Fats, along with proteins and carbohydrates, are one of the three nutrients used as a source of energy by the body. The energy produced by fats is 9 calories per gram. Protein and carbohydrates each provide 4 calories per gram. full fat; the sum of saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fats. Intake of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats can help lower blood cholesterol when substituted for saturated fat in the diet. A slang term for obese or adipose. In chemistry, a compound formed from chemicals called fatty acids. These fats are solid, fatty materials found in animal tissues. Fats are the main component of a body’s fluffy material, commonly known as fat.
As strange as it sounds, eating fat can actually help you lose weight. Not only that, your memory and immune system will benefit from eating fat. It is an extremely bad idea to eliminate fat completely from your diet. “Good” fats are absolutely essential. These good fats come from things like Enova oil, canola oil, extra virgin olive oil, flaxseeds, almonds, walnuts, and cold-water fish. What it takes is eating the right kind of fat and getting rid of the wrong kind.
Key functions of fat
We need some fat—it’s part of our brain, protects some of our joints, and provides stores for when we’re sick—but it slips off so easily that it’s easy to overdo it.
- Fat provides the necessary energy. It’s hard to eat large amounts of food on a very low-fat diet to get all the energy you need.
- Fat is necessary for your body to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins A, S, E, K and to prevent deficiencies in these vitamins.
- Provides backup energy if blood sugar supplies are depleted (after 4-6 hours without food).
- Provides insulation under the skin from cold and heat.
- It protects the organs and bones from blows and provides support to the organs.
- Fat surrounds and insulates nerve fibers to help transmit nerve impulses.
- Fat is part of every cell membrane in the body. Helps transport nutrients and metabolites across cell membranes.
- Your body uses fat to make a variety of other building blocks needed for everything from hormones to immune function.
What if we don’t have enough fat?
- dry and flaky skin
- Hair loss
- low body weight
- cold intolerance
- bruises
- poor growth
- Less resistance to infection.
- poor wound healing
- loss of menstruation
food sources of fat
High fat intake contributes to being overweight; Being overweight increases the chance of developing a number of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.
Not only do we need to restrict the amount of fat, but we also need to consider what type of fat is being restricted, as different types of fat have different effects on blood cholesterol levels and heart health.
Food contains a mixture of three types of fats; polyunsaturated, monounsaturated and saturated fats. One type of fat usually dominates in a food, for example butter is mostly saturated fat and olive oil is mostly monounsaturated. All fats contain about the same amount of kilojoules, or energy, and if consumed in large amounts, they will cause weight gain.
- polyunsaturated fats – Reduces blood cholesterol and promotes heart health – Good food sources are; Vegetable oils such as safflower, soybean, sunflower, corn, wheat germ, whole grain cereals and breads, polyunsaturated margarines, fish oils, naturally present in fish, seeds and most nuts.
- omega-3 fats They are a type of polyunsaturated fat found primarily in oily fish (eg, salmon, mackerel, sardines, herring), canola oil, flaxseed oil (linseed oil), and walnut oil. These fats help reduce blood clotting, blood pressure, and blood fat levels.
- monounsaturated fats – do not raise blood cholesterol and promote heart health – are a good source of food; Avocados, peanuts, peanut oil and peanut butter, olive oil, olives and olive oil-based margarines, canola oil and monounsaturated spread, almonds and hazelnuts.
- Saturated fats – raise blood cholesterol and promote heart disease – These are the ones to reduce or avoid The main food sources are; Dairy fats such as butter, clarified butter, cultured butter, butter/margarine blend, Homogenized or whole milk, Hard cheeses, cream cheese, sour cream, ice cream and cream, Meat fats such as lard, dripping, tallow, beef tallow, and chefade, visible white fat in beef, lamb, mutton, pork, poultry, processed meat eg lunch, salami, most sausages, corned beef, fatty ground meat pies and pates, tropical oils such as coconut, coconut cream, palm oil and kremelta.
- Trans fat They are the other type of fat that can raise your cholesterol just like saturated fats: Trans fats can be formed when vegetable fats are processed in certain ways. Some polyunsaturated fats are converted to trans fats when vegetable oils are chemically hardened so they can be spread, like margarine. This process is called hydrogenation’. These fats can be found listed in the food ingredients of packaged foods as shortening, baking margarine, and shortening. Foods that contain this fat include cakes, cookies, crackers, muesli bars, commercial cakes, and muffins.
daily use of fats
We all need some fat in our diet. In fact, it is virtually impossible to eat a fat-free diet, since most foods, including fruits and vegetables, provide small amounts of fat. In addition to providing the body with a concentrated source of energy, certain components of fat are essential parts of our body’s cells and are needed to produce hormones. Fat also helps insulate our body, and small amounts around major organs have a protective effect. Several vitamins (vitamins A, D, E, and K) are also fat-soluble and tend to be found in foods high in fat. A very low intake of fat means that the intake of these vitamins, in turn, is usually extremely low as well.
The Department of Health recommends that no more than one-third of calories come from this nutrient, while most weight loss plans rarely recommend less than 20% of calories from fat.
Nutritional Security
Some people don’t do well if their diet is too high in fat, no matter what kind. They will develop a slow metabolism, constipation, lethargy, and skewed cholesterol levels if they eat too much fat. These people do best on a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole foods.
Very few fats are bad in and of themselves. Trans fat is an oil that has been chemically manipulated to make it more solid. It has been found to be particularly damaging to the arteries and is not recommended at any level of the diet. The lower the better on this one!
Usually the problem is the fat ratio. It has recently been discovered that a diet with too much omega-6 fat and too little omega-3 fat causes inflammation and suppression of the immune system. So balancing these fats is very important.
Too much fat in your diet puts you at risk for obesity, coronary artery disease, high cholesterol, heart attack, and hypertension.
My next article titled “The role of vitamin A in our lifewill examine the role of vitamin A in good nutrition.
See you on the Beaches of the World,
