Park that notion that fat is bad. It is not. In fact, most of us aren\u2019t eating enough of it. Fat can help you lose weight, protect against heart disease, absorb vitamins and boost your immune system. Do you know which fats to eat and which to avoid?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These are the fats that have the worst reputation, and they\u2019re found in animal fats and coconut oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s the controversial bit because it goes entirely against what we have been told for decades (and we are still being told by government agencies) \u2026 these saturated fats that you eat \u2013 the dietary saturated fats \u2013 don\u2019t raise cholesterol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fats that are \u2018bad\u2019 are the trans fats, which cause cell membranes to become stiff and hard, and they no longer function correctly. Trans fats are harmful to cardiovascular health (lower good cholesterol – increase level of bad cholesterol). Some trans fats are contained naturally in dairy products, but particularly in processed foods (i.e. hydrogenated oils, margarine).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These are the kinds of fats associated with the Mediterranean diet \u2013 particularly olive oil -, and populations that eat a lot of these fats, like the people of Greece and Italy, have some of the lowest rates of heart disease in the world. Many cardiologists advocate the Mediterranean diet, as higher intakes of this kind of fat are linked to lower cholesterol (or, to be more accurate, a better ratio of LDL to HDL cholesterol).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You will probably know these as omega-3 and omega-6 \u2013 the essential fatty acids. \u2018Essential\u2019 relates to the fact that the body cannot make this kind of fat; you need to eat it as part of your diet \u2013 or take it as a supplement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They fulfil many roles in the body, and sufficient levels have implications for cell membranes, hormones (they regulate insulin function), managing inflammation and immunity, mood and memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a rule, omega-6 fats are not as good for you as the omega-3 fats, which are all anti-inflammatory. It\u2019s not that omega-6 fats are inherently bad, just that it\u2019s less good when the balance between the omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids gets disturbed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Historically, humans ate a good ratio of omega-6 to 3 \u2013 ranging between 1:1 and 4:1. The modern Western diet has changed things for the worse, and the ratio is frequently 20:1 thanks to processed foods, vegetable oils and conventionally raised (rather than grass-fed) meat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fat has got a bad reputation. Over the last 70 years low-fat products have been marketed as the saviour of our health. And the message from governments and the media was \u2013 and largely still is \u2013 that, when eaten, fat gets stored as fat in the body and puts us at greater risk of heart disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Part of the problem, of course, is that we use the same word for the fat we DON\u2019T want (on the hips, around the middle and so on) and the fat we eat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The demonisation of fat began when an American scientist called Ancel Keys produced the first \u2018evidence\u2019 linking saturated fat to heart disease in 1953. He based his scientific opinion on observational data of heart disease, death rates and fat consumption in six countries (ignoring statistics from a further 16 countries because they contradicted his hypothesis) and assumed a correlation between heart disease and eating fat. (As an aside, when another scientist looked at the same research, this time considering ALL 22 countries\u2019 data, no correlation was found).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although there might have been correlation (there was a relationship), it was not causal (didn\u2019t actually cause the situation).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A further study on rabbits compounded Ancel Keys\u2019 hypothesis: The rabbits were fed cholesterol (which doesn\u2019t normally form a part of their 100% veggie diet) and went<\/p>\n\n\n\n
on to develop fatty deposits in their arteries. And then, guess what happened? Poor bunnies!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Governments (and their health care agencies) across the world began advocating a low fat diet. They told us to fill up on bread, rice, cereals and pasta, and opt for low-fat or no-fat alternatives wherever we could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soon, the food industry jumped on board to create products that better satisfied this new advice. They replaced saturated fats with \u2018healthier\u2019 vegetable oils, like margarine and shortening \u2013 ironically trans fats are now one of the few fats research shows ARE linked to heart disease. The biggest problem is that, when you remove the fat from foods, you need to replace it with something else to make those foods palatable \u2013 and this replacement is sugar. This was a REALLY bad move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AVOCADOS They go with practically anything and are high in both vitamin E and in healthy monounsaturated fats. Slice it, mash it, love it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
COCONUT OIL There\u2019s so much to like. Apart from helping reduce bad cholesterol and blood pressure, coconut oil is an anti-fungal (caprylic acid) when used both externally or internally. The ideal replacement for butter in baking and as your oil of choice when frying (though we think it works best if you\u2019re cooking something with an Asian influence).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NUTS Packed with nutrients like magnesium and vitamin E, nuts bring plenty of essential fats to the table. They make the perfect snack \u2013 eat a handful (preferably raw) with a small piece of fruit or spread a little nut butter on an oatcake (peanut butter is just for starters \u2013 try almond for a change).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
OILY FISH are chock full of omega 3 fatty acids, which are the building blocks of your sex hormones, so are essential for hormone balance. We love them all!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
OLIVE OIL Use cold pressed organic oil as a dressing on salads rather than to cook with as the high temperatures reached when roasting or frying can turn the oil rancid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How the fat is used (through cooking and processing) is a big deciding factor whether it is healthy or unhealthy. Essential fatty acids (EFAs) become free radicals in the presence of light, oxygen and heat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is because frying with oils like olive oil at high temperature leads to oxidation and the production of free radicals \u2013 highly inflammatory for the body and may increase the risk of heart disease or cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coconut oil, rapeseed (vegetable) oil, avocado oil, butter or ghee, or goose fat (clarified butter).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NOT olive oil or sunflower oil. Don\u2019t use sunflower oil at all (although do eat the seeds) and save olive oil for dressings on salads.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Park that notion that fat is bad. It is not. In fact, most of us aren\u2019t eating enough of it. Fat can help you lose weight, protect against heart disease, absorb vitamins and boost your immune system. Do you know which fats to eat and which to avoid? Saturated fat These are the fats that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[41],"class_list":["post-937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-5-5-minutes"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aspiranthealth.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aspiranthealth.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aspiranthealth.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aspiranthealth.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aspiranthealth.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aspiranthealth.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aspiranthealth.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aspiranthealth.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aspiranthealth.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aspiranthealth.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}