Contents:
- Medical Video: Dietary Fats: Healthy Fat vs. Bad Fat- Thomas DeLauer
- What is good fat?
- What is bad fat?
- How do you get good fat?
- Monounsaturated fats
- Polyunsaturated fats
- Omega-3
- Omega-6
- Where can we get bad fat?
- Saturated fat
- Trans fat
- Facts about good fats and bad fats
Medical Video: Dietary Fats: Healthy Fat vs. Bad Fat- Thomas DeLauer
There is something called good fat, there is also bad fat. What is the difference? Good fats provide energy for our bodies, and your children need them to grow and develop. Bad fats make our bodies produce bad cholesterol, which can cause health problems.
What is good fat?
Good fats are sometimes called unsaturated fats. Unsaturated fats come in two forms: single and double.
There are two types of polyunsaturated fats: omega-3 and omega-6. This fat is also known as essential fatty acids. Our bodies cannot make essential fatty acids, so we need to get them from food.
Good fat or unsaturated fat helps keep arteries clean. This fat helps us produce good cholesterol and moves around the body, which can reduce the risk of heart disease. And unsaturated fats reduce bad cholesterol, which can cause heart problems.
A diet with unsaturated fats can help avoid heart problems later on.
What is bad fat?
Bad fat comes in the form of saturated fat and trans fat.
Both bad fats make our bodies produce cholesterol worse, and they can also reduce good cholesterol.
Both bad fats can increase the risk of heart disease later in life.
How do you get good fat?
Monounsaturated fats
You can get monounsaturated fats from:
- Oils such as olives, canola, and grapeseed oil
- Nuts and seeds
- Lean meat
- Avocado
Monounsaturated fats help lower cholesterol, but only when replacing saturated fats in the average daily diet.
Polyunsaturated fats
You can get polyunsaturated fats from oily fish such as salmon and tuna.
Polyunsaturated fats reduce cholesterol, but only when replacing saturated fats in everyday foods, and these fats can do so better than monounsaturated fats.
This fat is generally also good for the heart, eyes, joints, and mental health.
Omega-3
Omega-3 is a type of polyunsaturated fat. You can get it from:
- Tuna, salmon and mackerel
- Walnuts, other nuts and flaxseeds
- Soy food
- Green leafy vegetables
- Nuts
Babies also get omega-3 from breast milk.
Omega-3 helps the development of the brain and eyes of babies in the womb and during the first 6 months of life. In children, can improve learning, improve brain development, and the nervous system, and strengthen the immune system.
For adults, omega-3 can be good for rheumatoid arthritis, pain, morning stiffness, and inflammation. It can also protect adults from heart disease.
Omega-6
Omega-6 is a type of polyunsaturated fat. You can get it from vegetable oils such as sunflower, beans, canola and soybean oil.
Omega-6 protects us from heart disease by helping to control bad cholesterol.
Where can we get bad fat?
Saturated fat
You get saturated fat from:
- Animal products like meat fat
- Coconut and coconut oil in processed foods such as biscuits, chips and slices
- Full fat dairy products, such as butter and cream
Saturated fat has no health benefits. It increases the amount of bad cholesterol in the body.
Trans fat
Trans fat is sometimes at:
- Commercially made cakes and biscuits
- Food take away
- Some margarine
- Fast food
- Snacks like chips
- Energy bar
Trans fat has no health benefits. This fat increases the amount of bad cholesterol in the body and reduces the amount of good cholesterol.
It's hard for our bodies to get rid of saturated fat.
Facts about good fats and bad fats
- You cannot make essential fatty acids in your body, so it is important to include fat in your diet as part of a balanced diet.
- Some animal products and processed foods, especially fried fast food, are generally high in saturated fats, which have been linked to increased blood cholesterol levels.
- If saturated fat and trans fat become more than about 10% of your daily energy intake, then the amount of bad cholesterol in your blood will increase. This can cause clogging of blood vessels and can cause heart disease.
- Replacing saturated fats with monounsaturated fats, and polyunsaturated fats can increase blood cholesterol levels.
- Vegetarians can choose eggs and other foods enriched with omega-3 to get enough essential fatty acids in their diet.
