Fat...the good, the bad and the ugly

Most of us know and are aware that there are many different types and forms of fats that we may knowing or unknowingly eat every day...and some of us may know that some fats are bad and some fats are good...but which ones?

That's what this article is about, so that you will know what bad fats are and disallow them from damaging your health, and you can also identify good fats to enhance your health.

The media today generalize and simplify fats into two (2) simple categories:

• saturated fats
• unsaturated fats
  

Most of the time, we have been told that saturated fats are the bad ones and unsaturated fats are the good ones...but is it truly as simple as that?

Nope, not at all. Till today I've people demonizing that all fats are bad, or the saturated fats are bad.

Now let's fix that ok.

So the read bad-bad fat holds a class of its own, because it is unnatural and man-made. In fact, let's call this fat the "ugly" one as it's the one that does the most health damage to you.

what I'm talking about:
Trans-fats, Hydrogenated fats or oils

So trans-fats aka hydrogenated fats or oils can be horrifyingly found everywhere. You can find them in most processed foods including cookies/biscuits, solid margarines and semi solid margarines, commercial cooking oils and many domestic cooking oils.

You need to study carefully the labels of any process foods that you buy (if you still buy. Today, I'm gradually cutting out processed foods from our lives). Anything that indicates 'hydrogenated' or 'partially hydrogenated' on the label contains trans-fat...please put it back on the shelf.

So...hydrogenated fats are created by taking liquid oil and putting it through hydrogenation process which combines heat and pressure to add hydrogen atoms to the oil. It happens at about 400 degrees F fora few hours with a nickel or platinum catalyst to convert the liquid to a semi-solid state.

What this does is that it prevents the oil from becoming rancid at the cost of destroying its nutritional and nutrient value (yes, it becomes useless in terms of nutrition). Why manufacturers do this is because they get to convert low and lousy quality oils to butter substitutes...which explains the crazy amount of margarines available today.

These processed-reprocessed oils are completely foreign and weird to our bodies, and our bodies cannot use nor assimilate them at all...further confirming there is no real nutritional value at all.

In fact, there has been numerous studies that shows that hydrogenated fats and oils play a very large contribution to the development and aggravation of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, immunity and reproduction problems, as well as excessive weight gain.

ok...What about saturated fats?

Ok, these are the fats that are found in animal fats, red meat, poultry skin, and dairy products. Some vegetable oils such as coconut oils and palm oils are also high in saturated fats.

These are the fats that the mainstream media demonize and warns you to stay away from...and this is either because of ignorance or influence for deep-pocketed advertisers (or both).

Yes, if you eat saturated fats in excess it won't be good for you...but isn't that true to any other foods too?

The deal is this - our bodies are designed and meant to cope with saturated fats and has been this way since our great great ancestors and forefathers. On top of that, our bodies also need it.

The real problem here today is that many people has too high intake of fats that is trans-fat or hydrogenated fats, and not saturated kind. This is totally wrong, we need to take in more saturated fats, because saturated fats are natural and their molecules have not been 'bent out of shape' and natural for our bodies to assimilate.

You're recommended to remove all those hydrogenated fats and oils from your life and also recommended to enjoy your juicy slabs of meat.

ok...tell me about the unsaturated fats

Ok, there are two main kinds of unsaturated fats:

• poly-unsaturated fats
  
• mono-unsaturated fats
  

Many people think and feel that all unsaturated fats are okay and safe to eat, but this is not true - poly-unsaturated fats are bad for you and your health and needs to be avoided.

Poly-unsaturated fats are found in safflower oils, corn oils, sunflower  oils and soybean vegetable oils. They always remain liquid at room temperatures and have zero nutrition and zero health benefits.

They are popular and widely used because they are cheap.

Yes, some of them have Omega 6 essential fatty acids but many people has too high an intake of Omega 6, which needs to be balanced with Omega 3 essential fatty acids (more on that below)

I recommend that you switch your poly-unsaturated oils to mono-unsaturated ones, such as olive oil, rapeseed oil, hazelnuts, almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, avocado, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds.

Oils that are made from these foods are much more stable even at high temperatures as compared to the poly-unsaturated alternatives and better still, they do not have any negative health implications/outcomes.

The best of this kinds is the extra virgin olive oil, and the word "extra" is very, very important. You see, most of the mono-unsaturated oils have different types of processing done to them. The more processing, the more the item loses its nutrients - the best is cold pressed oils which are done in darkness because of the sensitivity of these oils to light and oxidation.

There are many studies that shows that a good cold pressed extra virgin olive oil will help to both lower bad LDL cholesterol and increase the good HDL cholesterol. In contrast, an ordinary virgin oil has no difference.

Where does Omega 3 and Omega 6 essential fatty acids fit then?

This is a large topic by itself, and I'll try my best ok.

Omega 3 and Omega 6 essential fatty acids are true to their names - they truly are essential to our health and well being. In fact, many diseases and ailments can be tracked to a shortage of either one of these two fatty acids (usually shortage of Omega 3).

Also, there are some schools of thought that believes that the increasing rate of brain diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer's can be directly pointed to shortage of Omega 3 fatty acids.

Here's the thing - there is an abundance and over-consumption of Omega 6 in a typical meal, because it's present in most cooking oils. The real issue is the shortage/deficit of Omega 3, and the optimum ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 is 3:1 (this means that for every 12 mg of Omega 6 you take, you need to "balance with 3 mg of Omega 3)

But this ratio has gone out of whack and is now estimated as off as 20:1 or even as high as 50:1.

What I recommend you to do is to start adding Omega 3 essential fatty acids into your regular diet, and the best natural source is flax seeds. You can go to your local health food store and buy some ground flax seeds (best is organic) and sprinkle a full tablespoon on your food every day.

You can also get Omega 3 from oily fishes such as salmon...but it's a little tricky with fish as it's hard to get fish that is 100% free of contaminants.

Related Xtend-Life Omega 3 Products:

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