Dietary Fats
Fat has been in the news non-stop for the last twenty years or so. Every time we turn on the Nightly News, there is a good chance that an article in the health segment will focus on how Americans are eating too much fat or how they are too fat to begin with. While the good, overall advice is to cut the amount of dietary fat you take in with your food, it should be noted that a small amount of fat is necessary to maintain your health.
All fats are not created equal. Before deciding what to cut a person must know the difference between good dietary fats and bad dietary fats. Bad dietary fats will increase a persons LDL or bad cholesterol numbers, while many good dietary fats will lower them and improve heart functions. Other fats such as those naturally found in fish can improve the function of the brain. (This is why fish is often called a brain food, sadly, though; eating fish will not make a person smarter.)
The worst dietary fats are trans fatty acids. Some cities have gone so far as banning this chemical for use in restaurants, but many fast food chains have also changed the oils that they use so that they contain none of this controversial fat type. The American Heart Association recommends that transfats make up no more than one percent of your caloric intake.
Now, we cannot avoid dietary fat and we must take a certain amount in to maintain the overall health level of our bodies, but the question is how much. Looking at the statistics providing the American Heart association again we learn that a person's over all fat intake should be no more than one third of the caloric value that they eat in a single day.
Keep in mind that although trans fats as they are called may be the least healthy for you, saturated fats are almost as bad. You can tell the difference between a saturated fat and an unsaturated fat by letting them sit at room temperature. A saturated fat will become a solid, while an unsaturated fat will remain in its liquid form when left to cool. (Of course, this only applies to using dietary fats to cook; it is hard to tell whether a fat is saturated or unsaturated in the foods you eat unless you are familiar with the ingredients. Try to limit your intake of saturated fats to no more than seven percent of your daily intake.
Now, that we know what eight percent of you total dietary intake, and that dietary fats should make up no thirty three percent of what you eat, that tells us that up to twenty five percent of our dietary intake should be healthy fats that will improve the hearts and other muscles. If you stay within these guidelines, it should be easy to make sure you do not take in too many unhealthy dietary fats and take in enough of the fats that are actually good for you.
