Love Good Fats Plant Based (Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough) - 39g Bar - Love Good Fats

FATS

Fats are not necessarily all bad, and we often need to increase our intake in certain situations. Even saturated fats have their place…

Since the 1980’s there has been a common focus on low-fat diets to promote weight loss. It has only been in the last few years that people have begun to question whether cutting fat is the answer for weight loss. In fact, we have started to question whether low-fat is really healthy at all. 
Research has indicated that, like most things in life, fat is actually very good for you in reasonable amounts, and only becomes bad for you in excess. So once again, moderation is key.

What are fats?
The proper scientific term for fats is actually “lipids”, which are carbon-based substances that are naturally insoluble in water. Hence the old adage “oil and water don’t mix”. Lipids that are solid at room temperature are usually referred to as “fats” while those that are liquid at room temperature are generally referred to as “oils”. The basic subunit of any lipid is fatty acids.

Fatty Acids
A fatty acid consists of a carboxylic acid group with a long carbon chain tail. In science these are drawn as kinky lines like this: /\/\/\/\/\/\/, with the ends of the lines, and each point representing one carbon atom. In nature, there is usually an even number of carbon atoms in the chain. In the human body, fatty acids are bound to other molecules in order to perform a function. If they are unbound, they are called “free fatty acids”.

Triglycerides
Free fatty acids are uncommon in nature, and usually we find our fats in triglyceride form in the food that we eat. Triglycerides are composed of three fatty acid chains bound to a glycerol backbone. When we eat fats, the digestive enzyme Lipase in our small intestine cleaves the fatty acids off of the glycerol backbone so they can be absorbed into our system.

Phospholipids and Cell Membranes
When we absorb free fatty acids, they can then be used to form phospholipids. Interestingly, each one of our cell membranes in entirely made up of a double layer of phospholipids. Each phospholipid is made up of a polar phosphate molecule bound to two non-polar fatty acid chains. The structure of these phospholipids allows the polar heads to face the water both inside and outside the cell, while the fatty acid tails attract to one another and create the lipid centre of the cell membrane. This lipid centre helps to prevent polar molecules from drifting into our cells. Cholesterol is also used in our cell membranes to help anchor messenger proteins and receptors.

Saturated Fats
Society has decided that we should avoid all saturated fats at all cost. Have you ever wondered why? First we should go over the difference between saturated and unsaturated fats. In saturated fats, every carbon atom in each fatty acid chain is fully bound (or “saturated”) with hydrogen atoms, leaving no space for double bonds. They are relatively straight chains, allowing them to all closely line up next to one another. Tightly packed molecules form solid substances at room temperature. Thus saturated fats are the lipids that we tend to call “fats”, like butter and coconut oil. When these fats are incorporated into our cells, they create more rigid cell membranes. This means that our cells cannot easily flex and adapt. In our blood vessels, when these fats accumulate, they create a more solid plaque. Thus, diets high in saturated fat can cause an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and the poor skin flexibility associated with aging.

Unsaturated Fats
Unlike saturated fats, the unsaturated fats are made up of fatty acids that contain double bonds. These double bonds create “kinks” in the fatty acid chain. Monounsaturated fatty acids have one double bond (mono = one), while fats with more than one double bond are called polyunsaturated fatty acids. The more kinks (double bonds) a fatty acid contains, the harder it is for that fatty acid to get close to its neighbour. When molecules are more spread out, they form a liquid at room temperature. Thus, these unsaturated fats are the lipids that we tend to call oils (like Fish Oil and Almond Oil). When unsaturated fatty acids are used to make the phospholipids in our cell membranes, they become more pliable and able to adapt. This keeps our cardiovascular system and skin, more healthy and flexible.

Smoking Point
When deciding which fats to use in your cooking, be sure to check out the smoking point. This is a measure of the temperature at which a triglyceride will break apart into its constituent pieces. When glycerol is unbound in the presence of heat, it can then be further broken down into the substance that physically makes the smoke. For deep-frying or other high-temperature cooking methods, it is essential to use oils with a higher smoking point to prevent excess breakdown during cooking.

Cooking with Lipids - Oxidation
While from the above information, it seems obvious that unsaturated fats with high smoking points are the way to go for boosting health in your cooking, as with anything, there is always a trade-off. Yes, your diet should always contain a far larger percentage of unsaturated fats than of saturated fats to ensure cell flexibility and to protect your cardiovascular system. So why eat saturated fats at all? Well, when cooking with a fat, it can sometimes be more beneficial to use saturated fats. Because the double bonds in unsaturated fats become vulnerable to oxygen attack when heated, unsaturated fats quickly become oxidized in the presence of heat and air (the conditions of cooking). Oxidized fats are extremely reactive and act like free radicals in the body. Free radicals are unstable molecules with an unpaired electron that are extremely reactive, and damage surrounding cell membranes, fats, and fat-soluble vitamins and nutrients. Saturated fats can bypass this risk of oxidation, because they do not have double bonds, and thus will not so easily oxidize during cooking. Thus, saturated fats like butter and Coconut Oil can be beneficial when used in smaller amounts in particular cooking circumstances. This is especially true if the rest of your diet is well balanced with sufficient polyunsaturated fats to help counter its rigid effects.

Low Fat Diets
While low fat diets were all the rage in the 80’s and 90’s, more recent research has found that diets lacking sufficient fat do not result in sustained weight loss. Eating sufficient fat helps our body to produce sufficient hormones, repair body tissues and secrete skin-protecting sebum and other beneficial secretions. They are necessary for our everyday processes, and when present in our diet, they help to ensure the gallbladder is properly flushed to help prevent the formation of Gallstones.

Essential Fats
While our body naturally has the ability to convert most forms of fat into one another as we require, there are some that we cannot synthesize. These fatty acids must be ingested in our food in order to meet our body’s needs. In humans, alpha-linolenic (an Omega 3 Fatty Acid) and linoleic (an Omega 6 Fatty Acid) are the only two essential fatty acids. There are three others that are only conditionally essential, meaning that they are only essential in certain circumstances. These include examples of Omega 9 Fatty Acids.

Finding Balance
While it is obvious that the average North American diet is far too high in fat, and especially saturated fat, we must be careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater. When aiming for a healthy diet, it is important not to eliminate any one nutrient, fats included. Instead, we must aim to use the right amount of fat and the correct fat for our particular needs. Current research has suggested that the average diet contain between 20-35% of your calories from fats. Each gram of fat contains about 9 calories of energy for the body. This means that for a 2,000 daily calorie diet, this would amount to 400-700 calories, or about 44-78g of fat daily. You can adjust this number according to your caloric needs. The correct balance of Omega 3-6-9 is essential, so if your diet is high in one type, be sure to ingest more of the others to rebalance your body.

Myths and Truths about fats
1- All fats are equal and equally bad for you
Monosaturated and polyunsaturatd fats can lower cholesterol thus reducing the risk of heart disease. Trans and saturated do the opposite by increasing cholesterol and the risk of heart disease
2- Lowering the amount of fat you eat is what matter the most
It is important to eat more good fats and less bad fats
3- Fat free means it is healthier
Many fat free foods are high in sugar, refined carbohydrates and calories so being fat free does not necessarily mean healthy. 
4- Eating a low fat diet is essential to weight loss
The opposite is actually true. Fat are filling and can help curb over eating thus resulting in weight loss.