.
In the current years more and more focus has been put on “No Fat, Low-fat” type diets and food trends. When in fact, eating appropriate amounts of fat does not make you fat, but helps your body run to the best of its ability.
You actually cannot live without fat in your diet. Your body relies on Good Fats to keep skin and nails healthy, provide fat-soluble vitamins, provide essential fatty acids, and provide a back up source of energy (WebMD, 2012).
Good Fats can be classified as monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats; these actually help you lower disease risk. In this case you can usually get a relatively healthy form of fats from most plant-based oils, nuts, seeds, and fish (Harvard, 2012). Other good fats can include:
· Essential omega-3s, from clean sources wild caught sources.
· Avocados
· Organic/free range eggs
· Olives
· Flaxseed oil
· Coconut
The best sources proving to be found naturally in foods and are not heat processed and chemically damaged (Akins, 2016).
The types of good fats are known as monounsaturated, poly unsaturated, and saturated, most real foods contain a complex mixture of the three types of fat (Atkins, 2016).
Bad fats are known as excessive amount saturated and all trans fats. Foods that are high in these fats can increase disease risk. Bad fats can come from things such as most butters, ice cream, cheese, and most importantly processed foods. Bad fats are sometimes also known as bad fats or damaged fats that have reached a heating point multiple times (Atkins, 2016).
Avoiding fats from highly processed vegetables oils as much as possible. This includes oils from soybean, safflower, corn, or any highly process method.
Foods with clearly marked claims such as “reduced fat”, fat-free, or low fat should be avoided due to the possibility of being processed with chemicals that could prove to have more risks on your health then the fat in question.
References Atkins (2016) How it Works, Good Fats, What are good and Bad Fats, Retrieved from https://www.atkins.com/how-it-works/library/articles/good-fats
Harvard School of Public Health, (2012) The Nutrition Source, Fats and Cholesterols, Retrieved January 7, 2013 from http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/fats-and-cholesterol/
WebMD, (2012) The Skinny on Fat: Good Fats vs. Bad Fats, Retrieved January 7, 2013 from http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/skinny-fat-good-fats-bad-fats
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