Often, people who seek to lose weight or keep healthy eating try to exclude fats from their diet. However, this is a serious mistake. Fats play an important role in the functioning of the body and are necessary to maintain health.
Why is it important to eat fats?
Fats are the same important component of diet as proteins and carbohydrates. They should not be abandoned, even if you need to lose weight. The moderate amount of fats in the daily menu supports the work of the nervous and endocrine systems, improves blood circulation. In addition, fats contribute to the preservation of beauty and elasticity of the skin.
However, the amount of fat in the daily diet should not exceed 30% of total energy consumed. In this case, saturated fats should be no more than 10% of this indicator, and trans fats for less than 1%. Therefore, fats should be consumed consciously, distinguishing harmful from the beneficial ones.
What fats are useful and which are not?
Useful include mono- and polyunsaturated fats. Monounsaturated fats are contained in vegetable oils (olive, peanut, sesame, flax); nuts (cache, almonds, peats, pistachios); avocado. On polyunsaturated fats certain types of fish are rich (salmon, tuna, herring, sardines); walnuts; Different seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, flax, sesame).
Saturated fats (whole cow's milk, fatty meat and poultry, lard, butter, hard cheese, etc.) and trans fats (contained mainly in baking, fried dishes, such as fries, margarine and other products) are wildest. These fats are the cause of overweight, increasing the level of "bad" cholesterol in the blood, as well as the risk factors for cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes. Therefore, it is recommended to completely exclude trans fats from the diet, and limit the consumption of saturated fats.
It will be best for health to replace saturated fats unsaturated.
A few tips on eating fats:
Eat less fatty meat, especially red. When cooking meat dishes, cut off the fat from it, and remove the skin from the bird.
Try not to fry the dishes, but to bake, cook, stew or steamed.
Add seeds to salads - sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, flax.
Try to limit the consumption of fat and butter. Instead, choose sunflower, olive or sesame oil for cooking, but a small amount and raw, that is, cold spin.
Give up the use of trans fats. To do this, avoid processed and fried foods: donuts, biscuits, pies, frozen pizza, crackers, chocolates and more. Take into account the warehouse of products. If you find hydrogenated oil among the ingredients, namely it contains trans fats, then such products should be avoided.
If possible, add avocado, nuts, sea fish to your diet.
These simple recommendations will balance your diet. Follow these tips-and you can strengthen your health, reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, extend life expectancy and improve its quality.
