How To Do ‘Good Fat’ Better

Fat is fashionable now, prompting a deluge of ultra-rich dairy products billed as both healthy and delicious. But can you actually have it all? Here’s your grocery-aisle guide.

  Is eating fat really bad for you? Here's what the science says.

It's not how much fat you eat that's important — it's what kinds. As best scientists can tell, trans fats (found in foods like margarine) contribute to cardiovascular diseases, whereas unsaturated fats (found in vegetable oils and fish) actually have the opposite effect — lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease. Saturated fats (found in butter and red meat) fall somewhere in between.

  The Expert-Approved Guide to Good Fats vs. Bad Fats

Saturated this, unsaturated that—figuring out what's considered good fats vs. bad fats can be straight-up confusing. Here, experts break it down.

 Fat is sooo good and science can't do a dang thing about it

Fat, I wish I knew how to quit you.

 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. They are found in a 26-page advisory prepared for the American Heart Association and published last June by a team of experts led by Dr. Frank M. Sacks, professor of cardiovascular disease prevention at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The report helps to explain why the decades-long campaign to curb cardiovascular disease by steering the American diet away from animal fats has been less successful than it might have been and how it inadvertently promoted expanding waistlines and an epidemic of Type 2 diabetes.

 Let them eat more fat? Researcher argues that a balance of types of fat is the key

Although there is conclusive evidence that one type of fat, trans fat, has no place in a healthy diet, it’s important to learn how to balance the other types of fats in the diet.

 Plant-Based Butter Is Taking Over The Dairy Aisle

The industry adapted, and newer margarines tend to be free from trans fats and are lower in saturated fat. However, margarine still suffers from a lingering image problem, leaving a gap in the market for another alternative that has much better public perception.

There's a lot of confusion about eating fat. Here's what scientists agree on.

Media coverage of dietary fat has been confusing and contradictory over the years,,,

We’re All Guinea Pigs in a Failed Decades-Long Diet Experiment

"The change in dietary advice to promote low-fat foods is perhaps the biggest mistake in modern medical history."

Americans are eating way more fat. But it’s not butter.

A USDA report reveals a lot about how the American diet is shifting.

Butter Is Your Friend But Margarine Wants to Kill You

Turns out that delicious animal fats found in butter, cream, and chocolate are nowhere nearly as bad as we have been brainwashed to believe.

Cut Down On Carbs And Have Some Fats (And Legumes), New Studies Suggest

So the bottom line is there are a lot of unanswered questions, but it seems that fats are not only OK, but they may even be good for us in some ways—and, like U.S. guidelines now acknowledge, there may not need to be an upper limit on them (trans fats are the one exception — they’re notoriously unhealthy).

End the War on Fat

The foundation for the "fat is bad" mantra comes from the following logic: Since saturated fat is known to increase blood levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol, and people with high LDL cholesterol are more likely to develop heart disease, saturated fat must increase heart disease risk. If A equals B and B equals C, then A must equal C. Well, no. With this extrapolation, scientists and policymakers made a grave miscalculation.

Everything You Thought You Knew About Fat Is Wrong

The war on fat appears to be over. We spoke to Nina Teicholz, author of The Big Fat Surprise​, about how everything we thought we knew about fat is wrong.

Facts on Fat

Do you just gravitate to foods labeled "low-fat" while food shopping? Given the bad rap fat is getting with the Food and Drug Administration's recent announcement to eliminate added trans fat from use in processed foods and restaurants, your inclination may be justified. But don't forgo all fats and miss out on fat that is actually good for you!

Fat Is Back: New Guidelines Abandon The Upper Limit On Dietary Fat

The latest version of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans – the government-sanctioned recommendations about what we should and shouldn’t eat – will include a game-changing edit: There’s no longer going to be a recommended upper limit on total fat intake. This hasn’t gotten as much press as the other big change – that cholesterol will no longer be considered a “nutrient of concern,” meaning that we can now eat eggs without feeling guilty.

How To Do ‘Good Fat’ Better

Fat is fashionable now, prompting a deluge of ultra-rich dairy products billed as both healthy and delicious. But can you actually have it all? Here’s your grocery-aisle guide.

Let Them Eat Fat

Listening to the doctors on cable TV, you might think that it's better to cook up a batch of meth than to cook with butter. But eating basic, earthy, fatty foods isn't just a supreme experience of the senses—it can actually be good for you.

Making a Case for Eating Fat

The myth that fat makes you fat and causes heart disease has led to a total breakdown in our nutritional framework. I felt it was important to tell the story of how fat makes you thin and how it prevents heart disease and can reverse diabetes. I think people are still very confused about fat.

Saturated Fats: Evil, or Misunderstood?

The fat story is not simple (in my chapter on fats and oils in What to Eat, I explain the biochemistry of food fats). The main reason for the complexity is that different kinds of fats do not occur separately in foods.

The Big, Fat World of Lipids

When you have your cholesterol checked, the doctor typically provides your levels of three fats found in the blood: LDL, HDL and triglycerides. But did you know your body contains thousands of other types of fats, or lipids?

The New Fat Revolution

Bacon is everywhere. Butter is the new darling. Seems that fat is back big time. But should it be?

The Questionable Link Between Saturated Fat and Heart Disease

Are butter, cheese and steak really bad for you? The dubious science behind the anti-fat crusade.

The Truth About Fat In Your Diet

Eating fat makes you fat, right? If this is what you think, you’re wrong. But it’s not your fault — it’s probably what you were led to believe.

Why Fat Doesn’t Make You Fat!

In human experiments, those who ate high-fat diets had a much faster metabolism. Low-fat, high-carb diets spiked insulin, subsequently slowing their metabolism and storing belly fat. The higher-fat diet group had a faster metabolism, even eating the same amount of calories.

Why Rich Women Don't Get Fat

Sorting weight by demographic group reveals complex and surprising patterns.

Know your fats

But there is more to fat than calories, so knowing your trans fats from your monounsaturates is one of the best things you can do for your health.

Fat is sooo good and science can’t do a dang thing about it

Fat, I wish I knew how to quit you.

For years, we’ve been told fat clogs our arteries. Now, scientists say that’s all wrong

Fats have a PR problem. In part, it’s because fats are so calorically dense. For every gram of fat, we get nine calories of energy; carbs and proteins both only yield four each for the same amount.

Replace bad fats with good foods for heart health, study says

Banishing bacon and burgers from your diet won’t help your heart — at least not if you eat white bread and corn flakes instead. But you can slash your risk of heart disease if you replace the calories from meat and cheese with salmon, nuts, and veggies stir-fried in olive oil.

The facts about fats

Fats consist of a mixture of saturated, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. Fats should not be thought of as unhealthy. In fact, some unsaturated fats are essential in the diet.

Why All Fat Is Not Created Equal

Eating a diet high in fat isn't good for us. But demonizing fat didn't lead us down a healthy path either. Some fats, especially plant-based fats such olive oil are good for us.