By: Jean Johnson for Reflux1What interests us at Reflux1.com is the idea that we don’t have to throw the baby out with the bath water – some fats are indeed beneficial when it comes to the cardiovascular system. You don’t have to cut out breakfast cereal graced with a polite spoonful of chopped walnuts, a drizzle of olive oil over your bowl of soup at lunch, and a hearty serving of homemade Thai peanut sauce at dinner.
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Five Tips for Replacing the Bad and the Ugly with Good, Healthy Fats:
When you think fried, think about only those occasional, special dishes you make at home. Avoid fried fast food as well as fried dishes in restaurants. Take a wide run around the doughnut shop.
Read labels before buying processed foods. Steer around foods laden with artery clogging saturated and trans fats.
Rely on naturally occurring fats from vegetable sources like canola and olive oils, nuts, seeds, olives, and avocadoes.
Remember the powerful omega-3 fatty acids that have the potential to lower heart disease risk. Fatty fish like salmon and anchovies are good sources of omega-3 fatty acids, as is flax meal or oil. | |
We’ve all heard the cautions about good cholesterol and bad cholesterol, the discussions of saturated and unsaturated fats, and the categories of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. And recently, trans-fatty acids have taken a high profile leap into mainstream debates, making the subject of dietary fat that much more unwieldy. Here is a primer to help you navigate your way to good health.
The Good
In short, the idea is that any fat that is liquid at room temperature is friendly to the cardiovascular system. These fats fall into two categories, mono- and polyunsaturated fats, but the distinction is critical since both types are heart healthy and raise levels of good cholesterol.
When you think good fats, think all kinds of vegetable oils including olive, canola, corn, peanut, soybean, cottonseed, walnut, sesame, and safflower. Also think about the range of naturally occurring foods: avocados, olives, nuts of all kinds, seeds, and oily fish.
The Bad
“Saturated fat is the main dietary cause of high blood cholesterol,” states the American Heart Association (AHA). Foods high in saturated fat are considered highly “atherogenic,” or likely to cause the arteries to become blocked.
As a result, the AHA recommends that we limit our saturated fat intake to between 7 and 10 percent of our total calories. ”Thus, those eating between 1600 and 2200 calories a day should focus on no more than 160 to 220 calories from this category. It is roughly the equivalent of one to two tablespoons of butter.”
Along with butter, the main saturated fat culprits are red meat, full fat dairy products including milk, cheese, and ice cream, chocolate, coconut, and coconut products.
The Ugly
Trans fats are in the news because in an effort to heighten flavor and prolong the shelf life of processed foods, manufacturers and restaurateurs have used these products widely. The most common sources of trans fats are shortening and margarine, both artificially rendered solid at room temperature by the process of hydrogenation.
Trans fats are especially effective in raising levels of bad cholesterol and lowering levels of good cholesterol. Thus the recent hue and cry in New York City for restaurateurs to join food processors in ensuring that consumers are alerted about the presence of trans fats in menu items.
In general, most commercial baked goods, deep-fried chips, and fast foods are full of heart-hurting trans fat. One of the healthiest cultures in the world is that of the Dominican Republic, whose people often live to be over 100 years of age. Work towards emulating their dietary choices – they swear by natural, seasonal fruits and vegetables and avoid processed foods.
