Understand Your Fats and Fibers

Dr. Joseph F. Robare Bad tats are saturated and trans tats. Saturated tats are mostly in meats, dairy products and tropical oils. Saturated fat raises both bad cholesterol and good cholesterol, while trans-fat only raises bad cholesterol. This makes trans fats technically worse than saturated fats. The better fats would be monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. Monounsaturated will lower your cholesterol, and unlike polyunsaturated they do not lower your good cholesterol.Your best fats would be the omega-3s (fish oil). This fat has shown to protect people from sudden cardiac death (Schardt,2002). Before you can understand the difference between good and bad fats, you need to some information about them. There are four major types of fats: monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, saturated fats, and trans-fats. Monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats are known as good fats because they are good for your heart, your cholesterol, and your overall health. These fats are found in o live, soybean, canola, and corn oils, avocados, fatty fish, and soymilk.Saturated fats and trans-fats are known as bad fats because they increase your risk of disease and elevate cholesterol. These bad fats can be found in high-fat cuts of meat, packaged snack foods, butter, cheese, vegetable shortening, fried foods, and candy bars. Foods containing trans-fats, or trans fatty acids, are harmful because they are known to increase the risk of heart disease, increase total cholesterol levels, and cause your healthy HDL (good) cholesterol levels to drop. They are also responsible for clogging arteries and causing obesity.Saturated fat is a fat that contains only saturated fatty acids, is solid at room temperature, and comes mainly from animal food products. Some examples of saturated fat are butter, lard, meat fat, solid shortening, palm oil, and coconut oil. Saturated fat tends to raise the level of cholesterol in the blood. Unsaturated fat is a fat that is liquid at room temperature a nd comes from a plant, such as olive, peanut, corn, cottonseed, sunflower, safflower, or soybean oil. Unsaturated fat does not to raise the level of LDL (‘bad') cholesterol in the blood.Trans-fatty acids are an unhealthy substance that is made through the chemical process of hydrogenation of oils. Hydrogenation solidifies liquid oils and increases the shelf life and the flavor stability of oils and foods that contain them. Trans-fatty are acids found in vegetable shortening and in some margarine, crackers, cookies, and snack foods. Trans-fatty acids are also found in many deep-fried foods. Trans-fatty acids raise the ‘bad' (LDL) cholesterol and lower the ‘good' (HDL) cholesterol levels in blood, increasing the risk of heart disease.Trans-fatty acids are also known as trans-fat. Hydrogenated fats are saturated-like fats made from plant oils and fats that have been heated and pressure-processed. Hydrogenated fats are created when oil that is largely unsaturated, such as corn oil, has hydrogen added to it, causing fat to become more solid at room temperature. Lipids include such compounds as fats, fatty acids and cholesterol. Their most prominent function is providing energy for the body. Fiber and lipids are two different kinds of carbohydrates that are very important parts ofa human's diet.Fiber is what carries fats and cholesterol out of the body. It also helps in having a healthy diet and will help in managing your weight. Fiber is considered to be in the soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber is a type of fiber in which the dissolves in the water to form a gel like material. This process can help lowering cholesterol and the levels of glucose in the human digestion. Soluble ?ber is tound in oats, peas, beans, apples, citrus, truits carrots, barley and psyllium. (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2010).Insoluble fiber cannot be bsorbed as well as dissolved in the water; in its original form, it will pass the digestive tract. Insoluble fiber has benefits in t he digestive system. Insoluble fiber offers many benefits to intestinal health, including a reduction in the risk and occurrence of colorectal cancer, hemorrhoids, and constipation (My Food Diary). Some good sources of insoluble fiber and they are whole wheat in bread, rice, nuts as well as some vegetables.