Trouble with High Fat Diet

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The only real way to lower the cholesterol and fat in our bodies is to watch the way these things are in the diet and to change the diet to avoid these products. There are good fats to eat and there are bad fats to eat. Cholesterol isn’t technically a fat but is a fatty, waxy substance that collects in our arteries but is necessary for hormone production.

Is it important to eliminate all fats from the diet? Experts now say, no. It is not a good idea to be rid of all sources of fat but instead to change the types of fats you eat. Unsaturated fats come from healthy food sources like canola oil, vegetable oil and corn oil. These contain nutrients and energy you need without putting fat into the arteries. Good fat burning diets contain fat but stick to fats that are healthy for you.

Saturated fats, on the other hand, are not healthy fats for you. These contain fats that are solid like lard at room temperature. Like lard, they clog arteries and make for a high risk of heart disease. These fats are found in ice cream, cheese, milk and meats—always in animal products.

Another bad fat is called trans fat. This is a technologically-produced fat made from hydrogenated unsaturated or polyunsaturated fats and used to be thought of as a healthy alternative to saturated fat. It is now felt to be just as dangerous as saturated fats. These trans fats are often found in processed foods and pastries. Like saturated fats, trans fats are not healthy for your arteries.

There are a lot of low fat or fat-free diets out there. What is the implication of these diets? You need some fat in your diet in order to help the body absorb important fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamin A, D, E, and K. You need linoleic acid and linolenic acid, which are essential fatty acids you need in your diet to make healthy fats. Without them, your health will suffer.

Good sources of unsaturated (good) fat include those derived from plants and vegetables, such as peanut oil, olive oil, avocados, nuts and olives. Polyunsaturated fats are derived from soy products, cold water fish, walnuts, flax seed and other healthy foods that help our immune system function correctly. You need to look for the percentage of unsaturated fats in foods when compared to saturated fats.

Saturated fats directly increase the amount of LDL cholesterol in the bloodstream and therefore impact the amount of cholesterol clogging the arteries. Some saturated fat is important to have for the absorption of vitamin D, brain cell maintenance, infection prevention, and liver protection. This means we really can’t eradicate saturated fats from our diets; however, we should watch how much we eat.