Different Types of Fat
All fats can cause weight gain. Despite that, some fats can give you many health benefits and should be regularly consumed in order to keep your body functioning to its fullest potential. Just be careful because consuming too much of any type of fat may lead to unwanted weight gain.
The fat in fish is also polyunsaturated (a type called omega-3 fatty acids). Foods high in omega-3 fats:
- Mackerel
- Salmon
- Albacore tuna
- Sardines
Monosaturated fats may help to lower blood cholesterol, but consuming too much of this fat may lead to weight gain, so go easy with olive oils. This "good" fat is still loaded with fat calories. Monosaturated fat is contained in these foods:
- Olive oil
- Peanut oil
- Sesame seed oil
- Canola oil
- Avocados
Poly-fats help reduce the risk of heart disease. Foods containing polyunsaturated fat:
- Corn oil
- Cotton oil
- Seed oil
- Safflower oil
- Sunflower oil
- Soybean oils
- Mayonnaise .
Omega 9 fatty acid is a monounsaturated fat. The body can produce Omega-9 fats if it has enough Omega-3 and Omega-6 fats. If it does not have enough, your body will need to get omega-9 fats from your diet. Health benefits of omega 9:
- Lowers cholesterol levels
- Reduces atherosclerosis
- Reduces insulin resistance
- Improves blood sugar
- Improves the immune system
- Protects against certain types of cancer
- Olive oil
- Olives
- Avocados
- Nearly all nuts
- Sesame oil
Unhealthy fats (LDL) cholesterol levels and lower your good (HDL) cholesterol levels, cloging up the blood stream and decrease circulation, which causes a number of heart and aging problems since it causes the body to transfer nutrients less effeiciently.
Saturated fats are the demons of all fats because they can raise blood cholesterol, which can lead to heart disease. Meat that are typically high in saturated fat, so try to avoid over-eating the folowing types of food:
- Poultry
- Whole dairy products
- Coconut oil
- Palm oil
- Kernel oil
- Cookies
- Crackers
- Nondairy creamers
- Baked products
Omega 6 fats can be confusing because they sound like the healthy omega-3 fats. Unfortunately, omega-6 fats are not healthy.
Cholesterol is divided into two types:
- HDL (GOOD Cholesterol) - High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) helps reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke by removing cholesterol from the walls of blood vessels and brings it back to the liver to be safely excreted. The ratio between your HDL and total cholesterol is an important indicator of heart disease. The lower the ratio the better
- LDL (BAD Cholesterol) - Low Density Lipoprotein cholesterol, causes cholesterol to build up inside blood vessels the form of plaque, clogging them up (atherosclerosis). LDL Cholesterol can lead to heart problems like angina, heart attack or coronary heart disease. If the plaque is formed in the arteries near to the brain, it can result in stroke
Triglycerides are the main type of fat found in food. There are several triglyceride categories:
- Saturated
- Monounsaturated
- Polyunsaturated
Trans Fats (Trans-fatty Acids)
Trans-fatty acids are not naturally occurring, but created when innocent unsaturated fats undergo a industrial manufacturing process called hydrogenation (when a liquid or semisoft fat is transformed into a more solid state by adding hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils).
Trans-fatty acids can be harmful because they act like saturated fats inside the body and raise blood cholesterol.
Hydrogination can help preserve food (making it ultimately cheaper) or enable a change in food texture. For example, margarine in liquid form is unsaturated, but with some hydrogenation, it becomes semisoft (tub margarine) and with further hydrogenation it becomes hard (stick margarine). Other foods containing trans-fats are
- Partially hydrogenated vegetable oils
- Cakes
- Crackers
- Cookies
- Baked goods