Dietary fats are important for our bodies. When I was changing my diet to high fat and low carb, I was concerned about where I will find good fats. I had been taught and believed that all fats are bad and some cause cancer. However, I discovered three things about dietary fats in food. Firstly, they are essential for our bodies. Secondly, our bodies cannot make dietary fats, it only comes from food. Finally, some dietary fats in food even lower our cholesterol levels and keep us healthy, contrary to popular belief.
Purpose Of Dietary Fats In Food.
Dietary fats in food have many functions for our bodies. Firstly, they give our bodies energy, keep it warm, and builds cells. Secondly, dietary fats protect our organs, help our body absorb vitamins, and produce hormones that help our bodies work properly. Our bodies need fatty acids that only come from dietary fats in food. We need to learn to eat the balance of fats, in the right amounts.
Types of Dietary Fats.
You do not need to eliminate all fats from your diets. There are numerous types of fat. Knowing and understand the different types of dietary fats will help you make informed choices. The different types of fats are saturated fats, monosaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, and trans fats.
Saturated Fats.
These fats are often named “killer fats”. Saturated fats should be balanced with monosaturated fats. Our diets should include more monosaturated fats than saturated fats. Foods that fall under saturated fats are coconut oil, palm oil, grass-fed butter, and cocoa butter. Adding healthy saturated fats decreases inflammation and boosts brain function.
You can start including saturated fats in your diet by using coconut oil for cooking. Frying eggs and sautéing vegetables with grass-fed butter or ghee is also a good option. The advantage of adding saturated fats is that it causes no effect on glucose levels and does not spike insulin. They will help you have a steady, satisfied, and full feeling. Saturated fats that you should aim to eliminate or decrease in your diet are pizza, sweetened dairy, processed meats (sausage and hamburgers), and baked desserts.
Monosaturated Fats.
Most of these fats are healthy. A primary monosaturated fat is olive oil. The other kinds of fats in this range include avocado oil, almond oil, and nut (pecan, almond, and macadamia). Eating the whole olive, avocado and nut is good practice. Some monosaturated fats are found in meats such as lard, sheep fat, beef fat, grass-fed goat, and sheep. Grass-fed meats (beef, lamb, and wild game) have more monosaturated fats, nutrients, and vitamins than grain-fed meats. This is because farm-raised animals contain items such as antibodies, pesticides, estrogen, and hormones. The monosaturated fat you need to look out for is canola oil. 90% of it is genetically modified. Monosaturated fats are very good for our bodies. They help lessen the chance of strokes and raise the protective HDL cholesterol.
Polyunsaturated Fats.
These fats include Omega 3 and Omega 6 fats. Omega 3 reduces inflammation, supports healthy hormone levels, and cell membranes. On the other hand, omega 6 fatty acids support healthy brain and muscle functions. Our bodies need these two fatty acids. Omega 3 and omega 6 only come from dietary fats in food. Polyunsaturated fats are found in corn oil, sunflower oil, grape-seed oil, and flaxseed oil. Certain seeds (pumpkin, chia, and sunflower), fish (wild salmon, sardines, trout, and tuna) and walnuts have polyunsaturated fats.
Many people get too much omega 6 in their diets and too little omega 3. We only need a small amount of omega 6 in our diet. The modern diet is filled with omega 6 foods such as baked goods, fried foods, cookies, and crackers. Foods that are fried, baked, or microwaved are filled with omega 6. We need to eat more omega 3 fats like flax, walnuts, fish, and wild salmon. A rule of thumb is eating omega 3, three times a week. Also, watch out for soybean oil it is the most common type of oil used in the production of salad dressing.
Trans Fats.
These fats are made by heating liquid vegetable oils in the presence of hydrogen gas and a catalyst. This process is called hydrogenation. Natural trans fats are found in beef fats and dairy fat in small amounts. Grass-fed butter is good for our bodies. A spoon of grass-fed butter contains high amounts of vitamins A, carotenes, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin K2. You can substitute margarine with grass-fed butter. Margarine is shown to cause heart attacks, increase blood insulin, and decrease HDL.
Donuts, margarine, fries, and many processed foods contain trans fats. These trans fats offer nothing of value to our bodies. A new fat is rising in popularity called IE (interesterified fats). These fats were developed to take the place of trans fats in snack foods and baked goods. Research in Nutrition and Metabolism found that IE fats raise LDL cholesterol, lower the good HDL cholesterol, and raise after-meal glucose (blood sugar) by 40%. IE fats are found in pre-packaged foods, restaurant foods, and snack foods. These can be avoided if we eat natural and unprocessed foods.
Dietary fats in food are important in providing your body with essential fatty acids. The low-fat movement has demonized all fats as being bad. Adding them back into our diets is going to take a change of mindset, tons of will power and effort. I suggest that you try adding one dietary fat once a month. As an example, replace your cooking oil with coconut oil or grass-fed butter. The next month replace red meat with sardines or tuna. This way you can re-introduce healthy dietary fats in your diet that will not shock your system.