To say you haven’t heard the phrase “good fat/bad fat” would indicate that you’re suffering from amnesia or you have successfully avoided the 50,000 diet books added to our shelves annually.  Or maybe you’ve worked for the American Heart Association for 40 years and you haven’t heard that even they have changed their recommendations away from avoiding all fat to instead include “good fats.”  Futile attempts at humor aside, most of us know there are “good fats” out there; fish oil, some nuts, flaxseed oil, olive oil and the list goes on depending on how much money you’re willing to wave at the health food store clerk.  Here’s the deal, though: we just want to know if we have to have a certain amount of fat, if it will help or hurt our attempts to lose weigh and how the heck we can get it in our diet easily.  Save carbon chains, hydrolysis, free-fatty acids and gluconeogenesis for grad students – just tell me what to do!  (Preferably in a page or less, right?)  You got it!

            In a nutshell, saturated fats are bad, unsaturated fats are good.  Saturated fats come from animal products like beef, pork, high-fat dairy and egg yolks (fish being the exception) and unsaturated fats come from plant sources as mentioned above.  The terms saturated and unsaturated refer to their chemical composition and stability.  Saturated fats are bigger and more stable and therefore harder to break down to use for energy.  Think of them as big clumpy, sticky molecules that clog up your arteries – a big, yucky hairball in your drain.  Unsaturated fats are more easily digested and used as energy and they actually have some amazing benefits.

            They are used by the body to create cholesterol-derived hormones, some of which are helpful in metabolism and even things like mood and libido.  They contain essential fatty acids that are used for cell repair, cell membrane maintenance, the nervous system, the immune system and will even help increase the good cholesterol (HDL) in your body while reducing the bad.  So instead of just avoiding all fat, if you make an effort to sneak in some of the good, you’ll increase your health and potentially lose weight if it’s part of a good overall plan.

            In addition to the direct fat-loss effects, you may find that additional fat in your diet helps control carb cravings and it becomes easier to eat less.  Studies with protein have demonstrated the same – when kids were made to eat a certain amount of protein per day, but then could eat anything they wanted, they ate hundreds of calories less per day just due to being more satisfied/full after eating.  Fat does the same thing.  If you add fat to your diet, add good fat.  Yes, it’s ok to have a steak once in awhile and to enjoy desserts in moderation, but in the daily grind of “normal” eating, choose fats that will help you to be healthy and to help you control hunger. 

            When I’m dieting, I do make an effort to add good fat and it works– this isn’t a filler article to thicken the magazine, it’s not theory, it’s not merely academic.  I start with flaxseed oil.  Why?  It’s rich in Omega-3 fatty acids which are hard to find in nature (I don’t want to eat salmon every day), are the most helpful for every reason on this page and more and are easy to integrate.  If I have a protein shake for breakfast, I add a tablespoon, which gives me 11 grams of good fat – about a quarter of what’s in a sausage, egg, cheese biscuit.  (You can’t get a better picture of “good/bad” than that!)  If I have oatmeal – the flax goes in.  If I have a salad at work or oatmeal or rice later with a meal I may add another half a tablespoon. Try to get some of the fat in before workouts.  Beside all the healthy benefits, think of it as a great fuel.  Use more of it earlier in the day and less at night to make it more effectively used.  I usually recommend about 20% of your calories coming from fat when dieting and certainly more is allowable when maintaining weight.  For the average female, that equates to about 25 – 35 grams per day and for men around 45 – 55 grams per day (depending, of course, on calorie intake which depends on things like age, activity level and metabolic rate).

            Cook with olive or canola or even grapeseed oil.  Make or use salad dressings with olive oil.  Some nuts like almonds also have high percentages of unsaturated fat and unique health properties.  I certainly don’t like to see someone go to one extreme or the other (no carbs or no fat) but most people are terrified to add fat.  Consider this a polite prompt and permission to try it.  You can even get a note from your doctor; I’m sure he or she would agree.  Make sure you’re controlling the overall amount of fat you’re eating, but don’t be afraid to include it.  I think you’ll find it easier to lose or maintain your weight, your brain will be happy and I’ll bet even your hair and skin look better!

 

Sample Menu to Add Good Fat:

                                                                        Protein             Carbs               Fat

3 egg whites                                                     12                    0                      0

1/2 cup oats                                                     5                      27                    3

1 tsp flaxseed oil in cooked oats                        0                      0                      4

 

Small yogurt                                                     5                      15                    0

1/2 oz almonds                                    

3                      2                      7

 

3 ounce chicken breast                        

21                    0                      3

Salad (no bacon, cheese, croutons)                   0                      10                    0

2 tbsps Italian dressing with olive oil                  0                      2                      12

 

Ready-to-drink protein shake                           20                    3                      1

 

4 oz baked Atlantic salmon                               28                    0                      7

2 cups vegetable                                               0                      15                    0

½ cup rice                                                        2                      22                    0

 

TOTAL FOR DAY                                          96                    96                    37

1,101 CALORIES

 

(Sample menu is based an active female goal of moderate weight loss.  More or less calories may be needed to achieve an individual reader’s goals.)