In our basic study about health and nutrition, we learned the different food classifications that our body needs to be healthy. These food classifications include among others carbohydrates, proteins, minerals, vitamins and fats. As some conscious people grow older and seek further information about proper diets to incorporate to their lifestyles, one learns that apart from consuming everything from these food classifications in moderation, the fat that one learned in basic education, transcends beyond the ordinary fat that we know. Then, one learns further that fats has more than just one category such that if one is not conscious enough, the fats that he/she thought is helpful to the body turns out to be an enemy.
Hence, further knowledge would help us to understand that indeed not all fats are created equal. Such that, Low density lipoprotein (LDL) and/or High density lipoprotein (HDL) are just some of the terms we learned in association with Good Fat, Bad Fat and Trans Fat.
First, let us talk about good things first. Good fat are contained in natural and non-animal products (except fish). [1]These are the fats that contain Omega 3 and Omega 6 which are essential in the completion of various internal body processes that are highly important particularly in brain function, body repair and regeneration and skin elasticity without which, one cannot achieve optimum health. Good quantities of these nutrients are usually found in food such as Salmon, oily fish, avocado, nuts, olives, seeds and flaxseed oil. Furthermore, consuming adequate amounts from these food groups can actually aid in proper metabolism such that, it aids in ones regimen of weight loss. These are exactly the kind of fat that does not make one fat, so they say.
Bad fat on the other hand, comes from fats from animals (except fish) that include fat from the beef, chicken, pork or lamb, though meats from these sources of animals are otherwise healthy when lean. Likewise, fat in bad form are found mainly from non-animal products such as cream, butter and any dairy products that contains milk fat though the latter are quite healthy when low fat dairy is utilized. So do palm oil and coconuts.
With all these good and bad fats, where else does Tran’s fat come in? [2]Trans fats or partially hydrogenated oils are those that undergo industrial process by which liquid vegetable oils are added with hydrogen to transform them to a more solid form. These are used by companies because aside from them being easy to use, they also last a long time and are not costly to produce. They likewise give desirable taste and texture to food. Restaurants as well as fast-food outlets use oils from Trans fats because they can be used in commercial fryers in longer duration. Foods where trans fats are usually found are those in fried stuff more particularly French fries, doughnuts as well as in baked goods that includes but not limited to pastries, pie crusts, biscuits, pizza dough, crackers, cookies and shortenings. From the Nutritional facts of a particular food label, one can usually find them under its other referred name, the “partially hydrogenated oils.” In prior years, there has been not much ado about Trans fat being negative to ones health. It is only after the year 1990 that the ill effects of Trans fat to the body were gradually identified. Thus, it has been known how trans fat raises bad cholesterol (LDL) and lower ones good cholesterol or (HDL) level and thus, increases the risk of developing heart diseases and stroke as well as associated with type 2 diabetes, the latter can be managed by changing eating habits and lifestyle
With all these information, perhaps it is easy now to grasp what and what not to avoid in terms of fat and that indeed there are relatively good fat and relatively bad fat. We need not have to avoid fat altogether. The solution is just to understand that fat per se is not bad, it’s just that we have to understand simple equation such that most animal fat is bad and that most plant based fat is good with the exception of coconut and palm oil. It is just a matter of learning from the heart as it is the heart that suffers most if we overlook it.
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