A Primer on Good Fats, Pretty Good Fats & Bad Fats

Each person has their own particular health history and should use this information wisely to support their own genetic, environmental and medical blueprint.

GOOD FATS:
Olive oil
Nuts, almonds, walnuts, peanuts and their oils
Avocado
Fish oil and oily fish

PRETTY GOOD FATS:
The jury’s out on the following fats; use them in moderation.

Canola:
While the team at the Harvard School of Public Health, the folks at the Mayo Clinic, and even wholistic Dr. Andrew Weil seem to like this polyunsaturated fat, there are many who feel that the growing methods and extreme factory processing used to create canola oil render it just as troublesome as the trans fats (see below). I use it occasionally, and I make sure I buy organic and expeller pressed.

Saturated fats:
Coconut oil – Some say it is the new ‘healthy’ fat, others say no, it is still a saturated fat, albeit the best of the saturated fats. Recent evidence indicates that coconut oil strongly increases HDL cholesterol (that’s the good kind). I use it occasionally to make granola. I also use full fat coconut milk in various curries.

Butter – Generally speaking, if it comes from an animal, i.e. butter, cheese, yogurt, or ghee, I use it in its whole form (not some low fat version) and just use much less. Certainly I try to use butter from grass fed cows, and I prefer butter to margarine.

BAD FATS:

Trans fat, Hydrogenated fat –

These are the bad boy fats that have got all the other fats into trouble. You will find them mostly in packaged food, chips, biscuits, snacks, dips, prepared food and fast food. These fats are the ingredient that give those packaged and fast foods their addictive mouth feel. Be aware that, due to labeling loopholes, a food item can still have up to .05 grams of trans fat and legally report that it has 0 trans fats on the nutrition label. Although this amount may may seem small, those small amounts do add up. Make your own cookies!