Natural Health: The Truth About Fats

Saturated fat. Unsaturated fat. Trans-fat! ANY fat! It can all be so confusing. So what's the real difference between all these fats and more? What makes one healthy, one absolutely horrible for your health, and one sub-par?

Today I hope to help you understand all that and more with this article focused on the differences of all these different types of fat. If you're interested in...

• Learning how to diet more efficiently and know what's good to eat (and not so good!) by the label rather than a diet-book
• Learning to understand the benefits, detriments, and everything in-between of different fat types
• Or finding out the truth of the matter when it comes to the real health effects of fats on your body...

Then read on! First I'll guide you through what's-what in the world of fat:

Saturated Fats: What Are They, and What Do They Do?

Saturated fats are comprised of Carbon and Hydrogen atoms; Hydrogen atoms link the Carbon atoms together with no spaces between their atomic links. Thus, they are called saturated fats because the Hydrogen atoms completely saturate the Carbon atoms. However, you may be asking yourself what relevance that has to their effect on the body. Saturated fats...

• Provide strength and elasticity to your Cells
• Aid in blood coagulation
• And help to deliver oxygen through the blood, to name a few.

On the other hand, excesses of saturated fats may:

• Increase your risk of heart-disease through high cholesterol
• Raise the likelihood of trouble maintaining a desirable body-weight

Obviously, saturated fats are required by the body to function; however, like anything in life, too much of a good thing will most likely end up being harmful, and saturated fat is no different.

Unsaturated Fats: The Benefits and Not-So-Beneficials

Unsaturated fats differ slightly fromsaturated fats in that they contain at least one double bond in their atomic makeup. This includes Monounsaturated fats, which have one single double bond in the atomic chain, and Polyunsaturated fats, which have more than one double bond in the atomic chain. This results in two or more carbon atoms being linked together in absence of "saturation" of hydrogen which may be observed in saturated fats.

Monounsaturated fats....

• Can be converted naturally by your body from saturated fat
• Tend to be viewed as healthier because they are less dense than saturated fats
• And Provide extra anti-oxidants for use by your body

So what about polyunsaturated fats? Well, polyunsaturated fats are very related to monounsaturated fats. They include fatty acids like Omega-6 and Omega-3. They are generally the same as monounsaturated fats....however, polyunsaturated fats tend to be very unstable, as they like many hydrogen atoms to "hold" the carbon atoms together. This can result in a very high production of something called free radicals, which will be discussed in another article in-depth.

What About These Trans-Fats I Keep Hearing About?

Ah, Trans-fats, the black sheep of the world of fats! Trans-fats are created by a process called hydrogenation. You're most likely familiar with this term already (think Hydrogenated Soybean Oil). Hydrogenation is a process which is mainly employed to lengthen the shelf-life of commercial cooking products, such as Vegetable or Canola (Or...Soybean) Oils. This results in the atomic formation of the hydrogen atoms being changed to a formation called trans (thus the name trans-fat). These are absolutely, 100% horrible for you. Stay away from them at all costs.

So, now that we have a bit more understanding of what these types of fats actually are and do, let's take a look at some common foods that contain each different fat!

The Foods: What Contains What?

To begin, I'll get the worst out of the way: Which foods, starting from the highest content, have the most trans-fat? You most likely won't be surprised!

• French Fries: The worst food you could possibly eat!
• Doughnuts: Right there next to fries.
• Potato Chips: Still absolutely horrible!

• Fried Chicken: (Seeing a pattern here?) Fairly bad!

Those are only a few examples. Stay away from these foods at all costs if you value your life! Most fried foods contain trans-fats, as you might observe from the information above.

Saturated and Unsaturated fats are also found in the foods listed, but in no way, shape, or form are nearly as bad for you as trans-fats. So what can you do about it?

A LARGE Key to Losing Weight and Staying Healthy!

I'll state it one more time: Stay away from trans-fat!

Here is a list of tried and true tips and information to help you stay away from the bad fats (Trans-fats, Polyunsaturated fats!) and make sure you get the good fats (Saturated fats, Monounsaturated fats, some Polyunsaturated fats!)

• Going to Burger King? Have a Whopper instead of those French Fries. Believe it or not, it'll do you better.
• Stay away from Margarine and other food substitutes: They are packed with polyunsaturated and trans-fats. A stick of butter will do your body less harm than a stick of margarine any day. Go organic to really treat yourself.
• Have a chip craving? Try buying some of the new baked varieties, or better yet, see if some nuts can satisfy your craving.

In conclusion, you should never, ever go on a "fatless" diet. Your body needs fats. The two main key points to remember are: Saturated and Monounsaturated fats are required by your body to function, as well as some Polyunsaturated fats such as Omega-6 and 3, so be sure not to overyworry yourself about fat-consumption and deplete yourself of these. Trans-fats, however, you should stay away from at all costs!

I strongly recommend that you all take a look at the book Experience Your Best Health by Dr. Ben Kim. It has been a wonderful eye opener for me and taught me many things I don't believe you'll find elsewhere in such an easy-to-read and thorough format. You can find the link to it on Amazon below.

Thank you for taking the time to read my article, and I hope to see you all again soon!

In good health,

Alex C.