Fats: the good, the bad and the ugly


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OGDEN — Quick question. Could you tell the difference between good fats and bad fats? We're generally told to stay away from them, but what do you actually know about fat?

Believe it or not, fats are essential in our diet and our bodies can't live without it. Fats are a compound food with the highest density of calories which makes us feel full, longer.

Christina Aguilar, a registered dietitian at McKay-Dee Hospital, says fats plays a bigger role than we may be aware of. "They're important for hormone regulation, important for brain function and important for heart health."

So how do we decipher the good from the bad? Aguilar says it can all be summarized into three categories: the good, the bad and the ugly.

First, the good fats or the heart healthy fats. "Those are the unsaturated fats, which are polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats," Aguilar says. "They can lower our LDL, or otherwise known as the bad cholesterol levels."

These "good" fats are found in vegetable oil, olive oil, canola oil, nuts, seeds, avocados and fish.

Next up, the bad fat, or saturated fat. Aguilar says "that's the fat we get from mostly animal sources. So fatty meats, all meats, even chicken will have some saturated fat."

Other sources are whole milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, coconut oil and palm oil.

Finally, the ugly fat, trans fats. Aguilar says "trans fats are undoubtedly bad for our health, and that's something you should try to eliminate and avoid pretty much at all costs." In fact, trans fats are so bad that the Food and Drug Administration recently added a new food regulation, banning trans fats from all foods. Within the next three years food companies and restaurants will no longer use any form of trans fats in their products.

Trans fats are known to increase our LDL cholesterol, or bad cholesterol, increase risk of heart disease, stroke and type two diabetes. Trans fats are not found naturally. It's created when oil is processed into a solid. You can find trans fats in baked goods like cookies, donuts and crackers.

Aguilar says "if it says partially hydrogenated, there's trans fat, and it's something you don't want at all in your diet. Variety is the spice of life. It's good to get lots of different types of oils in your diet."

The best advice, try to stick with the good fats. They're loaded with vitamin E and antioxidants and don't forget to read the label. Jenniffer is a Special Projects Producer who heads up the Your Life Your Health, Zero Fatalities and High 5 initiatives. For questions, feedback or possible story ideas, please email jmichaelson@ksl.com.

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