Know Your Fats

There are four types, which affect your body in different ways.

There are four types of fats. Two of the fats good to consume and two types that can be very damaging to your body.

So, what are they and how do you identify them?

Let's do the bad ones first.

The "Bad" fats that are harmful to your body are:

Saturated Fats & Trans Fats

They are the fat culprits that cause your cholesterol to rise and run amok. These fats, over time, can clog your arteries, cause diseases such as high blood pressure, obesity, strokes, and heart attacks. These fats are bad for your heart.

Saturated fats, when cooled to room temperature become solid. As in beef, pork, lamb, the skin on chicken, whole-fat dairy products, butter, ice cream and cheese, to name a few.

Trans fats are bad, bad, bad. They have been altered to have a long shelf life. They can be found in in margarine in stick form, French fries, pastries, packaged snacks, candy bars, and many microwaveable foods. This does not scratch the surface when it comes to identifying the foods in which they are found.

Be mindful of the solid state of these fats when cooled. These fats do the same thing to your body by becoming solid within your arteries, which clogs and hardens them. This process can cause blood clots within your arteries and deprive blood flow to your brain. A stroke, heart attack, or death can occur as a result.

On a good note...

The "Good" fats, which are healthy for your heart, are monounsaturated & polyunsaturated fats.

Monounsaturated Fats & Polyunsaturated Fats

These fats can be found in natural whole foods such as olive oil, canola oil, sunflower, and peanut oils.

Olives, nuts, avocados, nut butter, fatty fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel, sardines, trout, etc.), soy milk, and tofu, which are not an exhaustive list.

The way to get more of these healthy fats in your diet are to cook with olive and canola oils. Eat more nuts and olives, add avocados to salads, and breakfast toast. Another good way to get more of these healthy fats is to make your own salad dressing with the ingredients listed in this paragraph.

No only are the mono- and poly-unsaturated fats healthy, you will have a sense of overall wellbeing and feel healthier as a result.