Good and bad fats
With all the talk of good and bad fats that has been going on among the health conscious for the last time, it might lead a curious reader to wonder exactly what the good and bad fats are. While the body does need a small amount of fat for many of its essential functions, health problems often develop from eating too much of the wrong type of fat.
For those who need to know what the good and bad fats are, this brief guide has been compiled. A doctor can let you know if your plans to change your diet are a good idea or a bad idea, so be sure to consult a physician before making any drastic changes to your diets.
Good and bad fats in our diet break down to three categories – saturated, polyunsaturated, and transfats.
Trans fatty acids can fall into either group and the only way to distinguish one before hand is to know whether an oil falls into the trans fatty acid category or not. Distinguishing between saturated and polyunsaturated fats is easier, however.
A saturated fat is solid at room temperature. Lard is perhaps the best known example but other common commercially available fats are Crisco and its many imitators. Be sure to take in no more than 7% of your overall caloric intake as saturated fats as these are bad for you.
Polyunsaturated oils make up most of the good fat in the diet of most people. Omega-6 and Omega-3 fatty acids fall into this category. Must of the good fats are derived from plant matter, although some fats like the Omega-3 ones are also found in high quantities in fish.
While the bad fats in your diet lower your overall health, the good fats improve it. The health benefits you get from incorporating good fats will depend on which fats you consume, but these may include lower blood pressure, improved health and in the case of some consuming the good fats can help with your weight loss goals.
There are more good and bad fats than are listed here, but these are the three main categories that the good fats and bad fats in your diet break down into. Remember to consume a very small amount of trans fats, a larger but still small portion consisting of saturated fats, and the largest portion of your fat intake should be polyunsaturated fats.
Remember that your total fat intake should only make up about a third of your daily calories. Now that all the good and bad fats have been sorted out, you can start cooking healthier for yourself and the family. It's a good thing too; this description was probably making you hungry. Why not go into your kitchen and see what good fats you have to make something and throw out all the ones that are really bad for you. Maybe that's a little extreme, you can keep the bad fats as long as you remember to use them sparingly.
