“Healthy” fats and why they are an important part of a healthy diet?
There has been a long standing misconception that FAT makes you fat. This is a MYTH. Healthy dietary fats such as olive oil, avocado and avocado oil, nuts/seeds, full fat dairy, and fat from grass-fed animals and oily fish are all part of a healthy whole foods diet. Excess calories make you fat, regardless of which macronutrient group they are from, it’s really all about balance. A healthy diet should be made up of about 30 percent fat, based on a 2,000 calorie diet which is about 66 grams of fat per day.
Let’s talk about Omega-3 fatty acids. I would like to focus on this type of fat and their source since they are a vital component of a whole foods diet. Omega-3 fatty acids are mainly found in oily fish such as mackeral, wild-caught salmon, herring, sardines and tuna but are also found in egg yolks and grass-fed meat. These are essential fatty acids meaning they cannot be made by the body, so if you do not consume them you should consider supplementing with a good quality Omega 3 supplement. Be sure that your supplement does not contain Omega-6 oils, as these are widely available in the standard American diet since they are found in plant food and vegetable oils. In general Omega-3’s have an anti-inflammatory effect on the body while Omega-6’s have a pro-inflammatory effect on the body. Both of them are needed for health but balance is key. A healthy ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 is 3:1, the standard American diet consists of about 10:1 to as high as 20:1, this is largely due to one single food source SOYBEAN oil, which you are consuming almost every time you eat processed or commercially prepared restaurant food, especially store bought salad dressings and fried food.
If you are looking to make a few nutritional changes to your diet consider making your own salad dressing to get away from vegetable oil, even salad dressings that advertise “contains olive oil” are never 100 percent olive oil and consume fish 2x per week or supplement with fish oil. Here is my favorite salad dressing recipe and my favorite fish oil….
Maple Balsamic Dressing: 8 oz olive oil, 4 oz balsamic vinegar, 2 oz maple syrup (you can use more or less maple syrup, depending on how sweet you like it)
Carlson’s Super Omega 3 gems – IFOS certified and sustainable sourced and 1 serving contains 1,600 mg of Omega-3
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