THE FATS OF LIFE

Fat is good for you. The right kinds of fat!

Essential fats reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, allergies, Alzheimers, arthritis, eczema, depression, fatigue, infection and PMS! If you are "fat phobic" you are depriving yourself of essential health giving nutrients and increasing your risk of bad health. The same is true if the fat you eat is "hard", meaning fat from dairy products, processed foods, meat and most varieties of margarine ... you better believe it's not butter...
 The human brain is 60% fat and 1/3 of the fat in your diet should come from essential fats. Saturated and monounsaturated fats are not essential nutrients, however, polyunsaturated fats are good!
Almost all foods that contain fat have a balance of the three. A piece of meat will contain mainly saturated and monounsaturated fat with little polyunsaturated. Olive oil has mainly monounsaturated, while sunflower has mainly polyunsaturated. Interesting.

Nuts provide great amounts of good fats for your diet! Eat these a lot

The benefits of olive oil
While olive oil really doesn't provide good amounts of essential nutrients, much of it being cold pressed and unrefined makes it better for you than refined veggie oils like sunflower. The use of cold pressed olive oil contain small amounts of phytochemicals which result in fewer trans fats being consumed.

Cook with coconut oil or olive oil
Using nut oils to sauté or fry in actually are not that good! If you do fry, sauté or bake foods, it's best not to use polyunsaturated fats because these make oxidizing free radicals. Its best to use a saturated fat, the best being coconut oil or olive oil, which do not generate these free radicals.
Coconut butter/oil is much better for you than regular butter or lard (meat fat).


QUICK REVIEW FOR GETTING THE RIGHT KINDS OF FAT IN YOUR DIET

*eat seeds and nuts-the best seeds are flax, hemp, pumpkin, sunflower, and sesame. You get more goodness out of them by grinding them up first and sprinkling them on cereals, soups and salads.

*eat cold water carnivorous fish. herring, mackerel, salmon, sardines or occasionally tuns 2-3x a week (provides good omega 3 fats)

*minimize your intake of fried food, processed food, and saturated fats from meat and dairy products.

*supplement fish oil for omega 3 fats and borage or evening primrose oil for omega 6 fats!