Enjoy These Healthy Fats

Are Fats Good For You?

Do you still worry that fats will cause high cholesterol and heart disease? According to Ayurveda and modern science, good fats are essential to maintaining a healthy, beautiful body and a happy, loving demeanor. Not too long ago, low fat diets were all the rage. When heart disease rates started to climb in the 50s and 60s, scientists blamed fats for the growing epidemic. From then on, a low fat diet was recommended to help stave off heart disease and to help with weight loss.

In the last ten years however, scientists started taking a second look at fats. The higher fat diets of Italy, Greece, and Spain caught the eyes of nutrition researchers around the world, putting the "Mediterranean Diet" in the spotlight. The people in this part of the world enjoyed ample amounts of fat in the form of olive oil, fish, nuts, seeds, and small amounts of whole milk dairy products, yet still managed to have some of the lowest incidences of heart disease and chronic disease in the world. Perhaps fat itself was not to blame, but actually the type of fat.

Ayurveda agrees. In fact, good fats have a special place in Ayurveda both from a health and psychological perspective. Sneha, the word for oil, is also the word for love in Ayurveda. Essentially, fat is love in Ayurveda, a testimony to benefits of good healthy fats in your diet.

Ayurvedic Signs & Symptoms of Poor Quality Fats, or Too Much Fats

Even if you don't have a background in the dietary science, you can still figure out which fats are good for you, and which are bad, through your personal experience. Last night we went out to a Mexican restaurant which unfortunately had poor quality tortilla chips. After the meal, we experienced some of the classic signs of eating a bad fat. Here are some of those signs:

• Nausea - That 'ughh' feeling when you are slightly sick to the stomach
• Sticky feeling - Your skin will feel a bit sticky & gross.
• Mucus in the back of your throat - You will feel like you have a lump in the back of your throat.
• Yucky taste on your tongue - You might also notice a coating on the back of your tongue.
• Heavy limbs - Feeling like you just want to sit on the couch all night
• Brain fog - Your mind will feel fuzzy if you eat poor quality fats.
• Depression & irritability - Because of the strain on your body

Some fats are more likely to cause the above symptoms than others. In particular, highly processed fats including hydrogenated oils as well as excessively heavy fats like cheese are more likely to cause the above symptoms.

Ayurvedic Signs & Symptoms of Healthy Fats, and the Right Quantity of Fat

If you eat too much fats, you will experience the symptoms mentioned above. If you eat too little fats, you may feel anxious. The trick, as with all of Ayurveda, is to know your body through experience. Here are some of the signs you will experience after eating the right amount of good, healthy fats:

• Beautiful skin -Your skin needs fats to be healthy. The right fats make your skin moist, beautiful and supple.
• Calm - Your nervous system needs fat to feel calm
• Affectionate - Fats encourage you to be affectionate and kind
• Satiated - Fats can help abate your appetite for several hours, as long as you've eaten a balanced meal.

For internal consumption, Ayurveda recommends the following fat sources:

• Coconut Oil - a light fat that is easy to digest and makes you feel good
• Ghee - Slightly heavier, but still nourishing and easy to digest

What Fats Should I Avoid?

1. Eat a zero trans fat diet. Trans fats are created in an industrial process that adds hydrogen to unsaturated fats to make them more solid. This process is called "hydrogenation" or "partial-hydrogenation." The FDA is slowly moving to ban trans fats. At its peak, trans fats caused an estimated 20,000 deaths per year. Examples include margarine and crisco. They are hidden in foods like boxed foods, peanut butter, croissants, pastries, doughnuts, and even some Starbucks treats! Check the ingredients for words like "hydrogenation" or "partial hydrogenation" and avoid any products with those names.
2. Enjoy Saturated Fats in moderation. Contrary to the pervading belief that saturated fat is bad for your health and for your heart, recent studies have shown that the supposed association between saturated fat intake and heart disease is just not there. Dariush Mozaffarian, professor medicine at Harvard, says that studies show people who eat the highest amount of saturated fat and people who eat the lowest amount of saturated fat have the same percentage of heart disease cases. This implies that saturated fat may not be the cause for the rapid increase in heart attacks.

   Eating a moderate amount of saturated fats can be a healthful addition to your diet. Organic ghee, coconut oil, organic non-homogenized whole milk, organic full-fat yogurt, and grass fed beef are all good options. Vata does especially well with warm whole milk, pittas love coconut oil, and all three doshas can safely enjoy ghee. Try to avoid food products where saturated fat has purposefully been removed like skim milk and low fat ice cream. While these may seem like the healthier "low fat" option, they have actually been shown to increase your waistline in numerous studies. Likewise, consumption of whole milk has actually been associated with reduced body fat. So - always stick with the real thing!

3. If it's GMO, just say no! Some oils use GMO products, like canola oil, grapeseed oil, and corn oil. It is important to purchase these products organic to ensure that they are not GMO.

What Foods Have Healthy Fats in Them?

Western nutrition offers a few recommendations on which fats to choose and which ones to avoid:

1. Eat more vegetable-based fats. Monounsaturated fats, as well as polyunsaturated fats are generally liquid at room temperature. Saturated fats are solid at room temperature. Most western nutritionists believe that these unsaturated fats are actually good for the heart. Examples include extra virgin olive oil, sunflower oil, and organic canola oil. These oils can easily burn which can create free radicals so it is better not to cook with them or to use on very low heat. You can use them in salads, add after cooking or use refrigerated virgin olive oil instead of butter to spread on toast.
2. Eat plant sources of omega-3 fats. Include plenty of chia seeds (sold as Salvia), flax seeds, and walnuts in your diet to get healthy plant sources of omega-3s. Wild-caught salmon is also a wonderful source of omega-3s, but could have mercury contamination so stick to eating salmon only a few times a month.

Read more about fats here

References:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-cholesterol/in-depth/trans-fat/art-20046114

https://www.more.com/health/healthy-eating/saturated-fat-good

https://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/02/12/275376259/the-full-fat-paradox-whole-milk-may-keep-us-lean