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The High-Fat Foods You Should Actually Eat More Often, According To Dietitians

For years, fat had been shunned as a pariah of the food groups. All fatty foods were thought to be "bad" and something to be banished from our plates. However, recent research shows that cutting out this vital macronutrient altogether from your diet isn't actually healthy. This is because your body needs fat to perform a host of vital functions.

"Fats are one of the three main macronutrients found in foods. In addition to providing your body with energy, they serve many other essential functions including insulating and protecting vital organs, helping with the absorption of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, producing many hormones, supporting the inflammatory process in the…

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Featured

 Further Proof That Avocados Are Sent From Heaven

As if you needed another reason to order the extra-large guac: New research shows that eating one to one-and-a-half avocados a day significantly reduces total cholesterol, "bad" low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides, when the 'cados were subbed in for solid fat (think butter or shortening). Avocados: Is there anything they can't do?

 High-Fat Is Healthy, If It's Part Of A Mediterranean Diet, Study Finds

Finally, fats aficionados officially have license to eat “a lot” of the stuff, according to a new study–if the fats are of the healthy, unsaturated varieties, that is.

Articles of Interest

Good Fats, Bad Fats

So before you succumb to wishful thinking that you can eat well-marbled steaks, pork ribs and full-fat dairy products with abandon, you’d be wise to consider the findings of what is probably the most comprehensive, commercially untainted review of the dietary fat literature yet published.

Heart-Healthy Fats — It’s the Type—Not the Amount—That Matters

Fortunately, the once-common recommendation to eat nothing but low-fat foods and fat-free snacks has fallen away. Today, nutrition professionals are telling their clients to eat more foods with heart-healthy fats, such as nuts and olives.

Monounsaturated Fat Vs. Polyunsaturated Fat

Using the shorthand of fats, saturated and trans fats comprise “unhealthy” fats, while unsaturated fats – both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated – qualify as “healthy” choices for your diet. In clinical studies, both types of unsaturated fats show promise for controlling different risk factors for heart disease, with polyunsaturated having a slight edge overall.

Nuts are full of fat and calories—and you should probably eat more of them

Nuts are full of fat and calories—and you should probably eat more of them.

Poly is more Effective than Mono - Unsaturated Fat For dietary management IN the Metabolic Syndrome: The MUFFIN Study

Substitution of SFA with PUFA in patients with MetS is associated with greater reductions in TG and improvement in endothelial function than MUFA that is independent of WL. These preliminary findings raise the possibility that PUFA may be the unsaturated fat of choice to reduce cardiometabolic risk in patients with MetS.

The Differences Between Monounsaturated and Polyunsaturated Fats

Saturated fats can adversely affect certain aspects of your lipid profile and increase risk for cardiovascular disease, which is why unsaturated fats—which have the opposite, positive affect—are preferred. There are two types: monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat. Although they differ slightly, including both types in your diet can help improve your heart health and lipids.

The truth about fats: the good, the bad, and the in-between

Good fats come mainly from vegetables, nuts, seeds, and fish. They differ from saturated fats by having fewer hydrogen atoms bonded to their carbon chains. Healthy fats are liquid at room temperature, not solid. There are two broad categories of beneficial fats: monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.

Your Avocados and Olives Are Pricier Because Fat Is In Fashion

Fish farmers, butter producers and others are struggling to increase output as consumers eat more good fat.