What No One Tells You: Healthy Fats And Its Benefits

By Gregory Brown

Posted 7 years agoHEALTH

Healthy Fats

When you hear the word “fats,” do you think that it’s always unhealthy? Does it give you that reputation of giving you bad cholesterol? Is it the food that when you take, it will increase your weight suddenly and skyrocket the size of your waistline? Lastly, do you most often think that fat is the primary source of heart diseases?

Not all fats put your life in danger. In fact, fats are good for you. When you eat the right source of fats, it has health benefits that you would’ve never imagined. It would even lower your cholesterol, lessen your weight, and would eventually make you look good. All you need to know is what are the kinds of fats you need to consume for you to live a confident, fearless and healthy lifestyle. It is a must to include it in your diet, or better yet, to introduce it as your primary diet.

It is important to have knowledge about healthy fats and its benefits so that when you go to a local market or grocery near you, you will not have a difficulty looking for what ingredients to purchase.

What Are Healthy Fats

Fats are a source of energy, and we need it as a part of what we eat. If you are planning to attempt a low carbohydrate diet, then you should consider eating fats as your primary source of energy. There are certain kinds of fats that are good for you and are bad for you. You just need to know the sources of fats. I will just give you a quick knowledge about it.

  • Saturated Fats- Saturated fats are the kind of fats that is commonly found in animals although, some of them could be found in plants too. We can’t eat too much of saturated fats as it is known to increase our LDL Cholesterol levels also known as, Bad Cholesterols. We should be cautious and limit our consumption of saturated fats.
  • Unsaturated Fats- Unsaturated fats are the healthier source of fats. Don’t be mistaken that even though it is a better kind of fat, it still has calories in it. When you look into some nutritional facts labels, Unsaturated fats are divided into monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. It has the ability to lower your bad cholesterol, and you can get it from certain kinds of fruits, nuts, fishes, seeds and leafy vegetables. The aforementioned foods are mostly loaded with Omega-3 which reduces the risk of heart diseases.
  • Trans Fats ­– Trans fats is the kind that you should avoid at all cost. If you see vegetable oil that is hydrogenated, then these oils are trans fats. Trans fats increase your bad cholesterol levels and decrease your good cholesterol. It is what makes the fast food industry an unhealthy option of food. Most of their foods are always fried and processed, and trans fats are also commonly included.

Healthy Fats, Its Benefits and Sources

Which food are healthy fats and what do we get from them? It is not hard to find healthy fats because they are widely available in the market and a local grocery near you. Some even come in supplement form, so you don’t have to panic if you can’t find it.

Omega-3 – Our body doesn’t have the ability to produce its own Omega-3 source, and this is the reason why that it is one of the essential fatty acids that we need in our daily lives. It lowers the risk of having heart diseases as it decreases our triglyceride levels. In some studies and researches, it also improves overall mental and behavioral health of a child.  There are a lot of food that has Omega 3’s in it.

    • Fatty Fishes– Salmon (preferably wild) is a well-known fatty fish that contains Omega-3, but we all know salmon could be very expensive. If you’re tight on budget or your local market sells expensive salmons, you can choose mackerel or sardines as your alternatives. If you want to have a high protein diet, then might as well consider eating fatty fishes.
    • CAUTION! Be careful consuming fishes since they could also be contaminated with mercury. Avoid these fishes as much as possible: Halibut, Bluefish, Grouper, Marlin, Sea Bass and Marlin.
    • According to A. Times, They have discovered that the “young” North Atlantic ocean has more mercury content than the deeper area of the ocean. There are also numerous seafood that are caught in the parts of the North Atlantic Ocean like Haddock, Cod and Halibut…
    • Overfishing has become rampant due to the high demand in several markets and industries. Even other fishes are damaged and suffering even though it’s not supposed to be caught. There needs to be a set limit, control, monitoring and enforcement on the fishing companies, but how do we do this? You just need to spread the word about the issues going on to media, and show environmental responsibility around the world.
  • Some fish farms dispose of dead fish, dirty water and sludge. What happens is, it travels to the sea floor through the sewer drainage system and continue killing our marine ecosystems. Warn the officials on the nearby area if there are possible situations on poisoning the seabed from the fish farms.

