The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly on Fats

Good Fats

Fat is an important aspect of a healthy diet. When eaten correctly fat provides our bodies with the building blocks for cell membranes and many important hormones. It is essential in order for our bodies to absorb fat soluble vitamins from foods, such as vitamin A, D, E, and K.

Saturated Fats

Saturated fats are found in foods such as meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, and tropical oils such as, coconut and palm oil. A fatty acid is considered to be saturated when all the available carbon bonds have been occupied by a hydrogen atom. This configuration makes saturated fats highly stable and less likely to become rancid, even during cooking. Saturated fats are found to be solid or semi-solid at room temperature.

Our bodies need saturated fat, hence the reason why our bodies can make it from carbohydrates.  Saturated fats make up around half of the membrane structure in our cells, giving the cells the stiffness and integrity that they need to function properly. They are also important for bone and immune health, on top of many other benefits.

Polyunsaturated Fats

Polyunsaturated fat is found primarily in vegetable oils such as in soy, sesame, sunflower, safflower, corn, cottonseed, or in peanuts, seeds, nuts and margarine.  Not all polyunsaturated fats are healthy.  Fats found in margarine, hydrogenated vegetable oils, processed foods, bakery goods and fried foods can be hazardous to your health.

Polyunsaturated fats lack four or more hydrogen atoms, which are replaced by two or more pairs of double bonds. The double bonds cause bends in the structure of the fat, making them hard to pack together, resulting in a liquid even when refrigerated.  These oils are highly reactive so they should never be used in cooking and should stay refrigerated.

The most common polyunsaturated fats found in the diet is linoleic acid, which contains two double bonds and is called an Omega-6 fatty acid and linolenic acid which contains three double bonds and is called an Omega-3 fatty acid. Both Omega-6 and Omega-3 are considered “essential” since our bodies can not make them and they must be obtained from our diet. Many health care professionals will recommend a 4:1 ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3, but if you are trying to follow in your primal ancestors’ footsteps stick to the 1:1 ratio.

Omega-3 fatty acids are very protective to the heart and are a necessary component to any healthy diet. The three forms of Omega-3: ALA (found in flax) and EPA and DHA (found in fish) aide in reducing inflammation, are important for brain function, thin the blood, as well as a host of other health promoting properties (depression anyone?).  The best sources of Omega-3’s are:  Fish, fish oil, flaxseed, flaxseed oil and chia seeds.

Omega-6 fatty acids are found in most polyunsaturated oil sources:  Safflower oil, peanut oil, sesame oil, walnut oil, canola oil.  The best sources are:  Sesame oil, walnut oil, grapeseed oil, almond oil.

The real problem with polyunsaturated fats is that they are unstable and are easily oxidized.  This can promote the production of free radicals and inflammation.  If you eat a diet extremely high in polyunsaturated fats, you can load yourself with free radicals.  Heating these fats accelerates the formation of free radicals.

Monounsaturated Fats

These are the Omega-9 fatty acids.  They are not essential fats.  The most common monounsaturated fatty acid in our diet is oleic acid, which is the main component of olive oil, and is found in the almonds, macadamia nuts, avocadoes, cashews, and pecans. Monounsaturated fats lack two hydrogen atoms, which have been replaced by a double bond with two carbon atoms. This double bond causes a bend in the structure of the fat therefore they do not pack together as easily making most liquid at room temperature. 

Monounsaturated oils have varying degrees of stability when it comes cooking.  Oils such as olive oil should not be used at high temperatures as they are not as heat stable and will become rancid quickly, leading to trans fat and free radical damage. Olive oil is best used drizzled on salads and vegetables after they have been cooked. Whereas macadamia nut oil and lard is an acceptable choice as it has a higher smoke point. 

Helpful hints:

•  Purchase oils in dark containers so that the harsh lights from the store will not cause the oil to go rancid before you purchase it 
• Refrigerate excess oils, such as olive oil. Only keep a small amount out so that it can be available for use 
• Best Cooking Oil: (most heat stable) Coconut oil, lard, and butter

Bad Fats 

Bad fats can create a high amount of oxidative or free radical damage to the cells of our body.  They do not contain the healthful chemical structure of the good fats and our body has a difficult time processing, recognizing, and assimilating them.  They get stored in our fatty tissue and create problems for the metabolism of fats by the liver, which can lead to inflammation, diabetes, obesity, immune system dysfunction, or even atherosclerosis  

These fats include:

All hydrogenated oils and trans fats:  Canola oil, most safflower oils, corn oils, peanut oils.

Margarine:  All margarines               

Fried foods, especially deep fried foods!

Pura Vida!

Alica Ryan, NTP