via GregEnslen.com | Healthier Living, 05/08/13: Fats
Helping people make small changes that can add up to a healthier lifestyle.
Calories
Nutrition is the fuel that we put into our bodies — but, unlike a car, all fuels aren’t the same. Some are better for us, and some are worse. And whatever doesn’t get used up right away gets stored in long-term storage, better known as fat. Last time we covered water and it’s importance in filtering the body and powered many metabolic processes. We also talked about how to make a change — even one healthy meal can start the self-repair process.
Calories come in four types: protein, carbohydrates, fats, and alcohol. And every year, the debate continues on how much of each we should be eating to achieve optimal health – a new theory comes along, and then, with it, a dozen new fad diets. But most scientists and food experts seem to agree that we need a variety of different types of foods, along with the vitamins and minerals that come along for the ride.
Fats
Fats are essential for life – without two fatty acids, omega-3 and omega-6, you would die. And our ability to store excess food as fat makes us a hardier species, able to survive the “boom and bust” of harsh winters and living in deserts and going short periods of time without food as part of our hunter/gatherer nature.
Unfortunately, now it’s not “boom and bust” but simply “boom and boom”— we have so much access to cheap, plentiful food, we are rarely presented with an occasion where we don’t have enough to eat. Yet our bodies don’t understand this — instead of flushing away all that excess nutrition, it stores it away as a hedge against a drought or famine that will never come.
But the thinking has changed on dietary fat, the kind we eat. It’s now recognized that we need some fat in our diets — we need it for metabolic processes and to signal “fullness” so that we stop eating. Every notice how there are some “low-fat” foods that you can just keep eating and eating and never feel full? For me, rice cakes are like that. One reason is that they are extremely low fat, and fat in a food can signal satiety.
But there are good fats and bad – and fats contain a lot of energy. Fat contains 9 calories per gram, compared to 4 calories per gram for carbohydrates and protein.
Unsaturated fats, which are liquid at room temperature, are considered “good fats,” and must be consumed in the right balance to maintain good health. But the “bad fats,” the saturated fats, should be avoided as much as possible. These are solid at body temperature.
The newly-invented “trans fats” come from hydrogenated vegetable oil and should be eliminated completely — they were designed to extend shelf life by chemically altering unsaturated liquid vegetable oils to create something similar to saturated fats but far worse for us — the process strips out essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals and other useful nutrients. They also use toxic chemicals during the process which can remain behind. As Nancy Reagan would say, “Just Say No” to trans fats.
Next time, we’ll talk about carbs and proteins.
About the Column
This column is not about “healthy” living but “healthier” living, which is more attainable. Send feedback or questions to healthier@gregenslen.com or use the “Contact” page on Greg’s website. Greg is a Dayton-based writer interested in improving his overall health. But he’s not a doctor, so for real medical advice and direction, consult a physician.
