Most of us have heard that unsaturated fats such as Omega-3-6-9 , are good for us, saturated fats are bad for us and trans fats are just plain ugly but why?
Unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature and thus a more fluid fat, they allow our bodies to be more flexible/moveable and electrical signals pass easily through cells built with unsaturated fats. Saturated fats are hard at room temperature, your body will be less flexible/ movable and electrical signals have a tougher time getting through. If your body is built with trans fats it won’t be built properly because of the shape of the molecule. This can lead to all sorts of problems such as heart disease and cancer. Not getting enough fat from your diet is not good either as fat is required to produce healthy new cells.
Think of your car, if you don’t have any oil in the engine it won’t run very long at all. When we try to run it with crappy oil such as trans fat or hydrogenated fat, we end up with a car that seizes up. If we run it with a lower grade oil our car will last longer but we will probably have maintenance issues earlier in its life. So, best choice is omega-3-6-9 premium oil. The question is, where do we get it?
Where do omega-3-6-9 fats come from? Well we get them in our foods. Extra Virgin Cold Pressed Olive oil is an excellent source of omega-9 a monounsaturated fat. Flax oil and fish oils are an excellent source of omega-3 a polyunsaturated fat. Many vegetables contain a mono or poly unsaturated fat thus vegetable oils are often a combination of 3-6-9. Like everything the best source of good quality oils is from a variety of whole organic vegetables, grains, and fish. If you are consuming oil that has been extracted from these products then you’re moving in the right direction. However, the extraction process itself needs to be considered. Many commercial vegetable oils are so damaged during this process that you shouldn’t consume them. The only unsaturated oil that I eat which does not require refrigeration is Extra Virgin Cold Pressed olive oil. All of the polyunsaturated oils I eat will go rancid if they aren’t refrigerated, which is actually a sign of a quality oil.
When it comes to salad dressings you should always make your own. The salad dressings that last forever in the grocery aisles are loaded with bad fats and chemicals. Take a nice olive oil or even an Udo’s oil and make a dressing out of it on the day you eat it. That will give you the kind of fat your body craves and help you reduce your cholesterol.
I like to put Udo’s 3-6-9 blend into my smoothie in the morning or on my salads as the oil part of the dressing. I even sprinkle a little of it on my steamed vegetables. It is a good quality oil, which is processed properly and safely.
When you cook you should avoid using unsaturated fats. Unsaturated fats are easily turned into a trans fat which should be avoided. Instead use a saturated fat which cannot be turned into trans fat. My two favorites are coconut oil and butter. Coconut oil is a medium chain saturated fat and has been said to be instrumental in the reduction of heart disease. Butter is not as great a fat but it is better than trans fat and when used in small amounts adds a nice oil and a delicious flavour. Avoid margarines since they are always a combination of trans and hydrogenated fats. If you must use an unsaturated fat use olive oil at a low temperature. If you are going to stir fry you can use water and add the oil near the end so it doesn’t heat too high. No matter what kind of fat it is, if it smokes it’s garbage, throw it out.
Many products will claim no trans fat on them. However, this is misleading. The products ingredients may not have been trans fat, but by heating the ingredients to a high temperature they have created a trans fat. Thus there is trans fat in the final product regardless of whether or not it was made with trans fat.
Hydrogenated fat is a vegetable oil that has had the hydrogen atoms added so that each carbon atom is bonded to 2 hydrogen atoms. This is the same structure as saturated fat, however, it is no longer a natural fat. During the process of hydrogenation the fat is damaged and no longer a body friendly fat. Thus margarines are not recommended.
Bottom line, cook with saturated fat. Make salad dressings out of Omega-3-6-9 polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. Eat your fish, vegetables, and grains. If you wish to supplement use Udo’s 3-6-9 blend. Many people swear by fish oil or flax oil, however, they are not a combination of 3,6,9 they are only Omega 3’s and we can throw our fat balance off. That is why I prefer the 3-6-9 blend. Keep your polyunsaturated oils refrigerated, if they don’t go rancid there is something wrong with them, throw them out.
Finally, good quality fat helps keep your poop soft and oiled as it travels through the colon. Without it, the trip would be much more difficult.
I hope this little article helped shed some light on fats.
