There is no topic that is more confusing than fats and nutrition. Recent recommendations on what a healthy diet looks like for people in the United States would have us eating far more healthy fats than before, but the education about what is a healthy fat and what is an unhealthy fat is hard information to find. The most recent revision of the Dietary Recommendations for a Healthy Diet from the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services no longer speaks against cholesterol, and actually recommends that 25% to 33% of all the calories we eat come from healthy fats.
We have a small book that you can find on Amazon.com titled Eat More Fat: Live Longer with Healthy Fats. Read it if you want the long story.
For this post, we will simply give some brief lists of Good Fats, and Bad Fats.
Good Fats are fats that are either high in omega-3 fatty acids and low in omega-6 fatty acids, or fats rich in mono-unsaturated fatty acids. Certain saturated fats are now considered acceptable, even healthy. Things change. Coconut oil, avocado oil, butter and palm oil are best for cooking, as they are saturated in a way that makes them stable at high heat. Rice Bran Oil, if organic, and used in moderation is also excellent for cooking. Suitable oils for dressings on salads and cooked foods are olive oil, flax oil, hemp oil, fish oil, organic whole cream, and walnut oil. Foods rich in good fats include eggs, avocados, fish, butter, seeds and nuts. Red meat and poultry, if organic and grass fed till the time it is slaughtered is acceptable.
Bad Fats include mostly vegetable oils which are almost purely omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-6 fatty acids are inflammatory. Omega-3 fatty acids are anti-inflammatory. Vegetable oils include canola oil, corn oil, anything called “vegetable oil”, soybean oil, safflower and sunflower oils, grapeseed oil and peanut oil. Avoid entirely any margarines, solid vegetable shortenings, and most fake butters. Use no cottonseed oil, as it is usually highly contaminated with all of the chemicals sprayed on the cotton plants. Processed foods from the store are almost always made with undesirable fats and oils, so this is yet another reason to avoid processed foods.
Your brain and eyes will thank you for avoiding these inflammatory “Bad Fats”.
To Your Health.
