The Difference Between Good And Bad Fats

Bad fats are rampant in our diets nowadays and the unfortunate thing is that they are bad for you. They cause heart diseases and even increase the rate of cancer. Not only that. If you are looking to lose weight then they will not help you in that endeavour either as they make you increase your body fat.

The four main types of fats are the saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and Trans fat. Almost all fats will have a combination of these types of fat in varying degrees. The good fats are saturated, monounsaturated and a little bit of polyunsaturated. Trans fats are the bad guys when it comes to fats and I will advise you to stay away from them if you really want to be healthy in the long run. 

Even though saturated fats have had a bad media attention you should be aware that they are not bad in themselves. Most people think because saturated fats are solid at room temperature it means it will be solid once it enters your body. This is such a gross misinformation and the public by and large still believe this. Our ancestors only ate saturated fats and they lived healthier lives without heart diseases and other modern diseases. I should note here also that 50 percent of our cell membranes is made of saturated fats. They also play an important role in our bone health. For calcium to be utilized by the body it needs saturated fat to be present. Saturated fats also help the body assimilate the fat soluble vitamins A,D,E and K Examples of saturated fat includes coconut oil, ghee (clarified butter) and palm oil.

Monounsaturated fats play their part by helping to lower blood pressure and improving cholesterol levels. They also reduce your susceptibility to diabetes and lowing the bad cholesterol LDL whilst raising the healthy HDL cholesterol. Sources of monounsaturated fat include nuts like almonds and peanuts. You can also find it in olive oil and in avocados.

Polyunsaturated fats help by protecting your heart and preventing heart diseases. They also lower bad cholesterol and boost your immune system. Polyunsaturated fats can be found in fishes like salmon and tuna. You can also get it in some nuts and seeds. Evening primrose oil is also another good source.

Whatever you do try and stay away from Trans fats. They are poison in a bottle. All the so called vegetable oils sold in the supermarkets are Trans fats. They are been treated and stripped of anything of value. All it does when it goes into your body is cause havoc. Stay away from them as much as you can. It is virtually impossible to stay away from them totally because they are in almost every packaged food. Just check your labels from now on and you will see the very famous "vegetable oil".