Can you think of a 3-letter word that immediately brings fear and worry to mind? FAT. Many people think they’re eating healthy diets by avoiding all fatty foods. Actually, essential fatty acids, like amino acids and dietary fiber, are good nutrition. Learn how to eat healthy with fat and then see if it makes a difference in your overall health.
Essential is the key word in this nutrient’s rising popularity. It means that these fats are necessary for survival and that they can not be synthesized by our bodies. We must get them from food and supplements as part of healthy diets. Making a concerted effort to include essential fatty acids as part of healthy meals is the only way to avoid deficiency symptoms and to ensure that the body is primed to perform functions at its best ability.
Fat is present in foods in the form of triglycerides. This structure looks like a capital E, with glycerol as the trunk and different types of fatty acids as the arms. Carbon molecules are linked together by different numbers of bonds and create different lengths. These are fatty acids, and the length and bonds define the categorization. For instance, saturated fatty acid has a single attachment. A double attachment signifies monounsaturated fatty acid. The type that we want to focus on has 2-6 double attachments and is called polyunsaturated fatty acid, or PUFA.
Essential fatty acids are polyunsaturated and can be categorized as either omega-3 or omega-6. Linoleic acid is an omega-6 fat known as LA. Alphalinoleic acid is an omega-3 fat known as ALA. The enzymes that are used to make these fatty acids are not present in any vertebrates, which includes humans. Plants are the original source of LA and ALA enzymes for humans, and they can also be acquired by consuming animals who have eaten the plants. Once the enzymes are in our bodies, we can make these fatty acids that are essential to good nutrition.
Omega-6 LA is easy to obtain through healthy eating plans, as there are several sources: safflower oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, peanut oil, sesame oil, evening primrose oil, and animal fats. A few more sources offer a significant amount of LA and some ALA: soybean oil, canola oil, walnuts, walnut oil, and wheat germ oil. One group of food sources delivers a ratio of omega-6:omega-3 that has been found to be the healthiest. These are the seeds and oils of hemp, chia, and pumpkin, as well as special omega-3 eggs. One oil stands alone as the single significant source of ALA in healthy diets, and that is flaxseed oil.
Why is it important to mention the limited availability of omega-3 and the ease with which omega-6 is incorporated into diet plans? Because the more omega-6 that is introduced into fad diets and daily eating habits, the more health problems that occur.
The beginning of the 1900s saw population booms and huge industrial advances. One created a problem: the need to feed thousands more people. The other created a solution: grain-fed cattle and poultry and processed packaged foods. This, along with new fat scares, created a food environment full of margarine, refined vegetable oils, white fish, and low-fat versions of protein. Animal fats and tropical oils were cut out and people thought they were eating right.
Our earlier ancestors, who consumed natural meat, wild plants, fish, eggs, nuts, and berries, had enough omega-3 in their healthy diets to complete a 1:1 ratio of LA:ALA. As a result of our diet food changes over time, we now consume ratios between 15:1 and 20:1, favoring omega-6 LA. To be fair, there are several societal shifts that have occurred since the time before heart disease became the top killer of relatively young people. High-sugar diets and less physical activity are two downfalls. However, dietary fat imbalance is a big enough factor to elicit our attention.
Excessive amounts of omega-6 fat as compared to omega-3 fat can cause several problems in the body. When omega-6 LA is present during the metabolism of omega-3 ALA into EPA and DHA, it competes with the process. The result is less unsaturated fatty acids for your body to use. Much of the EPA and DHA that is available is unable to incorporate into cell membranes because of omega-6. More oxidized compounds are formed in the presence of large amounts of omega-6 fats because they are especially vulnerable to attacks by free radicals. For example, oxidized LDL cholesterol contributes to atherosclerosis, or thickening of the arteries. ALA converts to products like prostaglandins, thromboxanes, and leukotrienes, which are pro-inflammatories that add plaque to arteries, trigger allergic reactions, irritate bowels, increase blood pressure, and contribute to tumor growth.
These conditions are serious enough to make a person want to cut all omega-6 fats out of their healthy eating plans. But it is not that easy, since omega-6 fats are critical. Balance is the key in how to eat healthy with omega fats.
Equal amounts, or a 1:1 ratio, of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids is virtually impossible to achieve in today’s world. So, a healthy and reasonable ratio to strive for through healthy diets is 6:1 (omega-6:omega-3). In a typical diet that includes 60 grams of total fat, 4 grams should be omega-3. This amount is easy to take in through food and supplements.
As mentioned earlier, EPA and DHA are hard to come by when our bodies are left to the task of making them. These omega-3 fatty acids are important for lowering disease risk, preventing cancer, avoiding depression, and leveling attention deficit disorders. DHA just by itself helps with visual acuity and brain development. Eating right will let us experience these benefits because we can get EPA and DHA through food. Krill, marine algae, shellfish (like shrimp and mussels), and cold water fatty fish (like trout, mackerel, sardine, salmon, and herring) are all significant sources of EPA and DHA.
The importance of fats in healthy diets is evident when a person chooses to cut fats out or select ones that are low in LA or ALA. The health of body cells starts deteriorating, and signs of deficiency symptoms start showing up. In laboratory studies with rats as the subjects and fat as the manipulated factor, fat-free diets led to inhibited growth, damaged reproduction, and failure to remain healthy.
With all of this information about good nutrition that comes from good fats, you can start modifying your diets and eating right for optimum health.
What else do you need to know about how to eat healthy?