Healthy fats cleanse and lubricate the body. They provide the building blocks for cell membranes and a variety of hormones and hormone-like substances which we need.
People on low-fat diets typically suffer from symptoms of depression, fatigue, anxiety, mood swings, hypoglycemia, insulin resistance, constant and insatiable hunger, gall bladder problems, hormonal imbalances, dry and brittle hair and dry and wrinkly skin.
Healthy Fats
– Coconut oil rich in of lauric acid, which has strong antifungal and antimicrobial properties.
– Extra Virgin Rapeseed Oil and Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
– Cod liver oil – omega-3 fatty acids are the building blocks of anti-inflammatory hormones.
– Flax oil can be an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids but is not suitable for cooking.
– Whole cheeses, eggs, grass-fed meat.
– Nuts – walnuts, almonds, pecans, macadamia nuts.
Bad Fats
– Shortening, margarine, and “spreads.” Anything hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated.
– Vegetable oils (corn, soy, canola, safflower, cottonseed) produced with toxic chemicals.
– Canola oil and soy oils extracted from genetically modified plants.
– Commercial salad dressings are typically made from processed vegetable oils.
– Skim milk cheeses, low-fat yoghurt, soybean imitation products.
– Peanuts – often carry a mould that causes allergies, generally roasted in a vegetable oil.
Higher levels of trans fatty acids are strongly associated with systemic inflammation in patients with heart disease and have also been implicated in cancer.
For years, we’ve been given wrong nutrition advice on fats. In the 1940′s, researchers thought they found a strong correlation between cancer and the consumption of fat, and fat became demonised. However, the fats studied were hydrogenated fats, yet the results were presented as though the culprit were saturated fats. Until recently saturated fats were usually lumped together with trans fats in the various U.S. data bases that researchers use to correlate dietary trends with disease conditions.
Altered partially hydrogenated fats made from vegetable oils block utilisation of essential fatty acids, causing sexual dysfunction, increased blood cholesterol, and paralysis of the immune system. Consumption of hydrogenated fats is associated with a host of other serious diseases including cancer, atherosclerosis, diabetes, obesity, immune system dysfunction, low-birth-weight babies, congenital disabilities, decreased visual acuity, sterility, difficulty in lactation, and problems with bones and tendons.
Omega-3s are especially important part of the anti-inflammatory diet. They form the building blocks of some anti-inflammatory compounds in the body. Dozens of studies have shown that the omega-3s can help prevent heart attacks and sudden cardiac death by preventing arrhythmias, making blood less likely to clot in arteries, improving the balance of good and bad cholesterol and limiting inflammation. But the modern diet is deficient in them.
The ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 has been shifting over the decades. Our ancestors had a diet that gave them about equal proportions of both. Today, however, our diets typically give us 20 times more omega-6 than omega-3. Today’s diets contain a lot of salad dressings and processed foods made with vegetable oils, and these provide an overdose of omega-6 fatty acids.