Healthy eating tip 9: Enjoy healthy fats
Despite what you may have been told,
not all fats are unhealthy. While “bad” fats can increase your risk of certain
diseases, “good” fats are essential to physical and emotional health. Foods
rich in certain omega-3 fats, for example, can reduce your risk of
cardiovascular disease, improve your mood, and help prevent dementia.
Good fats
- Monounsaturated fats from
avocados, nuts (like almonds, hazelnuts, and pecans), and seeds (such as
pumpkin and sesame).
- Polyunsaturated fats, including Omega-3s, found in fatty fish such as salmon, herring,
mackerel, anchovies, sardines, and some cold water fish oil supplements.
Good vegetarian sources of polyunsaturated fats include flaxseed and
walnuts.
Bad fats
- Trans fats, found
in processed foods, vegetable shortenings, margarines, crackers, candies,
cookies, snack foods, fried foods, baked goods, or anything with
“partially hydrogenated” oil in the ingredients, even if it claims to be
trans-fat free.
The debate about saturated fats
Saturated fats are mainly found in
tropical oils, dairy, and animal products such as red meat, while poultry and
fish also contain some saturated fat. The latest news in the nutritional
world studies—with old and new studies to back them up—suggest that not all
saturated fat is a dietary demon, either. While many prominent health
organizations maintain that eating saturated fat from any source increases the
risk of heart disease and stroke, other nutrition experts take a different
view. The new argument is that saturated
fat contributes to weight control and
overall health.
Of course, not all saturated fat is
the same. The saturated fat in whole milk, coconut oil, or salmon is different
to the unhealthy saturated fat found in pizza, French fries, and processed meat
products (such as ham, sausage, hot dogs, salami, and other cold cuts) which
have been linked to coronary disease and cancer.
