Often, people who are trying to lose weight or eat a healthy diet try to eliminate fats from their diet. However, this is a serious mistake. Fats play an important role in the functioning of the body and are necessary for maintaining health.
Why is it important to consume fats?
Fats are as important a part of your diet as proteins and carbohydrates. You shouldn’t give them up, even if you really need to lose weight. A moderate amount of fat in your daily diet supports the functioning of the nervous and endocrine systems, improves blood circulation. In addition, fats help maintain the beauty and elasticity of your skin.
However, the amount of fat in the daily diet should not exceed 30% of the total energy intake. At the same time, saturated fats should not make up more than 10% of this figure, and trans fats - less than 1%. Therefore, fats should be consumed consciously, distinguishing harmful from beneficial ones.
Which fats are good and which are not?
Healthy fats include monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Monounsaturated fats are found in vegetable oils (olive, peanut, sesame, flaxseed); nuts (cashews, almonds, pecans, pistachios); avocados. Polyunsaturated fats are rich in certain types of fish (salmon, tuna, herring, sardines); walnuts; various seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, flaxseed, sesame).
Unhealthy fats are saturated fats (whole cow's milk, fatty meats and poultry, lard, butter, hard cheese, etc.) and trans fats (found mainly in baked goods, fried foods, such as French fries, margarine, and other products). These fats cause excess weight, increase the level of "bad" cholesterol in the blood, and are also risk factors for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Therefore, it is recommended to completely eliminate trans fats from the diet and limit the consumption of saturated fats.
The best thing for your health is to replace saturated fats with unsaturated fats.
Some tips for consuming fats:
Eat less fatty meat, especially red meat. When preparing meat dishes, trim the fat and remove the skin from poultry.
Try not to fry your dishes, but bake, boil, stew or steam them.
Add seeds to salads - sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, flax.
Try to limit your consumption of lard and butter. Instead, choose sunflower, olive or sesame oil for cooking, but in small amounts and use unrefined, i.e. cold-pressed, oil.
Avoid trans fats. To do this, avoid processed and fried foods: donuts, cookies, cakes, frozen pizza, crackers, candy, etc. Pay attention to the composition of products. If you find hydrogenated oil among the ingredients, which contains trans fats, then such products should be avoided.
If possible, add avocados, nuts, and sea fish to your diet.
These simple recommendations will help you balance your diet. Follow these tips and you will be able to strengthen your health, reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, extend your life expectancy and improve its quality.
