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Saturated fats and Unsaturated fats are terms most people are aware of but all too often, these terms may cause confusion.

If you're having trouble remembering which is which, my personal reminder is ...
'S' = saturated fats = stay away
'U' = unsaturated fats = use in moderation

Lets start with the 'bad' fats first. These are the saturated fats and major contributors to high cholesterol and heart disease. No more than 10% of daily caloric intake should be resourced from this category.

Foods high in saturated fats originate from animals and some plants. These foods include animal products including beef, veal, lamb, pork, lard, poultry fat, butter, cream, milk, cheeses, yoghurts and other dairy products made from full cream milk. A healthier option for the dairy products is no-fat or 1% fat milk, low fat yoghurt, always reading the ingredient labels for a full analysis as they will differ from brand to brand. The described animal and dairy foods also contain dietary cholesterol. Plants which produce high saturated fats include tropical oils such as coconut, palm oil and palm kernel oil and cocoa butter and should be avoided at all costs.

Unsaturated fats are to be consumed in moderation. Poly and Mono unsaturated fats are referred to as 'good' fats.

These are generally derived from plant sources with Olive oil and Canola oil good selections to buy for the home pantry. Both are known to raise HDL cholesterol which assists in the reduction of bad' cholesterol and lower LDL and total cholesterol, an unequivocal benefit to a healthy heart. Polyunsaturated fats can also be derived from plants and vegetables in the form of oils such as corn oil, safflower oil, sunflower, margarines and butter substitutes.

A wise recommendation for lowering high cholesterol, is to decrease the use of saturated fats. This will reduce the levels of LDL in the blood.

It is indisputably important for anyone with high cholesterol to learn which is which, what to avoid and what can assist in the reduction of cholesterol levels.

Sources: http://www.lowfatweekly.com
htt p://www.americanheart.org

Learn more about this author, Lindy Laker.
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