To many people, fat is just no more than an unwanted deposit that the body stores when excess energy is available so that it may be used in future. But in reality, fat is another essential source of energy. Fat comes from a variety of products in our daily meals, these include butter, meat and oils. It is of equal importance to maintain only the required intake to make sure that you stay healthy, as too much of fat deposit means high levels of cholesterol in the body, which in turn is neither good for your heart nor your body.
Fats are one of those nutrients that enter our body as calories in food and enrich the body with Vitamins A, D, E and K. It also contains lonoliec acid, another important supplement and adds flavor to our food.
Triglycerides present in fats contain three groups of fatty acids including:
• Saturated fats
• Polyunsaturated fats
• Monounsaturated fats
We endeavor different types of fats, mainly of three kinds mentioned above. It however becomes necessary for us to know a little about each type of them, and also how much we are to consume.
These kinds of fats are mainly found in dairy and other milk products and also several different types of oils such as palm, cocoa, and butter. Red meat contains more saturated fats than poultry while fish is least saturated.
These fats remain in solid form at room temperatures and the more the usage of saturated fats cause high cholesterol and high probability of having heart diseases.
Usually found in vegetables including canola, olive and peanut oils. They are usually in liquid form at room temperature and do not seem to be as harmful for health. Easting food in high monounsaturated oils rather than any other may reduce the risk of getting heart diseases, and also reduce cholesterol levels.
Found in corn oil and sunflower oils. Using polyunsaturated fats in stead of any other types can reduce LDL cholesterol and improve HDL levels of cholesterol making your body healthier.
Use of too much fat no matter what kind it is, it definitely does not help the body as too much of such fats leads the liver to produce cholesterol, due high use of dairy products. And like everyone knows, more cholesterol the higher risk of heart diseases.
So the question arises as to how much fat we should consume. Before you eat any type of food it is better that you have facts about it. For instance every type of fat contains 9 calories/gram.
The most important thing to always bear in mind is to be sure that no food you consume has more than 33% of our total calories from fat. It should not make up more than 10% of our total energy.
