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THE TRUTH ABOUT FATS. by Dr David S. Dyer, NMD
I am asked quite often about fats, and have come to realize that there is a common misconception about fats in the human diet. I feel it is very important for you to understand the relationship to fats and your health. You see the body must have fat to exist, that’s right you can’t live healthy without it. Before you go off the deep end you should make note that there are different kinds of fat, good and not so good.
Before we get into that let’s take a look at why fat is important to our bodies. The wall of every cell in the body especially brain cells are composed of fatty acids. The composition of fatty acids and other elements keep the cell wall pliable, allowing nutrients to enter into the cell and waste products to exit. If the body does not have the proper elements to construct the wall of the cell it will do it anyway. The problem is that the wall will be tough and not pliable, so nutrients and waste have a difficult time moving in and out. You don’t have to be a genius to know that if the cells are having a problem in this area the person is not going to have a lot of energy. If your car is having a hard time getting fuel to the engine, it can’t perform like you would want it to. If the cell is unable to receive nutrition and get rid of waste efficiently the whole system begins to back up. Health problems in many areas are the result, but it is not that hard to clear up.
Now, what about good and not so good fats? The most important of the good fats are called essential fatty acids (EFA’s). The name speaks for itself; they cannot be synthesized by our bodies, and must be obtained in our diet. You may have seen them referred to as Omega - 3 EFA’s and Omega - 6 EFA’s. There are two excellent sources for these essential fatty acids, cold-water fishes and unrefined flax seed oil. These oils are polyunsaturated and liquid even when placed in the refrigerator, and remember they are essential for your health. Vegetable oils, like olive, canola, sunflower, safflower and sesame all contain unsaturated fats, but not much Omega-3. That is why it is good to use these oils in a healthy diet, but you should supplement with the fish oil or flax oil to get the EFA’s the body has to have. The bad fats are saturated and are normally solid at room temperature. This rule does not always apply, some manufactures have found ways to liquefy these bad fats, so be sure to read the labels of the foods you eat. The government requires this information to be on the label and is even broken down as to how much of the fat content is saturated. All animal products have high levels of saturated fat and should be consumed in moderation. Saturated fats are proven to increase the LDL (bad) levels of cholesterol in human beings. A healthy diet should consist of between 20% to 30% fats, or about 20 grams of fat per day with most of those percentages being either unsaturated to polyunsaturated. That means the fast food meal with 60 to 80 grams of fat is not healthy. Almost all of the fat is saturated, and is over the daily amount of fat intake in one meal. One should be more concerned about calorie intake in general instead of focusing strictly on their fat intake. I hope this information is beneficial for you and wish you all good health.
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