When it comes to weight loss, know that some types of fat are good and some are bad. One thing is for sure, fat in the wrong place is just ugly fat.
There is a lot of seemingly confusing information about the effects of the types of fat and what they have to do with weight loss. Well, there’s good fat, or essential fatty acids which must be consumed through food because the body cannot produce these. There’s bad saturated fats like the fat in butter, milk, and cream.
There’s not-so-bad unsaturated fats that are typically found in vegetable oils, nuts, and seeds. Then there’s that king of the bad fats, the bad boy of the fatty fun park, hydrogenated oil, or trans fat, as it more commonly known. Of course, too much of any of these fats is not good for health or for successful weight loss. So how does one know how much of which fats are the best combination?
Fats Necessary For Optimal Nutrition
As bad a rap as fat gets in the media, it’s actually a good thing and is necessary for maintaining life and health. Those good essential fatty acids are found in the fat of the food people eat every day. Fat is also necessary in keeping skin healthy, carrying essential vitamins and minerals, and helps young children’s developing brains.
Fat is actually a good thing, but it always seems to get the blame for any sort of weight gain. The truth is that anyone can put on weight and get fat from eating just carbohydrates and protein. “Excess calories from any source is what’s responsible for weight gain,” according to Alice H. Lichtenstein, DSc, professor of nutrition at Tufts University and director of the Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory.