Fat is being seen as either the cure for all diseases or the cause of all diseases?
As usually, it is neither.
Should you eat fat? Yes, if you want to stay alive. It is an essential nutrient, meaning your nerves , brain, sex hormones, nerve reactions, Vitamin D, A , K E production all depend on fat.
Basically, there are three groups of fats1. Trans fatty acids, more commonly called trans fats, are made by heating liquid vegetable oils in the presence of hydrogen gas and a catalyst, a process called hydrogenation.For these reasons, partially hydrogenated oils became a mainstay in restaurants and the food industry – for frying, baked goods, and processed snack foods and margarine. They seemed like a good idea in the 1860 when the urbanization started as a way to give people a way to store butter etc without a fridge. Later on we found out that they cause heart disease and the like so they are banned in most places. I must admit they are one of the few German inventions gone bad. Sorry.
2. Saturated fats. A saturated fat is a type of fat in which the fatty acid chains have all or predominantly single bonds are called saturated, because the second bond is broken up and each half of the bond is attached to (saturated with) a hydrogen atom.
3.Unsaturated fat is a fat or fatty acid in which there is at least one double bond within the fatty acid chain. A fatty acid chain is monounsaturated if it contains one double bond, and polyunsaturated if it contains more than one double bond fats, which are liquid at room temperature.
They are considered beneficial fats because they can improve blood cholesterol levels, ease inflammation, stabilize heart rhythms, and play a number of other beneficial roles.
In a nutshell saturated fats stay solid at room temperature, whereas unsaturated ones are liquid
Examples would be
Saturated fats: animal fats, butter, milk fat, coconut oil, palm kernel oil
Unsaturated fats: fish oil, olive oil, grape-seed oil, avocado, nuts flax seeds.
Keep in mind that most foods contain a mix of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids.
Will saturated fats kill you?
If you follow the media hysteria these days, you will think that merely touching butter will condemn you to an early death. While it is true that the overconsumption of saturated fats can cause heart disease it pays to keep in mind that main cause of 21st century diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers is the overconsumption of calories.
Very often, people that consume large amounts of processed foods which contains saturated fats also overeat and under exercise. The connection between saturated fats and heart disease is not all that strong, since we must take into account other factors as well.
Somebody eating a cheeseburger with fries and a soda will get ill from the excess calories much more so than from the saturated fats.
Calorie control matters more than anything else.
How much should you eat?
The answer is: It depends. if you are trying to gain muscle mass, you may go as high one gram per lbs of body weight, if you are dieting you can cut down to .3 grams per lbs of bodyweight.
What about cholesterol? For that you have to watch the video!
https://youtu.be/ALi-OTShBF0
As always, thanks for reading!
Maik