While most people are allergic to the word: fat, it is something we all have to deal with when we eat food, but if you know your stuff or if you do enough research about it, you’ll know that some fat is good for your health. Now this isn’t a signal to go crazy on chips, chicken skin, pork fat and much more, you hear me? Much like anything else in this world, there are fat inside of food that can be good or bad for our health. It can get a little tricky but that shouldn’t stop you from finding and consuming the right fat in each meal or every so often, after all taking care of your health is and should be on top of mind whenever you are about to order or make some food.

Trans fat – This is one of the more natural fat options you can find in a lot of meat and dairy options, usually in rather low quantities. Now usually if you aren’t too insane with the meat and dairy, trans fat shouldn’t be too much of a concern as in low quantities or at the very least below or exactly the recommended amount a day is alright for our health, and won’t be of concern. It becomes a concern when you consume food that has the oil is artificial and goes through the process of hydrogenation.

Hydrogenated trans fat – Usually this is the type of trans fat that is called hydrogenated vegetable oil and this is the type of trans fat that is bad for our health and can be found in several types of food. The idea is it is used to make items more spreadable if you will, making items easier to market and use for consumers plus it extends the shelf life of products, so you know that can’t be natural at all. I mentioned earlier that trans fat is normally alright but when it has gone through the hydrogenation process, that’s when you should be concerned and if you consume it in high quantities, your health could be in danger as when your food diet is focused on high trans fat, you are opening the doors to a ton of heart diseases such as stroke, heart attack and much more.

Saturated fat – Perhaps one of the most debated types of fat in this whole list, as it is usually blamed for a lot of heart diseases in earlier research. This fat is often found in butter, meat, cheese and a number of other food options out there. Now the thing is research was conducted a few years back that blamed saturated fat as the villain in heart diseases as mentioned prior, however recent, I use the word recent very casually as it was done in 1970s, showing that participants who switched from saturated fat to unsaturated fat products, did not necessarily have an impact on potential heart ailments. The research continues to this day and many are saying that saturated fat is not good for our health while others claim that we should not worry about it in our food, regardless I would pretty much consume it in controlled quantities for now, if you can avoid it good but if not maybe in very limited amounts should be fine.

It has been proven that a lot of the fatty foods we eat contribute to major health risks like stroke and heart attack.

Polyunsaturated fat – Now this is the good stuff that you want to consume if you are really into your health, which again I am hoping you should be considering you’ve read this far regarding this topic. This is the fat that you’ve heard of when you buy salmon or other fatty fish, the good fat as they call it or omega-3 or omega-6, either or you’ll want this in your food. These healthy fat options can help you be with cognitive functions and is a great skin booster as well, plus the fact that they are essential building blocks for our body should entice you in to getting a good serving of fatty fish. Also found in some vegetable oils and nuts, make sure to get a good amount into your body for proper health, however be warned that some scientists say that too much can also lead to heart problems but too much of anything can really do a number on your body so you shouldn’t be too shocked about this I suppose.

Mono-unsaturated fat – Ever notice how they say that peanuts are the ideal food? Like walnuts and stuff like that? Well that’s pretty much due to the mono-unsaturated fat that is found in them and can really help us step up our health against a ton of diseases, such as heart diseases, which no one really wants to have a problem with. What happens when you take in mono-unsaturated fat, it increases the HDL or the high-density lipoprotein, which is regarded as a good cholesterol for you heart while it lowers the LDL or low-density lipoprotein which is regarded as the bad cholesterol. Either way getting as much mono-unsaturated fat in your food and into your body will really help keep your health up from a ton of diseases so make sure to get enough quantities of this into your system.

Now that we know what is good for you and what you should avoid, I suppose now it all goes down to you. When we are serious about our health we need to watch what food we place into our bodies, this is best done by reading the label of whatever you are purchasing after all a smart consumer is a healthy consumer. By checking the labels you will know what is inside the product you just bought or are considering to buy, you’ll not only know what type of fat is inside and if it is good for your health or not, but you’ll know pretty much everything you’ll need to about that particular food product. I don’t expect you to know every single little thing about the items inside each product but maybe have a list of things that can give you a small alert in your mind every time you see it, of course you can also research items on your phone but I’d imagine that would take you forever to finish shopping, so generally just make sure to take note of the undesirables.

Overall you need to know what you can consume everyday and what you should in controlled quantities for your own health, if you are searching for good fat, which once more I am hoping after reading this article, you will be actively searching in certain food types here and again. Remember that your health is top priority and over consuming even good fat is still bad for you, everything in controlled quantities and recommended dosage is always the ideal setting for you and your health. Food options are all around us, but choices for our health is even more apparent in everything we need to do, so take the time and choose the proper fat for your body. Stay healthy!