Choosing The Right Fats And Their Health Benefits

Polyunsaturated fats

Foods that are high in omega-3 include the following:

• Fatty fish such as wild salmon, lake trout, herring, sardines, mackerel, sturgeon, tuna and oysters.
• Pumpkin and flaxseeds.
• Soybeans, black beans and kidney beans.
• Walnuts.
• Dark green, leafy vegetables.
• Oils from flaxseed, canola, walnuts, wheat germ and soybeans. These oils should be consumed raw and should not be used to cook with.

Omega-3 has many health benefits and if one can't get it in through the diet, then supplementing omega-3 would be the next best plan of action. These health benefits include improvement of the following conditions:

• Prevents and helps to reduce the symptoms of major depression, bipolar mood disorder and ADHD.
• Reduced exacerbation of asthma.
• Reduces flare-ups of rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory conditions.
• Lowers blood pressure in patients with high cholesterol levels.
• Reduces cardiac deaths and improves cardiovascular events.
• Prevents atrial fibrillation in patients who've had coronary artery bypass grafts done.
• Improves emotional, attention and behavioural problems in children and adolescents. 
• Improvement of autism.
• Decreases symptoms of systemic lupus erythematosus.
• Reduces the risk of strokes in men and the elderly.
• Decrease the risk of developing breast cancer. 
• Helps in maintaining a healthy pregnancy.
• Offers protection against dementia and memory loss.

Monounsaturated fats

Foods containing monounsaturated fats are also healthy for consumption and they help to elevate HDL (high-density lipoproteins) levels which help to improve cardiovascular health. 

Monounsaturated fat containing foods include olives, avocados, almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts, cashews and natural peanut butter. Oils from these foods can be used in cooking as mentioned above.

Saturated fats

Saturated fats have been made to look like an evil fatty acid which causes cardiovascular disease. The fact is that saturated fats are good for cooking with, as mentioned above, and are actually beneficial to one's health if consumed from the correct sources.

The following list will help to guide one in choosing the correct food sources of saturated fats.

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• Avoid processed and lunch meats, packaged meals or takeout food.
• Don't replace saturated fats with refined sugar foods.
• Avoid frying meats and poultry. Rather grill, roast or slow cook the meat which will then use its own fat to cook in.
• Avoid anything that's deep fried.
• Corn and potato chips should also be avoided as they're fried.
• Try consuming meat from organic/grass-fed animals as their fat becomes saturated which means it's better to cook with as these fats are more heat tolerant.
• Also, use dairy products such as milk, cheese and yogurt from organic/grass-fed animals.