Good Fat

 When people try to become healthier most people think about limiting the fat in their diet.  That’s what the experts recommend.  This is mostly because there are so many calories in a small amount of fatty food.   Most people get full when they eat lots of food.  They tend not to be as full when they eat the same number of calories in a tiny amount of fatty food, instead a large volume of fruit and vegetables.  So eating more of the low calorie food like fruit and vegetables, instead of small amounts of high fat food leads to weight loss. A person eats less if they are full.

In the push to eat fewer calories, sometimes it is easy to ignore that there are good kinds of fat.  Does it sound too good to be true?  Sure enough, some fats are good. A good rule of thumb is to steer toward liquid oils instead of solid oils.  Liquid oils have less saturated fat.  Saturated fat tends to raise bad cholesterol levels and increase the risk of heart attack and strokes.  Trans fat should be avoided because it can raise the risk of heart attacks.

All diets must have some fat to be healthy.  Fat is an important part of muscle function as well as brain growth and function.  Your body can make some kinds of fat but it cannot make the “essential fats” including omega 3 and omega 6 fats.  These fats are called “essential” because they must be eaten, your body cannot make them. 

Liquid oils like canola oil and olive oil have been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease and increase HDL or good cholesterol.   Canola, olive, sunflower, safflower, corn, soybean, sesame and peanut oils are low in saturated fat.  Some of these oils also have the beneficial omega 3 and omega 6 oils.  The American diet had lots of omega 6 fat in it,  less omega 3 fats.  Choose liquid oils that are low in saturated fat but high in mono and poly unsaturated fat.  Foods that are high in omega 3 oils are a good choice.  At my house we have olive oil and canola oil in the house.

So remember not all fats are bad.  There are good oils.  Even the good oils are only needed in small amounts; a tablespoon is more than enough.   A little bit goes a long way.

Here is a table of different fats and their important characteristics:

Sources and Good Web sites:

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/

http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/fats-and-oils/506/2

http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/reprint/CIRCULATIONAHA.108.191627

http://www.myfatstranslator.com/