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WEIGHT – Part 2
Tuesday, June 11, 2024 11:48 AM
Now let’s talk about fats. There are good fats and bad fats. And there is or I should say there was a big push on Low Fat diets not long ago. You don’t hear about it so much anymore but it’s still there with a lot of fat free foods. That’s now starting to change as more evidence is coming in on the role and benefit of good fats. Not all fats are equal.
Contrary to popular belief, a fairly high percentage of good fats are required for optimum health. The difference between good fat and bad fat is in the way they are processed not in the inherent nature of their source, except for canola, rapeseed, mustard seed, soy and cottonseed oils. Those are not good sources of fat because these seeds are not usually consumed and were not meant to be. Who thought up the idea of eating cotton?
So an oil should be cold pressed and kept in a dark bottle to protect it from the light at cool temperature so it does not go rancid. So when you see oil being sold in a grocery store under the big fluorescent lights in transparent bottles you know that they are processed in order to stay good, or they would go rancid. When we say good, we mean with a long shelf life. A fresh oil will go rancid and many have to be kept in the refrigerator.
There’s a kind of fat that doesn’t care for all that and it’s the saturared fats. They are very stable in warm or cold temperatures and they are usually solid and don’t go bad easily. Examples are coconut oil, palm oil, butter, lard. These are OK for frying and cooking because they can withstand the heat. Some at very high temperatures. All the rest need to be watched for rancidity.
Our body is composed of about 15% fat and a big part of it is used as a building block for every cell membrane in our body. Without the right amount of fatty acids our cell wall is either to rigid or too fluid and it has to have the right consistency to let in nutrients and let out waste. Vitamin A, D, E & K are fat soluble, so if you do not have good fats in your diet you are not absorbing these vitamins.
Fat acts as a protective lining for many organs. Have you ever seen a chicken heart? Did you notice there’s is white/yellowish fat on the top part of it. Our heart is much the same and that fat protects it. Good fat is necessary for healthy liver function for building healthy cholesterol and bile. Which brings me to the subject of cholesterol.
To be continued in my next post.