Control your fish diet to avoid killing our friends from the sea because some fishes are battered when they don’t die immediately.

  • Flaxseed Oil– This is another Omega-3 rich source. I would recommend buying the ones in capsules than purchasing the real flaxseed. It’s hard to extract the oil out of flaxseed, and our body is not capable of digesting a whole flaxseed. Consuming flaxseed oil also promotes colon cleansing so that you would have healthy bowel movements.
  • Walnuts– If you’re on a vegan diet, then I suggest snacking on walnuts as it is one of the best plant-based sources of Omega-3.
  • Eggs– Eggs are obviously highly available everywhere, but there are some farms that enrich their eggs with Omega-3. Check the packaging if it contains Omega-3 in it. Be cautious about eating too many eggs as it could also increase your uric acid levels which may lead to gouts.
    • As much as possible consume organic eggs because they are safer for your body. It is a hormone-free product, and the chickens have a healthy chemical-free dietas well.

Olive Oils– It is famously included in the Mediterranean diet since that area is abundant with olive trees. Olive oils are widely used in the culinary world. It is incorporated in dressings, sauces and one of the primary oils in cooking. Olive Oil has a very high amount of monounsaturated fats, what it means is that it lowers your bad cholesterol level and reduces the chance of having heart diseases. Olive oil also fends off free radicals which are very harmful to our cells. There are other brands that claim they produce extra virgin olive oil, but be mindful

because they actually make low quality olive oil.

  • Due to numerous picking of Olives from around the world, The Internal Olive Council approved of numerous olive tree planting program that could reduce the environmental impact like soil erosions. The IOC has approved this program called, “IRRIGAOLIVO” that trains and demonstrates for sustainable management of water resources in olive growing.

Avocado – Avocadoes are rich in monounsaturated fat. Not only does this fruit reduces bad cholesterol, but this fruit is enriched with Vitamin E. Vitamin E adds moisture to your skin to prevent it from getting irritated under the scorching heat. Some studies show that it also prevents skin cancer. Avocado is easy to add in food. California Sushi includes avocado as one of its ingredients, and sushi is always a fan-favorite food. It is applied in different kinds of salad, so there is no problem incorporating avocado into your diet as it is also highly available.

Coconut Oil– Coconut oil has numerous amount of health benefits. It can defend and kill you

from viruses that cause different kinds of sickness such us hepatitis and influenza. It can be also used for hair treatments that revitalizes nourishment it needs.

  • If you want to know a reliable source of coconut oil, Tropical Traditions, goes through traditional processing of coconut oil.

ADVICE

If by any chance, it’s hard for you to find the ingredients that are mentioned above, there are always supplement substitutes around in your healthy store nearby. For example, Avocado could be seasonal in your place, or it could be expensive depending on your location, but you need a vitamin E replacement, by all means, you can purchase the supplement instead.

Your intake should still be in moderation because they still have calories in them especially if you’re watching your weight. I will consider combining the food and supplement if you’re planning to maintain weight and safe and healthy life.

CONCLUSION

Our scientists and nutritionist today are still researching and studying on what they can still achieve from other ingredients that are highly available to us. Still trying to get the most out of healthy fats and its benefits since technology is still innovating up to this date. We always oversee the food and have so little knowledge on how it could improve our healthy body, and this is why there are a lot of cases we ended up having diseases that we could’ve prevented. You would never know that there could be more food that could have greater benefits for us.

About the author Gregory Brown

Gregory is chief editor at ConstructMuscles.com. He spend half of my time in his blog while the other half on being physical fitness trainer. Believing in the great benefits of bodybuilding and fitness to the body, he has been motivated to become a fitness enthusiast. Stay Connected to him on Twitter.

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