Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are good for you!

We are taught that, whenever we feel overweight, the key to balancing the situation is not consuming fatty food. Basically, the logic would be the less fat you consume the smaller the chances of being overweight are.

However, this is not always the case and cutting down the fat may not be the solution to your problems. Namely, the diet free of fat is not something you should be opting for. Rather, you should concentrate on consuming the right kinds of fat since the bad fat leads to cholesterol and the good one protects the heart and promotes the overall health.

Types of Dietary Fat

As it was mentioned above, while we can only obtain health problems from some types of fatty food, our organism needs other types of fat, such as the omega3 fatty acids. Therefore, an average person in pursuit of a healthy diet can often get confused.

When you enter your favorite supermarket, shopping for groceries, you are likely to encounter various low-fat, fat-free and other such products. However, even people who opt for these cannot possibly manage to control their body weight adequately and the ever-growing number of obese people in the world only serves to confirm this fact.

So, obviously, we are lead into making a mistake and considering fat to be something bad we should avoid. Basically, fat is an ambivalent factor in our life and some fats can result in excessive body weight and obesity, such as saturated and trans fats, while monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, as well as the omega3 fats are all healthy and do not add on to our body weight.

Rather, these healthy fat contribute to our overall well-being, making us feel more positive and satisfied, concentrated and sharp, capable of performing all of our daily activities without getting tired. Additionally, above all, however paradoxical this might sound, healthy fats can help us control our body weight.

Thus, do not cut off fat from your diet – eat the right one instead.

Saturated Fats

Saturated fats and trans fats are the unhealthy fats. These are found in fatty parts of meat that we tend to consume, especially in beef, lamb and pork. Also, if you leave the skin on when consuming chicken meat, this fat will be delivered to your body. Those of you who enjoy dairy products, rest assured that saturated fats are present in whole-fat products of this type, especially milk and cream.

Furthermore, butter, cheese, ice cream, palm and coconut oil, as well as lard, packaged snacks, margarine, fried food and candy bars, all are types of food which are enormously rich in unhealthy fats.

Thus, these are best to be avoided. Make sure you read the labels before you purchase foods, should saturated fat or trans fat be present, leave the food on the shelf and opt for healthier alternatives. Red meat should be replaced with nuts, poultry and fish while fatty dairy products should be swapped with low-fat alternatives.

Good, Unsaturated Fats

The healthy fats will keep your heart and your cardiovascular system healthy and well-functioning. Therefore, do not forget to include the following types of food in your healthy diet.

Oils such as olive, canola, sunflower, peanut and sesame-made ones are the best ones for you to choose from. Also, you are advised to add fruits and vegetables to your diet as often as possible, especially avocados, olives, nuts such as almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts, pecans, cashews and similar, peanut butter, walnuts and seeds of sunflower, sesame and pumpkin. Keep in mind that corn or soybean oils are also recommended, along with flaxseed.

As for meat, concentrate on basing your diet on fish, especially fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring, sardines or trout. Finally, soymilk and tofu are recommended, healthy alternatives to other types of meat and dairy products.

As far as the omega3 fatty acids are concerned, the American Heart Association recommends 1 to 3 grams per day. However, if you need these fatty acids for medical purposes, dealing with some behavioral, mood or personality disorders, you are advised to take omega3 supplements, again giving your best to provide at least a gram of these acids into your diet daily.

So, it is very important to separate unhealthy fat sources from the healthy ones, when opting for ideal types of food for you and your overall well-being. The choices are many but you must stay persistent and always choose the right ones.

Remember – monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are the right choice. Do not get mislead by marketing campaigns and false ideas that avoiding fat consumption completely will be good for you and your organism. Rather, find the right, healthy fats in the food you consume, making sure that your body weight is under control, with you being happy and in excellent physical shape at the same time.