Fats, Are They Really the Enemy?

Fats, fats, fats… Arrrhhhh… run, run as fast and far away from them as you can, they say. We have been taught to be so scared of fats.

We eat fat, we gain fat. We eat a certain number of calories, along with x number of fat, and we will put on weight.

I may be generalizing now but how come French people who tend to eat cheese fairly often, seem to remain skinny whereas we restrict our fat intake but yet we struggle with maintaining our weight?

We live in a society of constant dieting, but yet very little people seem to be able to maintain the perfect ‘diet’. Instead, we gain weight, then we feel guilty, then we try again and we may lose weight again for a while and then the cycle starts again. Most of the time, chronic dieters tend to gain more weight than they lost the first time. So is the amount of fat consumed really the issue at stake?!

Fats are essential for our bodies proper functioning. They provide us with energy. Our bodies are also made up of fat and we can find fats in meats, fish and some plants.

There are different types of fats: saturated, monounsaturated, trans fats… Let’s go back to high school biology for a minute. Saturated fats raise blood cholesterol levels and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels. Saturated fats are found in red meats, chicken, whole-fat dairy products, butter, cheese, lard, etc. They are associated with an increased risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, etc.

However, newer studies are challenging the connection between saturated fats and heart disease.

Monounsaturated fats are known to improve blood cholesterol levels. Monounsaturated fats are mainly found in oils such as olive, canola, sesame, avocados, nuts, etc. Those fats are not only good for us, they are essential to our health!

Now, trans fats are a different story. Those are the ones we want to watch out for! Not nuts, nor avocadoes, nor natural organic oils. Trans fats increase the damaging LDL cholesterol levels in our bodies while simultaneously depleting us of the good cholesterol we have remaining.

Trans fats are sometimes found in very small quantities in certain foods but mainly are created through the process of hydrogenation. By hydrogenating oils, we are prolonging the oil’s life while easing the cooking process.

Check out this photo below that shows the type of oil used in restaurants to cook deep-fried items! Shocking, right?!? I know I was… Additionally, restaurants also tend to refry foods using the same batch of oil several times in a row which is also known to increase cancer rates (and who knows what else..). Oh and lastly, did I mention that soy was one of the top 5 food allergens…?

Need I say more..? Fats are not the enemy guys, certain types of fats are…