Fat is good for you?

May 25, 2011 By Rachel

Fat is good for you? What? That is opposite of everything I have ever heard!

The fact is, if you didn’t consume fat then you can end up suffering with all kinds of problems and symptoms including auto-immune conditions, muscle aches and pain, heart disease, high cholesterol, cancer and obesity.

That’s right, not consuming fat can make you FAT. You have probably even heard that eating fast food makes you fat. Well, fast food does makes you fat, especially when eaten too much. Its is because those types of fat are BAD FATS.

This raises a question..if that is a bad fat, what is a good fat?

Good fats make up your nervous system. Good fats create good cholesterol, which is a hormone. Cholesterol creates estrogen and progesterone, testosterone and DHEA. Good fats keep you looking younger. Good fats also help to burn fat, create a stronger immune system and stronger bones. In fact, eating a low fat diet is extremely harmful to your health.

Some suggestions for increasing intake of good fats:

Grassfed beef, organic eggs, avocados, raw nuts (almond, walnut, etc.), cooking with coconut oil which is also as a good lotion, adding olive or grapeseed oil to your salad. The reason you would want to take fish oil is because the omega-3 content, which when lacking can result in loss of focus, allergies, dry skin and hair as well as fatigue.

When cooking:

You never really want to cook with olive oil unless it is low heat. One rule to go by is: if it smokes, then you just turned a good fat into a bad fat. Cooking with with coconut oil or grapeseed oil allows you to to turn the heat up without it going bad. Butter is also GREAT for you. Unsalted, of course.

Fats to absolutely avoid:
hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils like canola oil used in french fries, potato chips and almost every other packaged food on the planet. These oils are turned rancid before they even go into the food you are gonna eat. Eating canola oil is like eating a piece of fat that has been burned, then strained to get out the chunky pieces. Also, margarine is basically plastic, so go with butter.These are called trans-fats and there is nothing good about them.Avoid these as much as possible, eat fresh food…God food, not this stuff than man makes.

*My husband Dr. Jake, helped contribute to this article*

And I wanted to add that our family isn’t perfect, we eat an occasional potato chip and take our kids to ChickFila (the only fast food they know about) but it’s a treat and NOT an every week thing.

What type of supplements or food does you family eat to stay healthy?

*This post is also linked to Works for Me, Homemaking Link Up, Women Living Well, Titus 2sdays, Simple Lives Thursday

Comments

melissa says:

May 25, 2011 at 4:04 am

I love cooking with coconut oil! It’s my go-to for baked goods now, too. I think the fact that it’s pricy makes me view what I cook with it as precious, which also helps me eat smaller portions 😉
DoleValleyGirl says:

May 25, 2011 at 12:26 pm

I love baking with coconut oil and butter. Yep, that’s right! Pure, wonderful, good-for-you fats!

I’m sharing a recipe for maple oatmeal muffins that my daughter and I baked up on Monday as part of our year-long “Muffin Monday” adventure. We find recipes we want to try and convert/modify them to use ingredients (like coconut oil and butter) that feed our bodies rather than harm them. You can find all our recipes on our blog under the “Muffin Monday” tab.

Thanks for hosting! ~Lisa@HappyinDoleValley
Heather C says:

May 25, 2011 at 6:07 pm

We are not perfect either lol we love the occasional deep fried food but we are going to start checking frying with real lard. But otherwise use butter or coconut oil and i dress most everything with EVOO.

@DoleValleyGirl Those muffins look scrumptious!

I’m sharing the healing benefits of Ginger, how to make your own candied ginger, and one of my favorite recipes that uses ginger.

http://naturallivingsc.blogspot.com/2011/05/ginger-must-have-healing-herb-recipes.html
Anne @ ModernMrsDarcy says:

May 25, 2011 at 10:19 pm

Ha! My husband and I were talking just this morning about how so many people–women especially, I’m afraid–still think low-fat=healthy. I tend towards hypoglycemia myself and I feel MUCH better on a high-fat, low carb eating plan. I am absolutely addicted to coconut oil and these homemade “paleo” energy bars.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/make-your-own-primal-energy-bars-in-10-easy-steps/

Thanks for getting the word out Rachel Marie!
Jo's Health Corner/www.naturallysports.com says:

May 26, 2011 at 4:11 pm

Great article! Yep, fat is good for us..I hope I am not too late to add my post.
Angela ~ says:

May 27, 2011 at 2:33 am

Thanks for visiting my blog today at myhlifeinwhichhehasplacedme.blogspot.com
I also wanted to let you know I also make homemade ORGANIC soaps. I am giving away 8 bars to 8 bloggers who are willing to try my soap and give a review on their blog. Check out my soap blog for entry rules.
http://www.homemadenaturalsoaps.blogspot.com/
Christy says:

May 27, 2011 at 11:25 pm

I think the first real healthy change I made was switching to real butter many years ago – before I had read anything about how bad margarine is – it just made sense to me that butter is all natural and that just HAD to be better than chemicals.