Do you still think that fats should be avoided at all costs? Fats are essential nutrients like proteins or carbohydrates. The oils and fats in food are classified as essential energy for the proper functioning of the body. They are the basis of the new food chain and must be consumed daily.
There is a lot of confusion about fats and their types, about whether they are healthy or not. We will explain, once and for all, the role of fats and the importance they have for your health.
Among other things, fat helps build the walls of all the cells in the body and can be a good regulator of blood pressure.
A balanced diet must contain at least 30% fat. It is accepted as something close to an ideal ⅓ of saturated and ⅔ of unsaturated.
Index
Unsaturated Fats: Healthy? Indisputably
Unsaturated fats are divided into monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. Monounsaturated fats are the “good fats.” These fats help lower LDL cholesterol (low-density cholesterol, or “bad” cholesterol). On the other hand, they help in the control of triglycerides and total cholesterol. They are also important carriers of nutrients to cells and are essential for the formation of sex hormones.
Polyunsaturated fats are essential oils, or those that the body is not capable of producing but needs to perform various physiological functions, therefore, they must necessarily be obtained through the diet. Omega 3, omega 6 and omega 9 (oleic acid) are part of this family, which are nothing more than fat with different chemical structures.
It is very important for your health that you maintain a good ratio between these three fats in food (today, our diet contains an exaggeration of omega 6). To learn more, read more about omegas 3, 6 and 9 .
Unsaturated fat sources
- Avocado
- Vegetable oils (such as olive , sesame, soy, sunflower and extra virgin coconut oil )
- Cocoa
- Brazil nuts, almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts
- Flax
- Sardines, tuna and wild salmon (very hard to come by)
- Peanuts
Trans fats: Could be called “malefic”
Trans fat is the transformation of vegetable oil into solid fat. Also known as hydrogenated oil, trans fat is a human invention (meaning it can’t even simply be classified as fat as it doesn’t exist in nature). It is found in processed foods, because it serves for sharpness, consistency, and flavor in artificial food.
In the body, trans fats bring many health risks: obesity, increased bad cholesterol and decreased good cholesterol, difficulty in the passage of blood through the arteries, diabetes, inflammation and decreased immunity.
Unfortunately, due to a loophole in Brazilian legislation, foods labeled “zero trans fat” are not always actually free.
Trans fat sources
- Pretzels
- Frozen dishes
- Margarine
- Frozen
- Stuffed biscuits
- Butter cookies
- Fast food food
- Processed soups and creams
- Mayonnaise
- Microwave popcorn
- Cakes
- Industrialized cakes
Saturated Fat: Healthy (But Widely Neglected)
Saturated fats are at the center of misinformation that is spread out there about fats being unhealthy. Let’s get to the point: saturated fat is not a villain, although many still insist on diffusion, it is very beneficial for health.
For decades, the idea that the best diet was to reduce fat was widespread – especially saturated fat – and that if we couldn’t get healthier or leaner, it must be because we weren’t “working hard enough.”
The origin of this myth was in the 1950s, when a study by a famous doctor was published, which condemned fat. Today, the study is known to have had a number of methodological problems, but now the damage has been done: since then, fat is believed to be bad. Thus, since then, the consumption of animal fat has been drastically reduced: almost everyone cuts, separates and does not eat the fat from meat, substitutes butter with margarine and lard with corn, soybean, cotton and canola oil. And with all this change, did cardiovascular disease decrease? No. Rather, the number of cardiovascular diseases is increasing at alarming levels.
Today, a search of the contemporary medical literature shows bluntly: the great villain of obesity is not fat, but carbohydrates and sugars . In fact, they are largely responsible for increased inflammation and disease, not the fat.
The body needs saturated fat for its proper function, and there are two types of cholesterol, one of which actually helps the body.
Eliminating saturated fat was the worst thing that could have happened to our food. And it still happens today. The fat that occurs naturally in food – and provides vital nutrients for health and balance – was replaced by carbohydrates and sugar as an additive – they make you fat, steal nutrients, unbalance our body and affect health.
Saturated fat sources
- Lard
- Bacon
- Beef steak with fat
- Chicken skin
- Whole milk and cream
- Butter
- Coconut oil , coconut
- Yoghurt
- Cheese
- Palm oil
- Cocoa butter
Kathie Sand always saw the world of beauty as the terrain on which to build her professional career, a goal that was clear to her when she was only 15 years old. Her great concern to expand knowledge led her to settle in Paris where she studied hand in hand with the best beauty professionals and with the most advanced techniques for skin care.