What Exactly Are Fats?
The Good Fats
Unsaturated Fats
Monounsaturated Fats
Mono-unsaturated fatty acids, or MUFAs, are a type of unsaturated fat. “Mono,” means one. A diet that has moderate-to-high amounts of monounsaturated fats also help with weight loss, as long as you are under the calories than you’re burning.
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Polyunsaturated Fats
Poly-unsaturated fats along with mono-unsaturated fats are considered healthy fats, as they lower your risk of heart disease, especially when substituted against saturated fats. It contains omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, that are essential for the functioning of the brain.
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Why Does The Body Require Fats?
Although the main function of fats is to provide your body energy, it also plays several other significant roles, including:
- Helps in absorbing the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K.
- Regulates the inflammation and immunity.
- Maintains the health of the cells, including the cells of skin and hair.
- Adds richness to food, that helps in satisfying hunger.
Fats And The Keto Diet
The Keto Diet is a high fat diet. It is a healthy eating routine where 75% of the calories are derived from fats. Now, this helps your body to get into ketosis, a state in which instead of carbohydrates you burn fat as your main source of energy.
It’s one of the most focused macronutrient. But it should be noted that some options of fat are healthier than others. Fat is one of the three most focused macronutrients on a keto diet. Fat is the primary source of energy, so choosing healthy options of fat and eating the right portion of the same is important.
What Fats Are Good To Have On The Keto Diet?
When following a keto diet, knowing about the right sources of food helps in following the diet easily. Good sources of fat can help in transitioning into a state of ketosis in the right way. Just the way carbs are categories into good and bad, fats are categorized into good and healthy fats and the bad ones which are unhealthy.
Olive Oil
It is an essential item in every household, especially when you are on a keto diet as it’s a highly healthy unsaturated fat. Incorporate a drizzle of Pompeian Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil as a light salad dressing. You can use it as a cooking oil to sauté, or to marinade meat and vegetables.
Chia Seeds
Chia seeds are a good source of fat to be included in the keto diet. As they are high in fiber content, including chia seeds in your diet makes you feel full for longer and helps in reducing your calorie intake. Incorporating chia seeds in your keto diet can help in weight loss.
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Egg Yolk
Egg yolk should be included in the keto diet as they are a good source of healthy fat. Egg yolks contain monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats in a healthy partition. Apart from helping in weight loss while on the keto diet, egg yolks help in increasing immunity, improving bone density and resilience, maintaining healthy blood pressure, reducing overall body inflammation, and reducing risks of kidney stones.
Salmon
Salmon is one of the most nutritious varieties of fish. It is packed with omega-2 fatty acids and is also a great source of protein. The omega-3 fatty acid content in salmon is good for improved heart health. High levels of protein in salmon helps in controlling the appetite and feeling full and satisfied for longer. Thus, salmon is a great source of fat to be incorporated in the keto diet.
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Olives
Olives are a great source of fat which can be incorporated in the keto diet. They contain 11 to 15% of fat out of which 4% is the oleic acid, which is considered to be a monounsaturated fatty acid. Fat content in olives helps in reducing body inflammation and in lowering the risks of heart diseases.
Flaxseeds
Nuts
Nuts are fully-packed with protein and are a rich source of healthy unsaturated fatty acids that can be effectively incorporated while following the keto diet. They are a rich source of fiber, plant sterols, omega-3 fatty acids, Vitamin E, and L-arginine. They can reduce hunger pangs and are also amazing for heart health.
Peanut Butter
Peanut butter is a healthy source of fat if included in the keto diet, which is highly rich in protein content which helps in making you feel full for a longer period of time. It is also rich other nutrients such as fiber and contains a good portion of healthy unsaturated fat. Including peanut butter in your keto diet helps in controlling cravings for junk and unhealthy foods.
