Good Fats and Bad Fats

I bet you have read a lot of rubbish about you needing to cut out as much as can, well this is partially true.

Whatever you may read always remeber that there are good fats and there are bad fats. Fat is mainly present in the form triglycerides in foods. Triglycerides consist of three fatty acids and glycerol. The fatty acids can be saturated, unsaturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated.

The saturated fats are considered to be the bad fats, and unsaturated fats are known as the good ones.

Saturated fats tend to form a waxy form inside the body which then clogs up the arteries. If you have ever used a Goerge Foreman to grill bacon or sausage then you will know what I mean. Saturated fast are known to also increase the cholesterol levels. It is found in most dairy products, as well as some veggie oils.

Polyunsaturated fats tend to lower the bodies cholesterol levels. This source of fat is usually found in plant sources.

Monounsaturated fat tend to lower the bad cholesterol in the body (LDL). It can be found in both animal and plant sources.

Although margarines sound quite good with them containing monounsaturated fats, the way they make them is not. Because the supermarket chains and big food companies want the margarine easier to spread and also to last longer, they tend to add hydrogenated fats. During this process of making man made fats they create Trans Fats, which are as bad if not worse than saturated fats. The trans fats appear in many processed foods. Always check the labels of foods to see if they contain any man made fats. If they are try to find something else to eat instead. You never know how much of the trans fats you will be taking in as they do not tend to state the actual amount conatined on the foods labels. There’s been quite a big clamp down recently on man made fats in foods but you can still find them in some products.

Try to stick to a small amount of saturated fats in your daily diet, and it would be best if you could get it out of your diet all together but weheres the fun in that, a lot of great tasting foods have staurated fats in them. If you want to limit this in your weight and muscle gain diet just treat yourself at the end of every week or a couple of times through the week.

Remember to always read those labels!