Are you trying to understand the difference between good fats and bad fats? Do you want to understand how good fats and bad fats affect your overall health? Are you looking to reduce the number of trans fats and saturated fats in your diet? Are you looking to replace your bad fats with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats? Are you looking for a supplement that can increase the amount of good fat in your body?
Published on August 19, 2020
written by
Vitajoy USA
Understanding Fats
Not all fats are created equal. If you find yourself in a discussion about good fats versus bad fats, you will find that the overarching consensus is that fats are bad for you. However, fat is essential to your diet as protein and carbohydrates fuel your body with energy. Additionally, some bodily functions require fat.
Fats keep your skin soft, deliver vitamins to your body, and keep you energized. Fat is fuel. However, many fad diets are based on eliminating fat from your diet with low-fat and fat-free options. What’s not considered in this methodology is when you eliminate fat from your diet, it can cause a lot of health issues because eliminating fat all together means you are eliminating good fat too.
What you’ll find is that the molecular structure of good fats is very similar to bad fats and neutral fats. There is just a slight variance in the fat’s structure, which has varying degrees of outcomes within the body.
The United States Department of Agriculture’s 2015 to 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans states that a healthy eating pattern limits saturated fats and trans fats. It recommends that you consume less than 10 percent of your daily calories from saturated fats. Additionally, a healthy eating diet of 2,000 calories suggests consuming:
| 2.5 | cups | vegetables | daily |
| 5.5 | ounces | protein | daily |
| 27 | grams | oils | daily |
| 2 | cups | fruit | daily |
| 6 | ounces | grains | daily |
Bad fats are the type of fats you want to avoid putting into your body. Bad fats are also known as trans fats, which is a result of hydrogenating oils. Hydrogenation is the process that prevents oils from going bad. These oils are used as preservatives in foods you eat everyday. At room temperature, bad fats are typically found in a solid state.
Having a diet that includes many trans fats increases your chances of having high bad cholesterol and low good cholesterol. Diets that include many trans fats put you at risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity, and stroke.
You are likely to find bad fats in:
| Beef and pork fat |
| Fast food |
| Freezer stored foods |
| Processed snack foods |
| Baked goods |
| Margarine |
| Vegetable shortening |
Good Fats
There are two kinds of good fats: monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. These fats are often, but not always, found to be liquid at room temperature and are referred to as oils. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends the majority of your diet’s fat intake be from monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.
Monounsaturated fat is the type of fat you want to use in place of bad and neutral fats. For example, replace your bad fats with olive oil, canola oil, nuts, and avocados.
Polyunsaturated fats are known as essential fats because they maintain healthy blood to muscle flow, which helps build cell membranes, and keeps your body’s inflammation down. Consuming polyunsaturated fats reduces your cholesterol, which reduces your risk of heart attack, heart disease, diabetes, and stroke. The main types of polyunsaturated fats are Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids, which are mainly found in fish (i.e., salmon, sardines), walnuts, canola oil, and flaxseeds.
You are lkely to find good fats in:
| Vegetables |
| Almonds, cashews, peanuts, walnuts, and pecans |
| Avocados |
| Vegetable oil, olive oil, safflower, sunflower, and peanut oil |
| Flax, sunflower, sesame, and pumpkin seeds |
| Soybeans and products |
| Fish, such as salmon, herring, trout, catfish, mackerel, and sardines |
Neutral Fats
Neutral fats, also known as saturated fats increase both good and bad fat in the body. These fats are typically found solid at room temperature. It is recommended to limit the amount of saturated fat in your diet, as possible.
You are likely to find neutral fats in:
| Red meat, including fatty cuts of pork, beef, and lamb |
| Dark meat chicken and turkey |
| Cheese |
| Butter |
| Sour Cream |
| Whole milk |
| Ice cream |
| Coconut oil |
Be Smart with Your Diet’s Fat Consumption
If you want to make sure you’re consuming good fats, consider taking these actions with your diet:
- Reduce the number of saturated fats and trans fats, and replace those fats with monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats.
- Look at the oils you cook with and transition them to monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats.
- Roast your vegetables in olive or avocado oil.
- Choose fish, poultry, and lean meats for your diet.
- If necessary, take a fish oil supplement.
- Eat a diet rich in good fats by use of vegetables and healthy oils.
- If you are craving crispy fried food, try baking your food with healthy oils.
- Decrease the amount of processed food and hydrogenated oils as possible.
- Talk to your doctor or nutritionist about losing weight in a healthy way to avoid accidental good fat deficiencies.
Remember, not all fats are bad! Eating good fats will keep you healthy. But it’s important to not eat too many of any kind of fat, because with fat comes calories, which is a huge factor in your body’s weight fluctuation. So, eliminate just the bad and neutral fats from your diet, eat good fats in moderation, and sustain a physically active life to sustain a happy and healthy life.