There is a lot more to life than how fat or skinny you are.
Kirstie Alley
I know you may be used to dividing things into good and bad, healthy or harmful, white or black, but today I want to show you that this duality is often misperceived by our brains.
As with the other macronutrients we’ve already talked about (see carbohydrates and proteins), fats have some very important roles in the body, although sounds like a fairy tale.
What are fats?
What do you think of when I say fat? To the belly? Thighs? Cellulite? Why does it cause us so much trouble?
Let's split the thread into four, as Romanians would say. Fat is just as vital to your body as the carbs and proteins are. In the living world, there is a balance in how a food is formed, containing more or less fat, protein and carbohydrates. No natural food is 100% fat. Everything makes sense! BUT processed, fast food... that not always makes sense. Just as we talked about healthy vs harmful sources of carbohydrates, so we will do about fats.
Not all fats are the same. So, some should be consumed regularly, while others should be avoided.
Fats to be rarely or not at all consumed:
- Trans : We start with the evil, we end with the good. Trans fats are to be avoided in our diet, there is no percentage for safe consumption. They are processed by hydrogenation, a process used to turn healthy oils into solid oils, which keeps them from rancid. They create inflammation in the body, increase LDL (bad cholesterol), which leads to heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other chronic diseases. We find them in industrial vegetable margarine, on shelves - in pastries, biscuits, fast food, French fries.
- Saturated : are solid at room temperature. Does it sound familiar? It seems that the fat from the melted bacon also solidifies when it cools down, or the fat from any other type of meat. Sources: red meat, fatty milk or any other type of dairy, coconut oil, palm oil and many other commercially cooked dishes. They also play a role in the body, but a diet high in saturated fats causes the rise of bad LDL cholesterol, which forms blockages in the arteries. It is recommended that you limit your intake of saturated fats to less than 10% of your total daily calories. What does this mean? Let's think of these products as a condi-meat .
Fats that should be eaten regularly:
- Monounsaturated: are those that remain liquid at room temperature. Sources: olive and rapeseed oil (but there is a discussion about their processing and burning point - see blog ), avocado, nuts and seeds , peanut butter and almonds, etc. If monounsaturated fats don't sound familiar to you, then maybe the term Omega 9 (or oleic acid), an essential fatty acid which is a type of monounsaturated fat, convinces you. They are recommended instead of saturated fats because it has been shown that people on a diet high in these fats have a low risk of heart disease, studies being done on the Mediterranean diet .
- Polyunsaturated: omega 3 and omega 6 are types of polyunsaturated essential fatty acids (the body takes them only from food, it cannot generate them). Sources: sunflower oil, corn, saffron, soybean (rich in omega 6), seeds and oil of flax, hemp, walnuts, chia seeds, seaweed (primary source of omega 3), salmon, sardines, mackerel (all rich in omega 3). Both are good for the body, but too much omega 6 can become an inflammatory factor for the body. Omega 3 prevents and even treats heart disease and stroke, reduces blood pressure, triglycerides and the chances of developing dementia, increases HDL (good cholesterol). The omega3: omega6 ratio in the body would be ideal to be 1: 1 , but the sources of Omega 6 are much more abundant in our diet.
What is the role of fats in the body?
In short, fats have several roles:
- structural – enters the structure of cell membranes;
- hormonal – important in the production of sex hormones and other substances that regulate various functions of the body – including the feeling of satiety;
Did you know that…
Women naturally have a higher body fat percentage than men! Also, too little fat percentage (caused by the famous 6 packs) can cause women to miss periods and problems with fertility + libido ;). Many female athletes face this problem.
- thermoregulator (to keep us warm from the cold),
- energy reserve (they build up, don't they?). They also help with the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K), which make our skin beautiful, and are important in the normal functioning of the brain (the brain is made of fat, isn't it?).
World Health Organization recommends that 20-35% of the daily food intake should come from healthy fats, mainly mono and polyunsaturated.
Recommendations
- Read the label (if it has one) and avoid products containing hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils.
- Try to avoid street patisseries. Those products have no label, they are cheap and you don't know what they contain.
- Reduce the consumption of products rich in saturated fat (red meat, dairy) to less than 10% of the total daily caloric intake.
- Increase your consumption of vegetables (> 50% of your daily caloric intake), nuts and seeds (a closed handful a day), and replace red meat with organic fish from time to time (see here which is the most suitable type of fish, taking into account the content of heavy metals and the environment). They contain healthy monosaturated and polyunsaturated fats.
- Hydrate nuts and seeds before consumption to increase the bioavailability of their nutrients.
- Try to have as many sources of Omega 3 and 9 in your diet as possible. Replace sunflower oil with extra virgin olive oil for cooking, or linseed and hemp oil for salads. Careful! Flaxseed oil and other sources rich in omega 3 may contain omega 6, but the Omega3:Omega6 ratio is > 1.
- If you are vegan, but not only, eat algae (chlorella, spirulina) for omega 3 intake, or buy good seaweed supplements. Algae are the main source of omega 3 and remember that certain fish have omega 3 due to their diet rich in…. algae!!
- Choose whole foods (avocado, nuts, seeds) instead of oils, which are much higher in calories and made up of 100% fat.
Sources:
Good Fats, Bad Fats, and Heart Disease: https://www.healthline.com/health/heart-disease/good-fats-vs-bad-fats#saturated-fat
The truth about fats: the good, the bad, and the in-between: https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-truth-about-fats-bad-and-good
EWG’S SEAFOOD CALCULATOR: https://www.ewg.org/research/ewg-s-consumer-guide-seafood/seafood-calculator?fish_form_weight=47&fish_form_age=adult&fish_form_gender=F&fish_form_pregnant=N&fish_form_heart_disease=N
Top 10 Foods with the Highest Omega 3 to Omega 6 Ratio: https://protect-eu.mimecast.com/s/XR-wCPzKlho3736f64nhS?domain=myfooddata.com
What’s the Difference Between Chlorella and Spirulina?: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/chlorella-spirulina#differences
De ce nu e bine să consumăm frecvent alimente prăjite: https://laviniadincanutrition.com/de-ce-nu-e-bine-sa-consumam-frecvent-alimente-prajite/
Lavinia Dinca
Nutritionist
English 
Română