Fat Myths: What You Ought to Know about Dietary Fat
September 4th, 2010Fat is necessary for our health. Our bodies cannot survive without fat. You also can’t achieve weight loss without fat. Dietary fats provide the body with energy, promote healthy cell growth, help the body absorb certain nutrients and promote hormone production. A certain amount of body fat is essential to keep your body warm and to protect your body’s organs. A no-fat diet or extremely low-fat diet is disastrous to good health.
Here some fascinating facts pertaining to fat:
Not all fats are similar. There are four types of dietary fat: saturated fats, monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, and trans fats. These 4 fats are distinguished by their chemical and molecular structure, which impacts how they are used and processed in the body. The bad fats are the saturated fats and trans fats. They are relatively solid at room temperature (such as beef fat, bacon fat, lard and butter). The good fats are monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, which are comparatively liquid at room temperature (these include vegetable oils).
Fats are packed with calories. Per gram, fat contains 9 calories (any fat, regardless of its type). By contrast, protein and carbohydrates contain about 4 calories per gram. This points to the fact that high fat consumption increases the overall calories in our diet. For this reason alone, it is imperative to limit fat intake if your are attempting to lose weight.
Certain fats actually lower chloresterol. The bad fats are bad mostly because they lift LDL chloresterol levels (known as bad chloresterol). Good fats, the monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, increase our HDL (known as good) cholesterol levels, which helps lower LDL chloresterol.
Fat can promote weight loss. The monounsaturated fat found in avocado, almonds, walnuts, canola oil, and olive oil have been found to encourage weight loss, attacking the body fat itself. Keep this in mind, you don’t want to eat too many, but be sure to include small amounts of these nuts and oils in your regular diet if you are on a weight loss regimen.
Fats provide energy to the body. Polyunsaturated fats (found in salmon and oily fish, corn oil, safflower oil, and sunflower oil) have a detoxifying effect on our cells, carrying away toxic fats deposited there that clog up cell processes.
Fat lubricates the body. Good fats are like oil in a car engine, providing needed lubrication to our joints, digestive system (flax seed is excellent for constipation) and skin. Some of our dermatological problems are caused by deficiencies of good fats in our diet.