Weight Loss: Good Fats vs Bad Fats

How do you know which fats are beneficial and which are toxic? Very basically it all boils down to molecular structure, and how the differently formed fat molecules affect your body. Let’s start with the good fats: the fats considered to be healthiest come from plants and vegetables and are known as unsaturated. Unsaturated fat molecules contain at least one pair of carbons linked by a double-bond. Since hydrogen cannot break this bond and therefore cannot bond with all of the carbon present, any fat molecule with one or more double-bonded carbon is considered “unsaturated” by hydrogen.

Good Fats

Of the unsaturated good fats, the healthiest is monounsaturated, so named for its one pair of double-bonded carbons. This is the kind of fat that can actually lower your “bad” cholesterol and reduce your risk of heart disease. It also supplies fatty acids essential for skin health and cellular development, and is believed to help prevent certain kinds of cancer, including breast and colon cancers. Excellent sources of monounsaturated fat include olive oil, canola oil, nuts (raw, never roasted), and avocados.

Another healthful fat from the unsaturated family is known as omega-3 fat, which is a form of polyunsaturated fat, so named for its multiple pairs of double-bonded carbons. Omega-3 fats are found predominantly in cold-water fish such as salmon. They are also found in abundance in flaxseed, walnuts, and almonds. Like monounsaturated fat, omega-3 improves heart health by keeping cholesterol levels low, but it can also aid in stabilizing irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) and reducing blood pressure. Omega-3 fatty acids act as natural blood thinners, reducing the “stickiness” of blood cells (or platelet
aggregation), which can lead to blood clots and stroke. In numerous studies over the years, participants suffering from inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and Raynaud’s disease have reported less joint stiffness, swelling, tenderness, and overall fatigue when taking omega-3s. This fat may inhibit the production of carcinogens within the body, thus aiding in cancer prevention and cancer treatment. In addition, your brain, which is 60 percent fat, needs omega-3 to function properly. This wonder fat has even been shown to improve depression and symptoms of other mental illness.

Another group of fats that are now accepted as having health benefits are the saturated fats, which are found in meat, dairy, and other animal products. Saturated fat molecules are so-called because they are “saturated” with hydrogen, meaning their molecules contain as many hydrogen atoms as is chemically possible. Although they were once considered to be directly linked to coronary disease, the scientific evidence that once suggested adverse health effects has been overturned, and these fats are now considered important for many reasons, including their role in cellular development and hormone production, as well as their transport of many vital fat-soluble vitamins. As highly concentrated sources of protein and energy, saturated fat also helps slow down the rate at which you absorb food, therefore letting you go longer without becoming hungry again.

Bad Fats

Whereas the “good” fats are all natural animal or vegetable fats, bad fats are man-made. Trans-fatty acids or trans-fats as they are known are produced by the partial hydrogenation of oil. They are present in most processed foods like chips, margarine, cookies, and even breakfast cereals and protein bars, despite the fact that nothing in our food supply is more dangerous. The adverse effects of these toxins are still being discovered. They include contributing to cardiovascular disease by increasing “bad” and lowering “good” cholesterol levels, raising insulin levels in the blood and possibly leading to diabetes, and depleting your system of vital nutrients. They are also bad for the brain and nervous system.

Here’s what the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has to say about it:
“By our most conservative estimate, replacement of partially hydrogenated fat in the U.S. diet with natural unhydrogenated vegetable oils would prevent approximately 30,000 premature coronary deaths per year, and epidemiological evidence suggests this number is closer to 100,000 premature deaths annually.”

Avoiding trans-fats can be tricky unless you know what to look for, since they are not currently listed as trans-fats on food labels. (New FDA guidelines forcing companies to disclose trans-fat content explicitly take effect in 2006.) Avoid products that contain hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, or shortening. Processed foods that are commonly made with trans-fats include some margarines, baked goods, crackers, fried foods, salad dressings, to name just a few.

Now that you know which fats to avoid and which fats can be incorporated into a healthy diet, it is important to remember that just because a food is healthy does not mean it is also dietetic. Foods that are high in fat, good or bad, are high in calories, period. In order to shed those pounds and improve your overall health, you must adhere as closely as possible to your caloric allowance as well as to the list of foods recommended for your metabolic type.