There has been a
lot of question lately as to if the fat free craze from the 90’s has benefitted
us and whether or not fat free is even good in the first place?
Well the running idea at the time
was that high fat foods lead to heart disease so avoid them at all cost. What they
didn’t know was that there was actually a lot of benefit to eating
polyunsaturated fats and avoiding saturated and trans fats specifically. That
looks like avoiding creamy or solid fats and eating liquid fats.
This is because saturated fats are made by adding a hydrogen to their chemical structure. That’s where the word hydrogenated comes from. What this means is that companies have added hydrogen to the natural fats in foods because it typically taste better and increases the shelf life. These means processed foods that contain some kind of cream agent are the ones you should avoid and the ones that more likely to cause heart disease (i.e. lard)
So what kinds of fats should you
eat?
Good
examples of healthy fats include olive oil, avocado oil, peanut oil, and most
other oils, with the exception of canola oil.
Now aside from heart disease what are the other pros
and cons of healthy fats?
According to an article by Sarah Haan, a registered dietician, there are five key pros and cons to eating fats. The first being that it becomes harder for your body to absorb vitamins with a low fat diet. There are a lot of vitamins that are absorbed into fat such as A, D, E, and K, and without fats it’s harder for your body to make use of these vitamins. The second side effect of a low fat diet is that it can cause depression or mood swings. Omega 3, found in fatty acids, can affect your mood. A lack of essential fatty acids has the potential to cause depression. The third side effect of eating fat free is that you are more likely to get colon, breast, or prostate cancer. The fourth negative effect of eating fat free is that since you’re not eating enough your probably taking in more carbs which can result in a nutrient imbalance. The fifth is that eating fat free can result in overeating because you don’t get full as fast and most people tend to eat more of the fat free foods because they think the calories don’t count.
In this post you mentioned that the dietitian had "six key pros and cons to eating fats," but I only could make out 5 cons of eating fat free foods. Could you possibly explain some pros of eating them as well, so that I could possibly weigh and reconsider my dietary choices? This could include things such as if skim or 2% milk is better for you, etc. -Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThe author of the post I referenced, Sarah Haan, originally did have six key points but I left one out because it was redundant. Also when I make a post specific to skim and 2% you should read it because this post was specific to the fat free myth, as the title would indicate.
DeleteI'm actually super pleased to see someone talking about the no-fat 90's and what a toll that kind of diet can take on the body. I often forget about Omega-3's when I'm stressed, but they really can be a good mood-balancing nutrient. Unfortunately, on a college campus a balanced diet can be kind of hard to achieve. Is there anything you in particular do or eat to combat this?
ReplyDeleteHonestly, to combat this I just drink as much milk as I can, even though there isn't a good milk option at the Union. I also eat a considerable amount of hummus because it's high in good fats and protein. I usually get my hummus from Walmart, though the Union does offer some at the salad bar. Also, thanks for such a thoughtful comment!
Delete