In this article your Express Keller Chiropractor discusses the Good Fats to consume and Bad Fats to Avoid in your diet.

There have been a lot of warnings for many years that we should shift to low-fat diets. But do you think this makes us healthier? Most of us believe that since they say fat is bad, we should cut back on it. In the process, you cut back on both the harmful and healthy fats forgetting that your body needs some fats. No doubt, there are bad fats, but there are also some fats that are actually super healthy and will make your better.

Read on to find out!

Which fats can make your health better?

The good fats are:

  • Monounsaturated fatty acid which you can find in olive oil
  • A polyunsaturated fatty acid that you can get from safflower and sunflower oils
  • An omega-3 fatty acid that you can find in eggs from chickens, wild-caught seafood, and oils
    from walnut, canola, and flaxseed. You can also get this fat from the meat of animals fed with
    grass.

A study at Harvard University found that up to 96 thousand Americans are killed by the deficiency of
omega-3 fatty acids every year. The deficiency is American’s 6th biggest killer.

Benefits of the good fats

When you consume these fats, your body will benefit a lot from them. They help to dissolve fat-soluble
vitamins such as vitamins A, D, E, and K and allow you to utilize it. Also, they make sure your body has an excellent cellular structure, and energy needed.

You will also get a significant improvement in hearing, sleep, vision, depression, general brain function, organ health, memory, and more. Besides, good fats reduce your risk of arthritis, liver disease, stroke, cancer, Type 2 diabetes, and heart attack.
Although taking too much fat can take a toll on your quality of life, it is good to know that those common ailments are often caused by saturated and trans fat. Lots of studies have proven that good fats such as the ones mentioned above will improve your health when ingested moderately.

So, without further ado, you should increase the intake of unsaturated fat while reducing the amount of trans and saturated fat you consume.

Dos and don’ts of fat intake

According to the Harvard School of Public Health, you should:

  • Eat the good sources of omega-3 fatty acids like walnuts oil, fish, soya bean oil, flaxseed oil, and canola oil every day.
  • Replace butter with liquid vegetable oil. The oil should be the ones rich in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. The good options include olive and canola oil.
  • Cut back on full-fat dairy foods and red meat to limit your intake of saturated fats. Whenever possible, replace red meat with fish, poultry, nuts, and beans. Also, eat lower-fat dairy food instead of full-fat dairy food such as whole milk.
  • Replace fried fast foods with baked or grilled foods. Avoid trans fats by checking labels on foods.

Many Americans have adhered to low-fat diets for many years, but why hasn’t it paid off as expected?

According to detailed research at Harvard, the total amount of fats in the diet is not really linked with disease or weight.

So, what matters?

The type of fat in your diet is what really matters. Good fats like monounsaturated and polyunsaturated reduce the risk of certain diseases. They are suitable for the body, including the heart, brain, skin, and other body parts. On the other hand, bad fats like trans and saturated fats do the opposite of what good fats do.

 

Photo by Jakub Kapusnak, Brooke Lark and Dan Gold on Unsplash