Nutrition Articles

What is Fat?
All fats consist of fatty acids. Fats are classified, depending on their chemical structure, as saturated, unsaturated or polyunsaturated fat.

Fats may be either solid or liquid at room temperature.
Vegetable oils are usually liquid at room temperature while animal fats are usually solid at room temperature.

We must identify which fat is harmful and which one is healthy. Indeed certain fats are not only healthy but essential to our body proper functioning.

I am aware that we are repeatedly told by the media, especially partial info from ads and commercials, that eating fats will result in weight gain and heart diseases.

I AM AFRAID WE ARE MISINFORMED.

We are not told the whole story.
We are not told the difference between good fats and bad fats.

Someone forgot to tell us about the essential omega oils, and that most people, especially overweight people, are omega oils deficient.

We are not told that omega oils can actually protect us from heart disease.

Actually most of the fat is produced by the liver. If you do not eat enough fat, it will produce the needed cholesterol. Unfortunately the body is not able to produce essential fatty acids. Those have to be present in our foods.

Please meet the Bad Fats, the ones I like to call the ugly guys, those that must be avoided at all cost: trans fatty acids, commonly referred as transfats, are one of the worst enemy to our health.

Most transfats are man created, by partially hydrogenating plant oils or animal fats. This is a chemical process that was invented to increase products shelf life.

Dr Johanna Budwig, considered the foremost authority on fats and healing, has written a very interesting book called: ?Flax oil as a true aid against arthritis, heart infarction, cancer and other diseases.?

In this book she explains that our body needs highly unsaturated fats. She further explains that transfats have lost their unsaturated qualities and as a result they cannot be digested by the body.

Transfats are processed fats that have been chemically transformed. They are solid and difficult to digest. As a result the body does not recognize these fats as natural fats.

Fats that cannot be digested, build up in the arteries. It is known as an abnormality in the metabolism of fats.

What is harmful is not fat itself, but the oxidation of fat.
Oxidation of fat is the result of fat exposure to oxygen, or fat heating.

At high temperatures, like boiling temperature, oils oxidize rapidly and have a chemical shift to transfats which are harmful to our body.

Not all fats are bad.
There are Good Fats, healing fats such as olive oil, flax seed oil, oils found in nuts and seeds, and the omega oils.

Omega 3 fatty acids are found in fish such as salmon, herring, sardines, tuna, as well as in flax seeds, walnut and pumpkin seeds.

Omega 6 fatty acids are found in nuts and seeds, and evening primrose.

The omega fats tend to normalize cholesterol levels.

Natural fats like butter and animal fats are more easily digested than transfats.

Natural fats also contain antioxidants and vitamins which are vital nutrients for the various functions of our body.

The healthiest oils are monounsaturated and polyunsaturated cold vegetable oils. (Heating oils changes their chemical structure).

Healthy oils are unprocessed oils, cold pressed, and produced from plants, seeds or fruit, such as olive oil and flax seed oil.
They contain vitamin A and vitamin E which protects the oil from oxidation and rancidity.

Fat digestion releases a hormone that signals to our brain that we have eaten enough. If we do not eat enough fat, we do not feel satisfied by our food because the satiety hormone is not released.

Of course eating large amounts of fat will result in weight gain. But eating moderate amounts of the healthy fats, especially the essential fats will help our metabolism burn the extra weight more efficiently.

Another good source of healthy fats can be found in raw nuts and seeds. These should be eaten in moderation because of their high fat content.

Good fats can also be found in avocados and olives, as well as in goat's milk and dairy products derived from it, such as cheeses and butter.