August 26, 2010
Fat Myths: What You Should Know about Dietary Fat
Fat is necessary for our health. Our bodies cannot function without fat. Dietary fats provide the body with energy, promote healthy cell growth, help the body absorb certain nutrients and assist in hormone production. A certain amount of body fat is necessary to keep your body warm and to cushion your body’s organs. A no-fat diet or extremely low-fat diet is a prescription for health issues.
Here some interesting facts about fat:
Not all fats are alike. There are four categories of dietary fat: monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, saturated fats, and trans fats. They are distinguished by their chemical and molecular make-up, which impacts how they are metabolized and processed in the body. The bad fats are the trans and saturated fats. They are comparatively solid at room temperature (butter, lard, bacon fat). The good fats are monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, which tend to be more liquid at room temperature (olive oil, and the other vegetable oils). Learn more about good fats and bad fats.
Fats are high in calories. Per gram, fat has 9 calories (any fat, irrespective of its type). By contrast, protein and carbohydrates contain about 4 calories per gram. This points to the fact that high fat consumption increases the total calories in our diet. For this reason alone, it is prudent to limit fat intake if your are attempting to lose weight.
Some fats actually lower chloresterol. The bad fats are bad mostly because they elevate LDL chloresterol levels (known as bad chloresterol). Good fats, the monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, increase the HDL (good) cholesterol levels, which helps lower LDL chloresterol.
Fat promotes weight loss. The monounsaturated fat found in almonds, walnuts, avocado, canola oil, and olive oil have been found to encourage weight loss, especially body fat itself. Keep this in mind, you don’t want to eat too many, but be sure to include small amounts of monounsaturated fat from these nuts and oils in your regular diet if you are on a weight loss program.
Fat energizes our body. Polyunsaturated fats (found in tuna, salmon, corn oil, sunflower oil, and safflwoer oil) have a detoxifying effect on our cells, purging toxic fats deposited there that clog up cell processes.
Fat lubricates the body. Good fats are like oil in a car engine, providing needed lubrication to our joints, digestive system (flax seed is excellent for constipation) and skin. Some of our dermatological problems are caused by deficiencies of good fats in our diet.
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