Fats are essential

When any of us thinks about fat, we can only think about its disadvantages. Did you ever consider its advantages? Yes, that's right! Fat does have its own advantages. There is a saying that anything in excess is not good. This is something that exactly goes for the fats. Fats are, as a matter of fact, constitutive to a diet that's healthy. Wow! Did you ever think that someone was going to tell you that fats were good for you? Well, let me elaborate. There are 2 types of fats. Let’s categorize them as healthy fats and non-healthy fats. The healthy fats are the ones that are required for the nourishment for our body. In fact all the important parts of your body are dependent on this good fact. The brain, heart, nerves and cells bank upon this healthy fat. This fat reduces the risk of harmful diseases. The unhealthy fat is just the opposite. It causes all sorts of diseases including obesity. It can make a person feel lethargic and lazy. So the truth is that all we need to do for a healthy diet is, take the unhealthy fats and replace them with the healthy one. We are now going to learn about the different kinds of fat.

Saturated fats: These fats are found in red meat and dairy products. These are unhealthy fats and must be replaced by fish, skinned poultry, lean meat etc., so that these fats can be cut down or blocked out of the body. Trans fat: It increases unhealthy cholesterol and reduces the healthy cholesterol in the body. You maybe surprised to know that candy, cookies, snacks etc., are all made from trans fat. Imagine how much of bad cholesterol we have stored in our body because we’ve eaten the wrong kind of food. Monounsaturated fats: A high amount of monounsaturated fats like in the case of olive oil is said to prove advantageous against heart diseases. Some nuts and seeds are also good sources of monounsaturated fats. This is a healthy fat and should be increased in the daily diet if not already present. Polyunsaturated fats: there are some fatty acids that the body cannot produce but are important for the body. Two such fatty acids are Omega-3 and Omega-6. Omega-3 is rarely found but for fish oils. These kinds of fatty acids help to uplift the state of mind and preventing insanity. The sources of these fats are sunflower seeds, soybean, corn etc., The disadvantage with these oils are that when they are heated they lose their healthiness. Some useful tit bits

1. Total fats consumed a day should be 1/3rd of the total amount of calories taken that day.

2. Saturated fats should be 1/10th of the total amount of calories

3. Trans fat should be almost nil.