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Cut down on bad fats!
Make healthy fats part of your diet.
Your body easily turns dietary fats into body fats (or adipose tissues) after absorption. This is a reason why people have the obesity problem. So the simple thing for you to do is to avoid or reduce your consumption of this macronutrient, particularly the unhealthy kind. Eating
fiber-rich food
and/or
food supplements
can reduce absorption of this macronutrient.
Keep in mind that your body still needs them even though you need to lose excess adipose tissues. There are healthy kinds that you can eat to improve your health and reduce risk of
heart disease, stroke,
and
type 2 diabetes.
Know the details below.
This macronutrient is composed of fatty acids. There are three major categories: saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated.
Info bits: According to the World Heart Foundation, a diet high in saturated fatty acids increases the risk of heart disease and stroke.
Understand the food labels
Know what are in the nutrition labels of food products you buy and eat.
“Fat-free” foods have less than a half a gram of fat per serving. If you eat several servings, you may be eating too much! Small servings do still add up.
“Sugar-free” foods have less than half a gram of sugar per serving. Similarly, if you eat several servings, you may end up eating so much sugars. Always be in control. Excess sugar can end up in your hips or belly. You don’t want that to happen, right?
“Reduced”, “less”, or “fewer” are words that food manufacturers use when they reduce a nutrient by 25% or more. Always compare them with their regular varieties. Don’t end up eating more than what you need. Or you can have curves in the wrong places.
If you have a food product that gives you 100 calories per serving with 70 calories from fats per serving, this means it is 70% fats. That’s likely to be very unhealthy!
Check if these are saturated or unsaturated. Learn more about these types below.
You can find saturated fatty acids are in animal, dairy, and vegetable products. Fatty meats include pork, beef, veal, lamb, ham, and poultry. Dairy items include whole milk, cream, ice cream, and cheese. Vegetable products include coconut oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil (or tropical oil), cocoa butter, and vegetable shortening.
SFAs are usually solid or almost solid at room temperature. Imagine what can happen if you have an SFA build-up in your heart and arteries, especially arteries in your brain. It is obvious that they are very unhealthy. Your liver uses them to make cholesterol. If you consume too much of these, the low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) (“bad cholesterol”) in your blood can significantly increase. Your SFA consumption must not exceed 7 per cent of your total
calories
each day.
You can moderately consume tropical fats like palm oil and coconut oil. These are rich in lauric acid, which is an SFA. They strongly raise your total cholesterol. However, they have an effect to HDL (“good cholesterol”), which decreases the total-to-HDL cholesterol ratio. A low ratio means low risk to heart diseases. This is beneficial to you because this ratio is a stronger indicator than HDL and LDL figures.
Oils with lauric acid and have high smoke point are then good for cooking. There is more info about smoke point below. It is still good to note that cooking with oil should be minimized.
You can find MUFAs mostly in plant oils such as olive, canola, peanut, almond, apricot, and avocado. They are liquid in room temperature but start to solidify at refrigerator temperatures. They appear to reduce your LDLs (“bad cholesterol”) without affecting high-density lipoproteins (HDLs or “good cholesterol”) in any way. But this positive impact on LDL cholesterol is relatively small.
The beneficial MUFAs are oleic acids, which are abundant in olive oil, canola oil, and nuts. MUFAs have been shown to lower blood glucose and triglycerides in type 2 diabetics.
Oils which are high in MUFAs are good for cooking. They have high smoke point, where flavor and nutrients start to degrade. They do not break down and become hydrogenated or saturated at high temperatures (around 230 °C or 446 °F). Examples are olive oil, peanut oil, avocado oil, high oleic and refined canola oil, high oleic and refined safflower oil, and unrefined corn oil. It is still good to note that cooking with oil should be minimized.
You can find PUFAs in corn, soybean, safflower, sesame, and sunflower oils plus nuts and seeds. Good sources are flaxseed, canola, soybean, and walnut. The best sources are fish like salmon, sardines, anchovies, and herring.
They are liquid in room temperature and in the refrigerator. They may lower your total blood cholesterol level. However, large amounts of PUFAs also have a tendency to reduce your high-density lipoproteins (HDLs), your “good cholesterol."
There is one kind that is harmful. This is called artificial
trans fatty acids.
On the other hand, there is one kind that is very helpful. This is called
omega-3.
Know more about these kinds of unsaturated fatty acids.
Benefits of unsaturated fatty acids
Both MUFAs and PUFAs tend to help lower your blood cholesterol level when used in place of saturated fatty acids in your
diet.
They may reduce cholesterol deposits in artery walls. But you must be moderate in eating all types of this macronutrient because they contain more than double the
calories
of either
proteins
or
carbs.
And they easily turn into adipose tissues.
Get a
healthy diet,
lose weight, and gain back your health!
You can do it!
Return from
Dietary Fats
to
Healthy Diet.
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