Jan 11, 2010

You mean I can eat FAT?!

Yes you can!!!  Now, hold your applause.  Not all fats are created equally.  That's right, there are good fats, bad fats and evil fats.  Bad fats not only make you fat, but they aggravate your cells causing inflammation and they raise your bad cholesterol.


Saturated fats are the bad fats. They are solid at room temperature.  They are not "evil" because you can eat them in moderation.  Your body does produce cholesterol from saturated fats but we all need some cholesterol.  Not all cholesterol is created equally either.  There is bad and good cholesterol.
You will find saturated fats (named so because the molecules are "saturated" in hydrogen) in animal products such as whole milk, butter, cream, red meat, eggs, coconut, coconut oil, peanuts and avocados.

Unsaturated fats are the best fats for you.  They are liquid at room temperature.  Unsaturated fats will raise your good cholesterol, make you feel fuller, decrease your chance for heart disease and much more.
You will find unsaturated fats in cold pressed extra virgin olive oil, grains, almonds, canola oil and peanuts.  

You may have noticed that peanuts are under both lists.  Peanuts do have both fats and are still healthy for you! Should you go eat a truck load of peanuts??? No!  But you should eat a few handfuls a week.  Avocado's are high is saturated fat for a fruit, however they are still much lower than animal products and I would still recommend you eat them weekly.  Not six a day.  It's all about moderation with fats and eating a lot more of the good fats.

Trans fats, the evil fat.  Trans fats are processed fats.  That means they were made in a beaker in a lab (they can also occur when you burn your oil).  Never, ever eat trans fats.  They are so evil in fact, that they raise your bad cholesterol and lower your good cholesterol.  They wreak havoc on your cells and create inflammation.  Inflamed cells are sad cells that cause you pain and suffering.  Trans fats also make you fat!  So please, for the love of Pete, do not eat them. You can find trans fats in anything with hydrogenated oils.  Even if the packaging says that it has "0 trans fats" it may have .99 of a gram of it and they are still allowed to say it has "0 grams". It is best to read the labels and stay away from anything with hydrogenated anything in it.      

There are 2 kinds of cholesterol.  
Bad cholesterol: LDL  Limit Saturated fats and banish trans fats.
Good cholesterol: HDL Eat more mono-unsaturated fats to raise your good cholesterol.

Here is your grocery store and dieting cheat sheet to fats:

Good
Unsaturated fats, (Mono and Poly Unsaturated.) Vegetation sources of fats. Raises good cholesterol, prevents heart disease. Decreases cell inflammation.

Limit 
Saturated fats, animal and dairy sources.  Raises bad cholesterol, contributes to heart disease.  

Bad.
Trans fats, anything with hydrogenated oils.  Lowers good cholesterol and raises bad cholesterol.  Aggravates cell inflammation.  

-Val

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