| There's a lot of confusion about dietary fat these days. After decades of having it drummed into us that fat is the devil incarnate, we're hearing more about good fats and bad fats. In very brief form, here are some of the reasons you should be including adequate fat in your diet (there are many more) and some guidelines for selecting the best sources of healthy fat. 1. Fat is the basis for every hormone, cell and nervous system function in your body. Think of how many functions are included in that statement. If you said, "that includes everything", you're on the right track! 2. Fat is essential to the integrity of cell membranes. Without adequate fat, your cells are more permeable to pathogens and carcinogens, increasing the chances of cancer or other illnesses. 3. Fat is necessary for your body to burn fat. 4. Fat is the building block of critical regulatory substances that keep arteries flexible and open, keep blood from thickening too much, reduce inflammation, reduce pain transmission and keep cancer cells from proliferating uncontrollably. 5. Fat satiates appetite and keeps you satisfied longer after a meal. Now having said all that, let's talk about good and bad fats. Bad fats include: *Refined oils which are most of those commercially available. Look for oils that say "unrefined". *Hydrogenated fats, which are vegetable fats heated to make them harden (like stick margarine). Many cookies, crackers, baked goods contain these, even those sold in health food stores. *Shortening *Commercially deep fried foods. Ironically, vegetable oils are damaged by high heat whereas the saturated animal fats that used to be used for deep frying, are not. *All of these fats are heat damaged in their manufacturing, and your body can't handle them. Saturated fats (primarily from animal food) have gotten the worst rap of all but are not as harmful as those listed above. In fact, we need some saturated fat, and the body is better equipped to deal with these than the heat damaged vegetable oils that flooded the market with the cholesterol scare. An interesting fact though about saturated fats, is that our commercial practices of raising animals on feedlots have produced meat with significantly higher amounts of fat, and saturated fat. Grass grazed animals yield meat with fewer calories, less saturated fat and a higher amount of good fat. To read more about this see http://www.eatwild.com In general, it's still wise to limit saturated fats to 10% of your fat calories. The good fats are the essential fatty acids. We hear the most about Omega 3 and Omega 6 Fatty Acids. Omega 3 fats are abundant in oilier cold water fish like salmon, sardines, herring, tuna, bluefish, trout and mackerel. They are also abundantly present in meat from grass fed animals. Flaxseed, and flaxseed oil are great plant sources of Omega 3's. Omega 6 fats are present in many vegetables, nuts and grains. Vegetable oils are a concentrated source of Omega 6 fats but this presents a problem in our diets. We need roughly, a 4:1 ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 for optimal health. By using excessive vegetable oil, Americans get a ratio more on the order of 16:1. You will get enough Omega 6 fat in your diet by including lots of fresh vegetables and limited amounts of nuts, nut butters (like peanut butter), avocado, olives and olive oil. I advise clients to stick with olive oil, sesame oil, walnut oil, and to avoid canola, safflower, sunflower as well as all the oils mentioned in the "bad fat" section above. Olive oil, although high in Omega 6, helps make Omega 3's more available and we know it's beneficial to the heart. Most people need to make a concerted effort to include adequate Omega 3's in the diet. Eating several fish meals a week (including the types mentioned above) and including flaxseed oil, ground flax seed or supplementing with cod liver oil, or fish oil capsules is recommended. You're probably wondering, "how much fat should I eat?" I can't give a one size fits all answer. That depends on your health needs, goals and your daily caloric intake. What I can tell you is that most people are able to metabolize fat efficiently and use it for fuel if a) it's from healthy sources and b) your diet isn't producing excessive amounts of insulin from refined carbohydrate and sugar. Unless you have an organic problem inhibiting your body's ability to digest fat, less than 30% is unnecessary if the above guidelines are followed. Many people do quite well with higher levels as long as overall caloric need is not exceeded. REFERENCESThis article was written by Judy Stone, MSW, CN, and is used with permission. It appeared originally in Eater's Digest, the monthly newsletter of Nutrition Magician. Visit their website at http://www.nutritionmagician.net |
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