Nutrition News

The Skinny on Fats - Part I
By Dr. Craig Bentham

Recently, I asked 10 Curves women "Why is it that America has the highest count of death due to cardiovascular disease?" 10 out of 10 women answered "lack of exercise and too much FAT in our diets"

Fats are unhealthy! At least that is what you have been told for the last 25 years. But is this statement entirely true? Although certain types of fats can be detrimental to your health, more and more research is showing how some fats may be "essential" for good health. It is critical that we clear up this issue once and for all so you can truly understand which fats to completely avoid and which fats you should be having more of. The easiest way to understand fats is to break them down into three groups: monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats and saturated fats.

MONOUNSATURATED FATS: These fats are liquid at room temperature and are definitely the "good fats." In a well balanced diet, fats should make up approximately 30-40% of our diet and the majority of those fats should be monounsaturated fats. These include, good quality extra virgin olive oil, and oils found from cold water fish, such as salmon, mackerel and sardines. The sad news is that nearly every type of fish these days contains high levels of mercury. Therefore, I recommend getting your fish oils from capsules. The good news is that fish oils and extra virgin olive oil have been proven to prevent cardiovascular disease and restore hormone balance! Recent research conducted in Greece demonstrated a strong link between increased consumption of olive oil and a lowered incidence of heart disease and strokes. Let me repeat...eating these fats actually reduces your risk of heart disease!

HINT: Add extra virgin olive oil to your Curves protein shake in the morning...it thickens it up and tastes great!

POLYUNSATURATED FATS: These fats are also liquid at room temperature; however, are primarily termed "bad fats." Polyunsaturated fats contain large amounts of omega 6 fatty acids, which are less healthy for you than the omega 3 fatty acids. You will find polyunsaturated fats in many cooking oils such as vegetable, peanut, sunflower, corn, soy, safflower, and canola oil. Polyunsaturated fats can be "hydrogenated" by a process where hydrogen atoms are added under extreme pressure converting them into "partially hydrogenated" fats. Because of this process, many of the bonds are altered to trans fats. This addition brings extra stability to the molecule, which means extra storage life in the food industry, and this is why these fats are most commonly found in our everyday foods. Unfortunately, they are also the most harmful to your health. Trans-fat oils like margarine have a very similar make up to that of plastic, and have been found to be carcinogenic and mutagenic. You will most commonly encounter polyunsaturated-trans fats in margarine, french fries, fried chicken, cookies, donuts, cereals, potato chips and many baked goods. Because of their chemical make-up or "trans configuration,"they can become unstable in our bodies and create free radicals once eaten. Those free radicals then begin to attack the walls of your blood vessels and start the build-up of plaque in your arteries. This process has been identified as a major contributor to the cardiovascular disease epidemic in our country! Those same free radicals produced from polyunsaturated fats have also been linked to an increased risk of cancer.

SATURATED FATS: These fats are easily recognized because they are solid at room temperature. Examples include butter, animal fat, coconut oil, palm oil and macadamia nut oil. Although it is a common belief that all saturated fats are extremely unhealthy for you, and that they are the culprit for heart disease in America, emerging research is showing that some saturated fats are actually very beneficial and much healthier for you than polyunsaturated-trans fats! What? I can hear many of you saying, "Isn't butter bad for you because of the saturated fats?" "Don't saturated fatty acids increase heart disease?" Saturated fats in my opinion are the least understood and most misrepresented type of fat and they truly deserve a whole article to themselves! So stay tuned for next month's article..."Misconceptions about Saturated Fats".

In the meantime, I strongly recommend avoiding vegetable, peanut, sunflower, corn, safflower, and canola oil and products that contain polyunsaturated fats. This also means no hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats, no margarine and no shortening. These oils are full of omega-6 fats and will only worsen your omega-6 to omega-3 ratio. Historically, Japan has created a standard for health with its longevity and low rates of cardiovascular disease and cancer. It is a well known fact that in Japanese diets the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 is 1 to 3. America's ratio is on average 1 to 30! Still wondering why America is leading the race in the most deaths due to cardiovascular disease? I hope you can see now that it has much more to do with the types of fat that we consume. More specifically, large amounts of omega-6 fats and trans fats have contributed to our cardiovascular disease epidemic.

To simplify it for you, we've included a breakdown of commonly used oils. Remember to stay tuned for next month's article on saturated fats!