Good Fats v. Bad Fats

When it comes to losing weight, people automatically think that they must cut out all fats. This is simply not true: there are four types of fats, two of which are good and two that are bad. Your body needs the good fats in the same way it needs carbs and proteins – that's why most people will talk about a 'balanced diet'.

A balanced diet consists roughly of 55% carbohydrates, 15% protein and 30% fats. The carbs give us the energy we need for day-to-day tasks, the protein gives us the recovery we need in our muscles (every movement you make uses some muscles, so this is not just for those who work out) and the fats are another source of energy and are needed to extract nutrients from the foods we eat.

It is a myth that all fats are equal and equally bad. The fact is that Saturated Fats and Trans Fats are bad for you: they raise cholesterol and increase the risk of heart disease. Monounsaturated Fats and Polyunsaturated Fats do the opposite: they lower cholesterol and decrease the risk of heart disease. DO NOT cut out fats altogether – the key to a healthy diet is to swap more bad fats for good.

Good Fats

Monounsaturated fats: certain nuts (almonds, peanuts, cashews, hazelnuts, peanut butter), olive oil, peanut oil, sesame oil, avocados, olives.

Polyunsaturated fats: oily fish (tuna, salmon, trout, sardines, mackerel), seeds (sunflower, sunflower oil, pumpkin, flaxseed), soymilk and tofu.

Bad Fats

Saturated Fats: high fat cuts of beef, pork, lamb; chicken skin; whole-fat milk and yogurt; butter; cheese; ice cream.

Trans Fats: commercially baked cookies, doughnuts and pastries (there are far more ingredients and preservatives in commercially baked goods than those you make at home); packaged snack food like microwave popcorn, crisps, biscuits, crackers and chocolate bars; fried foods: chips, chicken, chicken nuggets etc.

So we can make the change by replacing the bad fats with the good, limit our fast-food intake, avoid commercially baked goods and limit our saturated fats.

Other ideas are to bake or grill instead of frying or deep-frying, trim excess fat off meat, remove the skin from chicken, choose low-fat milk and cheese.

Now while my recipes do include some of these 'bad fats' they are quite limited. Besides, one small 'bad' ingredient in a meal won't make the meal unhealthy, in the same way that a piece of lettuce and a slice of tomato won't make a Big-Mac meal healthy ... now you know that makes sense!