Ron’s Wanderings

What’s All This About Good Fats - Bad Fats?

Hi — back again with some information about how fats can play a huge role in your nutrition and weight loss program.

In our last article we talked about the EPA and DHA fats and the Omega-6 fatty acid. The EPA and DHA had a lot to do with our mental focus and cognitive function. Taking EPA and DHA may also help with mental abnormalities, such as Alzheimers Disease and Dementia. The Omega-6 is one of those fatty acids that our bodies need, but can’t manufacture on their own. We have to get it through our food sources. But, in North America, we get too much of the Omega-6s because of our dietary habits, so we have to increase our intake of the Omega-3’s in order to have a proper balance.

Okay, that’s it for the quickie review. The details are all in the last article.

Today, we’re going to talk about another “iffy” fat, and also the “really bad” fats.

First, the “iffy” fat”.

Polyunsaturated fats.

Most vegetable oils including safflower oil, canola oil, sunflower oil and corn oil are polyunsaturated fat. The problem with this fat is that it tends to lower BOTH LDL and HDL cholesterol levels. So that makes them a tough one to call for your healthy nutrition.

In the U.S., we tend to use these polyunsaturated oils for cooking and this is probably a huge mistake.

Here’s why … When you cook with these oils a toxin called HNE (4-hydroxy-trans-2-nonenal) forms in very large amounts. This toxin is tied to heart disease and neurological disorders. HNE has been linked in numerous studies with all sorts of nasty things including heart disease, stroke, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s disease, liver ailments, and cancer.

The lesson here is just don’t cook with these fats. You could put them on a salad, but I will always opt for olive oil — both for cooking and for salad dressings. It’s just a healthier way to go. And remember, polyunsaturated fats are used in most of the baked goods you find in stores. I pass that tidbit along just for your awareness.

And now on to the really “bad” fats.

Saturated Fats. Solid at room temperature, saturated fats are considered by the “traditional” medical establishment to be the most detrimental of all the fats. Outside of smoking and excessive alcohol intake, they are at the top of the public enemy list.

Saturated fats come from animal products. The most common foods are butter, cheese, cream and the fat in milk and meat. Eating these fats will raise your “bad” cholesterol (LDL). Eating these products can lead to what used to be called, “hardening of the arteries”. They are strongly related to heart disease.

In North America it is near impossible to completely avoid saturated fats. You can come close, though, if you are careful. The best rule for these fats is this: “A diet too high in saturated fats could eventually cause you to some real serious health problems — even death. So try to eliminate foods that contain them as much as possible.

Hydrogenated (and partially Hydrogenated) fats — AKA “trans fats”.

This is not a natural fat. These fats are an invention of the processed food industry. Here’s what they did… they took polyunsaturated fats and turned them from a liquid fat to a solid or semi-solid form. They do this by taking particles of nickel or copper and they add them to a polyunsaturated fat (usually corn oil) and then they heat it to an extremely high temperature under pressure for up to eight hours while they inject hydrogen gas into it.

The process of “hydrogenation” destroys the essential fatty acids and replaces them with a sort of deformity called “trans fatty acid”.

Well, guess what? Your body doesn’t know what to do with this fat. (Some people are calling them “Frankenfats”!) Our digestive system can’t handle them and they result in an out of balance mess in your metabolism and leave a bucketload of fatty deposits in your arteries.

And you know what else? This is not a new invention. The first one was (and is) called “Crisco” (introduced by Proctor and Gamble in 1911) and you can still find this on the store shelves and in many kitchens. Always a great marketing company, P&G included a recipe book with each can of this “gluck” and by 1913 they were sending out teams of “home economists” who gave Crisco cooking demonstrations across the United States.

And the beats goes on as you can see for yourself by clicking on Crisco.com.

Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated fats are found in almost every processed food from soups to chips, margarine, vegetable shortening, crackers, cookies, pastries, mixes of all kinds — even including some pasta and rice mixes. They can also be found in frozen food including pizza and pot pie and of course, they are widely used in deep-fried food including French fries.

There is some good news, though. Effective this past January 2006, the FDA is requiring all packaged food labels to specify the level of trans fats in food products. Ironically, McDonald’s recently announced that an order of its French fries contains more trans fat than was previously thought (8 grams instead of 6 grams). The company promised in 2002 that it would use a new cooking oil with 48 percent less trans fat by February, 2003. As this promise never came about, McDonald’s is the subject of a class action lawsuit for “false advertising.”

More than any other fats, hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated, or trans fats raise “bad” cholesterol (LDL) levels and there is little doubt they cause obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that these fats should be avoided at all costs.

One more thing that you should definitely know about fats is that all fats contain the same amount of calories. A gram of fat, whether it is a trans fat or a monounsaturated fat, has 9 calories. Meanwhile, a gram of protein or a gram of carbohydrates only has 4 calories (a gram of alcohol has 7). For this reason, it is a good idea to eat less fat — the rule of thumb is fat shouldn’t be more than 30% of your diet.

Well, that’s the last word on the subject of good fats, bad fats. I sure do hope that these articles will help you with your nutrition and weight loss goals. I’ll be back tomorrow with more information to help you further.

Until then, remember to follow a good-fat — good-carb diet and stay with your regular exercise.

Here is some information about the nutritional supplements I add to my nutrition and weight loss program.

Have a great day. I’ll be back tomorrow with some more nutrition and weight loss thoughts for you.

And give the South Beach Diet a try. That’s what I follow. Here’s where to go to learn more:

Shanti,

Ron
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This entry was posted on Sunday, March 12th, 2006 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Nutrition and Weight Loss. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.