Fat…The good, the bad, and the ugly
When discussing weight loss tips with people I often get questions about Fat. “Should I be on a low fat diet?”, “I heard there were good fats, and bad fats…what’s the difference?”, and “Is fat the Devil?” There is a lot of misinformation around this macronutrient, and hopefully I can clear this up for you. I will also apologize in advance for the length of this tip, there is a lot of information to cover.
What is fat? Fats are an energy dense nutrient found in many foods. It accounts for 9 calories per gram which is more than double the calories that carbohydrates (4 cal/gm) and proteins (4 cal/gm) provide, and two more calories per gram than alcohol (7 cal/gm). Therefore, if your candy bar has 10g of Fat, 90 of the total calories come from fats alone. Fat plays many other roles in the body other than providing energy. It is how our bodies store surplus energy from the foods we eat. They are also used to make many other compounds and structures in the body that play a role in brain health, heart health, and the immune system. Your body also needs fat to absorb certain vitamins and minerals.
The good…
There are good fats, believe it or not. Some fats that we eat do not negatively affect our health when consumed in moderation. These fats are known as unsaturated fats. These fats are typically liquid at room temperature (oils). There are certain oils that are better than others. This all depends on the monounsaturated to polyunsaturated to saturated fat ratios. I know this sounds complicated, so I am going to give you a few suggestions on what are the healthiest and what they are best used for.
1.) Olive – This oil is the heavyweight champion when it comes to health benefits. It has the best ratio, one of the highest antioxidant counts, and it tastes awesome with just about any food except desserts. Extra virgin varieties contain more antioxidants (anti-cancer chemicals), but you wont see this info on the label.
2.) Canola – This oil comes in second place. Has a comparable ratio to olive oil, but not quite the antioxidant punch. Canola can be used with any food, and tastes better with desserts than olive.
3.) Peanut – Peanut oil is one of my favorites. Its ratio’s aren’t quite as good as the previous two that I listed, but it is still much healthier than margarine or butter. The cool thing about peanut oil is that it gives a very savory taste to foods that are cooked with it.
There are many varieties of oils out there, and to determine the “health” factor for them is pretty easy. Just look at the monounsaturated:polyunsaturated:saturated ratio. The higher the monounsaturated and lower the saturated the better. Polyunsaturated are kind of neutral. Other healthy fat containing items out there are nuts, seeds, avocado’s, fish, and flax seeds. These contain a super fat known as Omega-3. Research has shown that this fat has heart healthy, brain health, and anti-inflammatory properties. Fish oil and Flax seed oil are excellent sources of this.
The bad…
The bad fat award goes to saturated fat. Saturated fats come in a variety of foods as well. Many people think that they are completely animal based, but there are many plants that produce them as well (mostly tropical oils like coconut, and nuts/seeds). The main sources of saturated fat in the diet include fatty beef (especially corn fed beef, grass fed beef typically has much lower sat fat levels), pork, dark meat poultry, and fatty dairy (butter, sour cream, and milk can be a big offender, no one over the age of 2 should be drinking anything other than skim milk).
Saturated fats have been shown to have negative effects on the body when consumed in excess (> 10g per day). These effects include, hardening of arteries, increased levels of LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol), and increased chances of developing diabetes. To make it even worse, new research is showing that body actually stores more saturated fats as body fat than unsaturated fats.
The ugly…
Yes, it gets worse than saturated fat. This unholy abomination of the food world is known as Trans-saturated fat, or Trans-fat for short. Back in the 70’s and 80’s much of the research on the negative effects of animal fats (butter and lard) sparked further research into healthier alternatives. Scientists knew that vegetable based oils were the healthier option, but they were more difficult to cook with in the commercial setting. They wanted to create a fat that was made from vegetable oils, yet was solid at room temperature, and thus Trans-fats were born. They basically accomplished this by chemically altering vegetable oil in a process called hydrogenation. This new “healthier” fat was then marketed as margarine. Margarine was widely used as a replacement for butter, and is still used today. It wasn’t until the late 90’s that we figured out that this new man made fat is actually worse than butter. Not only does it increase your levels of LDL cholesterol (the bad one) like saturated fats, but it also decreases your levels of HDL cholesterol (the good one).
Trans-fats are most commonly found in margarine, vegetable shortening, and commercially baked items like pastries, cakes, cake mixes (Bisquick), and some bread. The good news is that many companies have completely stopped the use of it in their products. However, you can still find margarine on the grocery store shelves, and other items. Look on the label to make sure it is trans-fat free, and make sure there isn’t and hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils under the ingredients list.
Butter vs. Margarine
This is a huge debate among health professionals. There is a lot of conflicting research about the negative health effects of each. My advice is to minimize the use of both and use healthier fats like the ones listed above. If you want something to spread on toast, get an olive oil based spread like Smart Balance.
Cholesterol
Technically, cholesterol is also a type of fat. Cholesterol is only found in animal products and is actually made by the body naturally. Any cholesterol we get from our diet is extra that we don’t really need. Excess cholesterol can coat your artery walls and cause them to become clogged and increase blood pressure. Any animal based fat such as butter, lard, fatty meats, and cream contains cholesterol.
So what should I do?
As far as weight loss goes, your body sees calories as calories, and it doesn’t matter if it’s protein, carbohydrates, or fat. Fat is very energy dense, so make sure that the fats you do eat are healthy fats; that way you get the most bang for your buck. Following a low-fat diet can be effective in weight management, but don’t eliminate the good fats, just the bad. Avoid fried foods if you can and go for baked, broiled, steamed, and lightly grilled.
Hopefully that clears things up a bit. If you have any questions at all regarding the diet tips, feel free to email me at any time. I will try to respond as soon as possible.