The story of FATS!

What comes to your mind when you think of fatty foods? Weight? Unhealthy? Avoid? Does TYPE and AMOUNT come across your mind? If you ask yourself the type of fat every time you eat fat foods, then you are on the right track! Fats should constitute 25-30% of your diet. Read through the post to learn about different types of fats and their health benefits.

Types of Fats:

 

1.Trans: These are the bad fats. They are formed upon partial hydrogenation of oils (add hydrogen to oil). Partially hydrogenated oil is less likely to spoil, so foods have higher shelf life. These fats are mainly used in shortenings for deep frying in restaurants because it doesn't have to be changed as often as other oils. They also occur in baked goods, ready-made frosting, snacks including potato, corn, tortilla chips, packaged or microwave popcorn, refrigerator dough, canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls, nondiary coffee creamer and stick margarines. Read your food labels and avoid this fat all together.

2.Saturated: There has been a controversy that saturated fats are bad for health. But recent research shows that these fats do more good than bad. Saturated fats raise HDL (good) cholesterol. Good sources of saturated fat include diary products (milk, yogurt, cheese, butter, ghee). Having said that saturated are healthy fats, it is also important to track how much you are ingesting. For a 1500 calorie diet, one cup of whole milk, one cup of whole milk yogurt and 1 slice of cheese amount to 100% of saturated fat that is needed per day. There are so many other foods that you eat throughout the day that may contain saturated fat. So either decrease the serving of whole milk products or switch to low fat products without compromising on the amount of sugars and protein (I mean do not buy low fat, sugar added products). Therefore, read the labels and eat the right amounts!

3.Monounsaturated, Polyunsaturated and omega-3 fatty acids: These are the healthy fats and raise HDL cholesterol. They decrease the risk for heart diseases and are essential for overall health. They occur mainly in oils, nuts and avocado. Foods with higher percentage of these oils occur in liquid at room temperature. Only down side of polyunsaturated and omega-3 fatty acids is that at high temperature, these fats get oxidized and turn into harmful fats. Do not use oils that are high in polyunsaturated or omega-3 fats for frying. Use saturated or monounsaturated rich oils for that purpose (Eg: coconut oil, olive oil etc).

Avoid the oils listed below for high temperature cooking either they are rich in polyunsaturated and omega fatty acids and/or they are highly processed.
Soybean, Corn, Cottonseed, Canola, Rapeseed, Sunflower, Grapeseed, Safflower, Rice Bran oils.

Now that you know different types of fats, pros and cons of each variety, make sure you read the nutrition labels, know what you are eating and how much you are eating. DO NOT AVOID fats completely.