Avocados
Avocados are technically categorized as a fruit and they offer a rich source of heart-healthy unsaturated fatty acids. They’re also richly packed with fiber to improve digestive health. One-half portion of an avocado contains 161 calories, 2 grams (g) of protein, 15 g of fat, 9 g of total carbs, and 7 g of fiber (bringing it to 2 g of net carbs).
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Coconut Oil or MCT
Coconut Oil has many unique nutritional properties which makes it well-suited to include in a keto diet. For starters, it contains medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs). Unlike long-chain fats, MCTs are taken up directly by the liver and converted into ketones or used as a rapid source of energy.
What Are Bad Fats?
Fats are considered to be bad when it comes to following a diet. It may be because certain types of fat may play a significant role in occurrences of health issues like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and obesity. Some fats are better to consume than others, and may even help to promote improved health.
Certain varieties of fats have been linked to negative impacts on the heart health, but others have been found to offer significant health-related advantages. Some of the vital bodily functions also rely on the presence of fat. Fat is as essential to your diet as protein and carbohydrates in order to fuel your body with energy.
Foods and oils contain a mixture of fatty acids. However, the predominant type of fat they contain is what makes them “good” or “bad”. Being aware of the difference can help you determine the types of fats to avoid, and the ones to eat in moderation.
Saturated Fats
Saturated fat is a type of dietary fat. It is one of the kinds of unhealthy fats, these fats are most often solid at room temperature. Consuming a large amount of saturated fat increases your blood cholesterol, in particular, the bad (LDL) cholesterol.
Saturated fat can be found in the fat present on meat and chicken, from dairy products and from some plant foods like palm and coconut oil. This fat can also be found in processed foods like biscuits, pastries, and takeaway foods that have been prepared with ingredients like butter, palm oil, cheese, and meat.
Trans Fats
Trans fat increases our risk of heart disease by increasing the bad (LDL) cholesterol and reducing the good (HDL) cholesterol in our blood. To lower the risk of heart disease, trans fat should be limited as much as possible. Small amounts of trans fats usually occur naturally in dairy products, beef, veal, lamb, and mutton.
The processing of fats and oils during the stage of manufacturing produces artificial or ‘industrially produced’ trans fats. They’re found in foods that use partially hydrogenated vegetable fats, like deep-fried foods and baked foods like biscuits, cakes, pastries, and buns.
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Fats To Avoid On A Keto Diet
The saturated fats qualify as foods that should be limitedly consumed, but some studies suggests that these fats have significant health benefits as well. So try to incorporate them in moderation and according to the limit that matches up with your macronutrient requirements.
Corn Oil
It’s a highly refined oil which is high in inflammatory omega-6 fat that should be limited in a Keto Diet.
Canola Oil
It contains small amounts of trans fat, which is not good for health.
Grapeseed Oil
It is worse than the others because it contains an even higher amount of Omega-6 fatty acids.
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Peanut oil
It is harmful for cells if their numbers grow too high in the body.
Rapeseed oil
Rapeseed oil is the main source of canola oil which contains high levels of erucic acid that have been associated with heart damage.
Safflower oil
The safflower oil will not have any adverse reaction on the body, as long as they are consumed under the recommended amounts.
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Soybean Oil
It can cause side effects in the stomach and intestines such as constipation, bloating, and nausea.
Sunflower Oil
People are usually allergic to sunflower seeds and some cases of asthma, mouth swelling, itching of the mouth, hay fever, skin rashes, lesions, vomiting, and anaphylaxis have been reported.
Margarine
It is often packed with trans fat, which has been associated with an increased risk of heart disease and other chronic health issues.
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Vegetable Shortening
It contains trans fat which increases the risk of heart disease, death from heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.
Now that you are aware of what are the bad fats and good fats to have while on keto, you can make much better decisions when it comes to planning out your meals for the entire week. As long as you avoid the bad fat sources listed above, you’ll start experiencing the advantages of ketosis without the negative effects of unhealthy fats.
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