Fats Can Make You Thin

Eating fat is essential to reaching your ideal size. Fats do not, as a friend recently suggested at lunch, go directly from one's mouth to the fat cells on the tummy and hips. Of course, anyone who overeats fat could gain weight. Some is great for weight loss—too much isn't. Over and over again, when our fat-phobic clients add fat back into their eating, their stubborn weight starts coming off. So get ready to eat some fat and reach your ideal size!

Fats Are Not the Enemy

Dietary fat is an important component of a healthy diet. By eating the right fats in the right proportions, you can enjoy watching your body fat melt away.

Before we get into some of the nitty-gritty details about dietary fat, let's list some of the known benefits of fat:

• Fat is required to manufacture hormones. Without fat, your hormones get out of whack. This includes your thyroid and the regulation of women's hormonal cycles, including menopause and conception. Men require optimum hormonal activity for high-energy sex and good muscle mass.

• Fats are required for the proper communication of the neurotransmitters in the brain.

• Fat is necessary for many metabolic processes such as red blood cell formation and insulin functions.

• Fat lubricates your joints, maintains healthy skin, and aids in the digestion process.

Be sure to eat about 20 to 30 percent of your daily food intake as fat.

Aside from this list of benefits, fats also help satisfy your hunger because they take longer to empty from the stomach than other foods. And, let's not forget that fats carry the flavor of food and feel satisfying in the mouth.

Types of Fats

Fats are the most highly concentrated form of fuel. They contain more calories per ounce than either proteins or carbs. Fats come in three basic forms: saturated, polyunsaturated, and monounsaturated. Plus, today there's a fourth type of artificial fat present in food called trans fats. It can contribute to heart disease, so avoid eating trans fats.

The degree of saturation of a fat refers to its arrangement of carbon and hydrogen atoms. A saturated fat is one that carries the maximum number of hydrogen atoms in its carbon chain. It's “saturated.” An unsaturated fat has room for additional hydrogen atoms, which tends to make it more biologically active.

Saturated Fats

Saturated fats come mostly from animal products, including milk and milk products, and from several vegetables:

Butter	Milk
Cheese	Beef
Lamb	Veal
Pork	Poultry
Lard	Vegetable shortening
Cocoa butter	Palm oil
Coconut oil	Kernel oil

Limit your intake of saturated fat to no more than 10 percent of your food intake daily. So, yes, enjoy your beef and butter, but in moderation.

Polyunsaturated Fats

Polyunsaturated fats are found in seeds, seed oils, and vegetable oils, as well as in cold-water fish. The following are common sources of polyunsaturated fats:

Corn oil	Safflower oil
Sunflower oil	Soybean oil
Flaxseed oil	Salmon
Mackerel	Herring
Cod	Sardines
Albacore tuna	Black currants
Flaxseeds	Sunflower seeds
Corn	Evening primrose

Monounsaturated Fats

Monounsaturated fats are found in certain vegetable oils and nut oils, which are best when unprocessed. The following are common sources of monounsaturated fats:

Olive oil	Sesame Seeds
Canola oil	Sesame seed oil
Peanuts	Almonds
Peanut oil	Almond oil
Avocados

Trans Fats

Trans fats are man-made fats created by transforming unsaturated fats into saturated fats through heat and hydrogenation (adding hydrogen atoms). They're also called “partially hydrogenated” oils. Once a favorite of the food industry, studies show that trans fats harm your health and can directly cause heart disease, as well as increased insulin production, decreased testosterone, lower metabolism, and raise bad cholesterol levels. The FDA now requires that food labels state the amount of trans fats per serving. It's best to avoid them.

Yes, Fats Are Also Essential

Just as your body needs essential amino acids from protein for good health, so, too, does your body require essential fatty acids (EFAs). Your body can't synthesize these from other foods you eat. You must ingest them.

EFAs are beneficial for hormone production. The brain needs EFAs to function properly, and they are critical for the transmission of nerve impulses. EFAs also aid you in many other ways. They help …

• Regulate the transport of oxygen and energy through your body.

• Form new cells, particularly in the nervous system.

• Increase your body's metabolic rate.

• Improve skin and hair.

• Help reduce high blood pressure.

• Help lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

As you can see, you need your EFAs. There are two kinds of essential fatty acids that are derived from fat sources containing the omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.

Omega-3s

Omega-3s consist of docosahexaenoic, eicosapentaenoic, and alpha-linolenic acids. The first two are considered to be the most important omega-3s and are found only in deep-water fish like salmon. Alpha-linolenic acid is found in deep-water fish, emu, fish oil, and some vegetable-based oils, including flaxseed and walnut oil.

Omega-3s have become less common in the American diet over the past 50 years … which is unfortunate. They offer powerful health and weight-loss benefits. They help rev up your fat-burning mechanism. Because they're harder to find in today's modern foods, we recommend that you take omega-3s in a nutritional supplement, such as fish oil. These fats are quite beneficial because they have an anti-inflammatory effect on the body.

Omega-6s

Omega-6 fatty acids consist of linoleic and gamma-linolenic acids. They are found in raw nuts, seeds, and legumes and in such unsaturated oils as borage, grape seed, primrose, sesame, and olive oil. The omega-6 fatty acids in these oils are destroyed when heated, so they should be consumed in an uncooked and unprocessed form. You eat plenty of these in processed foods. Eating too many processed foods that contain omega-6s can cause inflammation.

How Much Fat Is Too Much Fat?

Studies show that the average American diet consists of about 39 percent fat. Wow! That is more than enough. The American Heart Association suggests we keep our fat intake to 30 percent or less.

Limit saturated fats to 10 percent of your total food intake, with the rest of your fat intake coming from monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Consume at least 10 percent, preferably 20 percent, of your total calories from food sources or supplements with EFAs.

Stay away from most low-fat processed foods. Search them out in your house and toss them. True, they're low in fat, but they simply can't deliver on the implied promise of a lean trim body.

Fat Shopping and Eating Tips

The following is a list of good fats to buy at the store:

• Olive oil. The darker the better because it's the least refined or processed and has the most good-for-you oils.

• Butter. Yes, butter is fine to eat in small amounts. Good for sautéing and baking because it doesn't break down into trans fats, like vegetable oils do.

• Salmon. It's rich in omega-3 EFAs and polyunsaturated fats. Poach or bake more than enough for dinner so that you can enjoy salmon salad—made with real mayonnaise—the next day.

• Other cold-water fish. These include mackerel, albacore tuna, sardines, and lake trout.

• Real versions of anything you have eaten as a low-fat processed food. We're talking about real ice cream, real salad dressing, real butter, real mayonnaise, and so on.

• Canola oil. Also considered a monounsaturated fat, it is an alternative to olive oil for salads.

• Nuts and seeds. Great for snacks, but eat in small quantities.

• Fish oil from the health-food store. This comes in bottles and is refrigerated. Use as a dietary supplement.

• Avocados and olives. These contain monounsaturated fats and add great flavor to meals.

Use olive oil and other cold-expeller pressed oils for salads; use butter for sautéing. And enjoy nuts, seeds, avocados, and olives as snacks and as condiments for salads and main dishes.

Excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Healthy Weight Loss © 2005 by Lucy Beale and Sandy G. Couvillon. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Used by arrangement with Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

To order this book visit the Idiot's Guide web site or call 1-800-253-6476.