The Skinny on Dietary Fat

Appetizer
All fats are NOT created equal. There’s really no healthy or practical way to purge your diet of fat 100%, so it’s best to get educated on the variety of fats out there and what they mean to you.

Main Course
Here’s a rundown on the fats you will encounter through your dieting life:

Trans Fats – You’ve probably heard these mentioned once twice in news stories on obesity or fast food restaurants. Trans fats are nasty stuff, and the damage they do to your body goes beyond your waistline. A study published in a 2006 issue of the New England Journal of medicine showed that there is a strong reason to believe that the more trans fat you consume, the more likely you are to get Coronary Heart Disease. Other studies have shown a connection between trans fats and diabetes, liver problems, infertility, and cancer. Yikes.

Trans Fats are usually found in some margarines, shortening, cookies and crackers, and pre-made microwaveable meals. You know if a food has trans fat if you see the words “partially hydrogenated oil” on the ingredients list. (The “0 grams of trans fat” on the ingredients list, which became mandatory in 2006, can sometimes be misleading. If one serving has less than .5 grams of trans fat, it can legally be listed as zero.) There is really no reason to have trans fats in your diet, so do you what you can to avoid them.

Saturated Fats– Better for you than trans fats, but still not great for you. They raise your cholesterol, which increases your odds of getting heart disease. And they can make your thighs expand faster than a sponge in water. They are usually found in animal products such as red meat. Any health minded person should cut down on saturated fat as much as they can.

Monounsaturated Fats – Ah, now we’re getting somewhere. Consumption of monounsaturated fats has shown to increase your “good” cholesterol while decreasing your “bad” cholesterol. They can also help protect against cardiovascular disease. Monounsaturated fats are usually found in avocados, nuts, and oils such as peanut oil, corn oil, and sesame oil.

Polyunsaturated Fats – Studies have shown that these kinds of fats have a whole host of benefits. They can help your thyroid, which means fat is burned more efficiently. They can help boost your immune system. They can decrease the recovery time after workouts and reduce soreness from exercise. They can aid heart health. Really, the studies are just coming in, so we might discover more benefits in the coming years.

How can one consume these miracle fats? By eating seafood, mostly. Herring, Mackerel, and sardines have a nice concentration of polyunsaturated fats. And they all taste great blackened with lemon.

Remember though, just because you are eating a “healthy” fat, it doesn’t mean you can go to town. All fats have the same number of calories per gram, healthy or unhealthy.

Dessert
When plotting out my fat intake, I do it with one main benefit in mind: fat helps make you feel fuller, longer. If I know I will be attending a party where they will be serving a plethora of diet-destroying foods, I might have some fish beforehand to keep my appetite at bay and willpower strong. I carry some unsalted nuts around with me so I can quickly and healthily blast hunger if it pops up. I think one of the best ways to stick to your diet is to always control where your fats are coming form.