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Add to FavoritesMonounsaturated fats are far healthier than polysaturated or trans fat.
Most of our foods contain a variety of fats. There's, monounsaturated and trans fats, saturated, polyunsaturated and for the sake of our health, we really should learn which are better for us.
Completely eliminating fat from our diet is unnecessary and unhealthy. Our bodies need a certain amount of fat each day to help move essential A, D, E, and K vitamins into the body. Fat is also needed to produce bile in the gallbladder.
However, a little fat goes a long way. An excess amount of fat, especially saturated and trans fat, can cause serious problems such as obesity, heart disease and gallstones. Unsaturated fats (polyunsturated and monounsaturated) lower LDL cholesterol levels.
Omega-3 fatty acids, (polyunsaturated fat) are heart-healthy fats that help lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease. The kinds of foods with high amounts of monounsaturated fat include nuts, olive oil, canola oil and avocados. Seafood such as mackerel, salmon and herring are also high in Omega-3 fatty acids.
Saturated and trans fats are the fats that should be avoided as they can increase blood pressure and LDL cholesterol levels. This type of fat comes from animal sources such as red meat and pork. Our bodies produce cholesterol naturally so consuming foods from animal sources such as meat, poultry and eggs, overloads our system with unneeded cholesterol.
Rather than eliminating all fat from our diet, we should choose healthier ones such as olive oil or canola oil over butter or vegetable oil. Avocados make an excellent substitute for cheese on sandwiches and in salads. What's more, they raise LDL levels. We should also include fish high in omega 3s such as mackerel or salmon.
Polyunsaturated fats can have a bad effect on our skin and hair. Teenage acne can even be improved by simply cutting back on unsaturated fats.
With today's epidemic of obesity and increase in heart disease, diabetes and cancer, there seems to be a growing trend towards healthier eating. Our stomach is not a garbage disposal so we should really be more selective when it comes to what goes into it.
Therefore, foods with monounsaturated are indeed healthier than foods with polyunsaturated fat so we should avoid all Saturated and trans fats and substitute them with healthier monounsaturated fats for overall better health.
Resources:
http://www.mayoclini c.com/health/fat/NU0 0262
http://news.bbc.co.u k/1/hi/health/454184 9.stm
Learn more about this author, Pat Lunsford.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
Poly
In today's society, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease are positively identified with diet and lifestyle. Overall, we've become smarter and more aware of healthy diet needs; we read product labels looking for low fat and sugar content, but labels only give some of the information we need.
Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats both fall into the healthy category.
The word "fat" immediately brings visuals of prohibited foods we should eliminate from our diets, but fats are necessary for proper functioning of our bodies, used for cushioning our muscles, for energy, healthy skin, and hair. The problem is, we consume larger amounts of animal fats (trans fats) than we need, especially in the U.S. where fast food is found in abundance.
Polyunsaturated fats (long chain fatty acids) offer more health benefits than monounsaturated fats due to their chemical makeup. Both of these healthy fats contain essential lineolic acid, but polyunsaturated fats offer high lineolic or alpha-lineolic acid, an Omega3 fatty acid.
Omega3 is known lowering cholesterol and promoting healthy hearts and is important for brain growth and development in young.
Diets:
Due in part to our diets, high levels of cholesterol are reaching epidemic levels in the U.S. and heart disease has topped the list as the number one killer for a number of years. [http://sci.tech-arc hive.net/Archive/sci .med.cardiology/2007 -12/msg00693.html] Healthy fats can make a difference in cholesterol levels.
In our normal diets we take in the three types of fats, animal, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fats. We have a love affair with meat products (animal fat) in the U.S. and who can blame a person for choosing a thick juicy steak over a spinach salad? There's no comparison to the taste buds, unless you happen to be a vegetarian.
Monounsaturated fats make up most of our diet consumption when in healthy fats because of their availability and abundance. Cooking oils like Olive oil, canola, corn, sunflower, safflower, are the major source of monounsaturated fats, although some contain small amounts of high lineolic acid found in polyunsaturated fats.
Polyunsaturated fats are found in fish and select plants but many diets don't include fish and plants high in Omega3.
One way to improve and promote cardiovascular health is by including or supplementing polyunsaturated fats in the diet because our bodies don't manufacture omega 3 and many of us have a negative imbalance of this essential fatty acid. Today, some foods are enriched by fish oil and fish oil gel tabs are available.
As with all things, moderation is the key to diet and even healthy oils have calories that add up. One teaspoon of oil has 120 calories.
Polyunsaturated fats, the healthy choice:
Polyunsaturat ed fats (alpha-lineolic, omega3) are not as plentiful as monosaturated fats that make up 80 percent of our healthy fat consumption. We must choose to add these essential Omega3 fats to our diets.
Fish, shellfish, flaxseed, and smaller amounts in walnuts, sunflower, and canola oils are sources of polyunsaturated fats you can easily obtain. If fish is not your dish, maybe a supplement is the answer.
Your body is under your stewardship, and polyunsaturated fats high in Omega3 are the healthy choice for heart protection. [www.fatsoflife.com]
Learn more about this author, Mona Gallagher.
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