Dietary Fats Explained

Types of Fat

There are four types of dietary fats: saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and trans fat.

Saturated fats are typically solid at room temperature, think butter or lard. These fats should be limited as they are known to increase cholesterol and increase your risk of heart disease.

Monounsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature, like olive oil. These fats should be eaten frequently as they improve cholesterol levels and lower your risk of heart disease.

Polyunsaturated fats are made up of omega-3s, omega-6s, and omega-9s. Consuming foods like fatty fish will get you a good amount of omega-3s which are known for their health benefits.

Last are trans fat, these have been removed from most foods as they significantly increase your risk of heart disease. You should try to avoid these completely.

Health benefits of fat

As mentioned above, the types of fat you chose to eat can impact your cholesterol. Eating more monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats while eating less saturated fats can lower your bad cholesterol and increase your good cholesterol, lowering your risk of heart disease.

Dietary fats are also important for your brain health. It is important for growing infants to children to eat adequate amounts of fat for brain development, but we also need to adequate fats as adults to maintain our brain health.

The polyunsaturated fats, omega-3s, have been shown to provide anti-inflammatory benefits.

Lastly, fats take longer to break down which means they help us stay full longer. It can be helpful to include healthy fats in a weight loss diet to help curb your appetite.

In fact, one study found that people that had ½ an avocado (monounsaturated fat) with their lunch ate less throughout the afternoon and had better weight loss results.

How much fat should I eat?

Fats should make up 20-35% of your total daily calories, with less than 7% coming from saturated fats.

Dr. Maria’s Top 10 Dietary Fats:

1.      Olive oil

2.      Avocado

3.      Salmon

4.      Tuna

5.      Walnuts

6.      Almonds

7.      Eggs

8.      Dark chocolate

9.      Peanut butter

10.   Olives

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