What Everyone Should Know About Healthy Fats
Most of us have been taught from a very young age that dietary fats are bad, but more people are coming to realize that healthy fats do exist and they have a place in a balanced diet and even in weight loss programs. The 2011 Consumer Attitudes about Nutrition Survey, which was conducted by the United Soybean board, found that out of 1,000 participants, 53% correctly agreed that eating a moderate-fat diet that emphasized healthy fats over unhealthy ones was an acceptable healthy eating plan. However, the participants were less clear on what types of fats were actually healthy. Only 33% of them identified monounsaturated fats as “somewhat healthy” or “very healthy.” When asked about polyunsatured fats, 33% of the respondents again identified them as “somewhat healthy” or “very healthy,” but 79% identified omega-3 fatty acids as healthy. The results demonstrate that not all of the respondents had detailed knowledge of healthy fats: most of the respondents knew that omega-3 fatty acids were healthy but did not know that they are classified as polyunsaturated fats.
Healthy Fats and the History of Nutrition
The campaign against dietary fat began in earnest when a scientist named Ancel Keys published an analysis in the 1950s hypothesizing that dietary fat was responsible for heart disease. While a high-fat diet can certainly be unhealthy and Keys was correct in warning people about the dangers of such a diet, his research was taken to mean that fat in all forms was unhealthy. Somewhere along the way, it also became “common knowledge” that eating fat causes one to gain fat — an idea that is objectively false. Caloric excesses (i.e., taking in more energy than you burn) is what causes weight gain; dietary fat has no effect on weight gain beyond adding to the number of calories that one consumes.
How to Include Healthy Fats in Your Diet
Though fat has long been considered bad in all forms by many, research is increasingly showing that including healthy fats is an essential part of a good diet. “We’ve had such emphasis on eating low-fat foods,” says Patricia Kendall, Ph.D., R.D., a professor with the Colorado State University Cooperative Extension Office. “But all these new studies on oils and high-fat foods like nuts and cold-water fish show we’ve been ignoring how much we need certain fats.”
To include more healthy fats in your diet, start by avoiding the worst offenders. That means trans fats, also known as “hydrogenated” or “partially hydrogenated” oils. Though some fats are healthy, trans fats are definitely off the table in a healthy diet: they may increase risk of heart disease and raise LDL cholesterol.
The nutrition facts section on food packaging is your greatest tool in removing unhealthy fats from your diet and adding beneficial ones. You can tell at a glance whether a food contains trans fats, while you’ll also be able to see unsaturated (healthy) fats, both polyunsaturated and monounsaturated. Foods such as nuts, olive oil, and fish are great sources of these healthy fats.
Saturated fats are typically found in red meat, and for years physicians have suggested that they should be avoided. However, recent research suggests that it may not be as bad as it was once thought. Foods high in saturated fat such as steak should still be eaten carefully, especially if you’re at risk of heart disease, but for most people it can be a healthy occasional indulgence.
Even a few years ago, many people would have never expected that a moderate-fat diet could be considered a valid component of weight loss plans. However, attitudes about fat consumption are changing and it appears that careful consumption of healthy fats is not only acceptable, it’s encouraged.
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