Did you know that eating fat won’t necessarily make you fat? In fact eating dietary fat is essential to your health. Fat is required for a large number of vital bodily processes. It is a vital nutrient our bodies need for health and daily functioning; As an energy source, it supplies essential fatty acids for growth, healthy skin, vitamin-absorption and regulation of hormone functions.
Another important role of fat is that it helps to keep you feeling full (satiated) for a longer period of time. This is super important when you are reducing calories and losing weight. By staying full longer you’ll reduce the likelihood of making a mistake and cheating before it’s time for your next meal.
Body fat is simply stored energy. Our bodies store away excess energy (calories) as fat. That stored energy can be used at a later time when food (energy/calories) is not as abundant (times of famine). This was really important to our survival as a species, because unlike today (in the US) food wasn’t always readily available! The problem that we face now is that our food supply has changed dramatically while our physiology (DNA) has hardly changed at all.
So why has fat gotten such a bad reputation?
Probably because it’s called “Fat” and most people have a goal of losing fat. So logic would suggest that if you don’t consume it, you won’t gain it. There is some truth to that since fat is more calorically dense than either Carbohydrates or protein and it doesn’t take much energy for us to store dietary fat as body fat. But I want you to be healthy and to be healthy you need to eat fat. You just need to know some basic information about fat and what the best sources of fat are for your diet.
There are five basic types of dietary fat;
1. Monounsaturated Fat
2. Polyunsaturated Fat
3. Saturated Fat
4. Trans Fat
5. Dietary Cholesterol
In general both Mono and Polyunsaturated Fats help to lower blood cholesterol levels while Saturated fat, trans fat and dietary cholesterol increase blood cholesterol levels. High blood cholesterol level is a major risk factor for heart disease which leads to heart attacks and an increased risk of stroke.
So this tip is very simple, avoid or minimize Saturated Fat, trans-fat and dietary cholesterol and replace your dietary fat intake with mono and polysaturated fats.
Here is a list of Fats to avoid (or severely restrict):
Saturated Fat
1. Milk and Dairy Fat
2. Meat (Animal Fat)
3. Coconut Oil
4. Palm Oil
5. Butter
6. Lard
7. Cheese
8. Cream
9. Ice Cream
Trans Fats
1. Vegetable Shortening
2. Crackers
3. Baked Goods
4. French Fries
5. Donuts
Dietary Cholesterol
1. Eggs (Yolk)
2. Shellfish
3. Dairy Products
4. Organ Meat
Monounsaturated oils are liquid at room temperature but start to solidify at refrigerator temperatures. Polyunsaturated fats tend to help your body get rid of newly formed cholesterol. Thus, they keep the blood cholesterol level down and reduce cholesterol deposits in artery walls. Monounsaturated fats may also help reduce blood cholesterol as long as the diet is very low in saturated fat, which it will be once you begin following my advise in this tip.
Both types of unsaturated fats may help lower your blood cholesterol level when used in place of saturated fats in your diet.
Fats That Help Lower Cholesterol
Monounsaturated fats
1. Olives
2. Olive Oil
3. Canola Oil
4. Peanut Oil
5. Avocados
Polyunsaturated fats
1. Safflower Oil
2. Sesame Oil
3. Soy (Oil)
4. Corn Oil
5. Sunflower Oil
6. Nuts and Seeds
So get the Saturated and Trans-fat items out of your house and diet, and replace them with mono and poly-unsaturated fats.
See you again tomorrow
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