Today, most of the people believe that vegetable oils like soy oil, corn oil, safflower oil and canola oil are fats better than animal fats. But this is NOT true. These polyunsaturated fats are connected to cancer, heart disease, immune system dysfunction, damage to the liver, reproductive organs and lungs, digestive disorders, depressed learning ability, impaired growth, and weight gain.

The reason behind is they can easily become oxidized or rancid, resulting in a lot of free radicals, which can attack cell membranes and red blood cells, causing damage in DNA/RNA strands. Therefore, tissues, organs and blood vessels are damaged, leads to premature aging, development of tumors, etc.

In these commercial vegetable oils, the ratio of omega-6 linoleic acid is too high when compared to omega-3 linoleic acid, which links to blood clots, high blood pressure, irritation of the digestive tract, and much more.

In short, AVOID these commercial vegetable oils. Not just avoid using them in cooking, but also avoid store bought processed food as many as you can, as you can always read “Vegetable Oil” on their labels!

Don’t avoid them!  Do you know in artery clogs, only 26% is saturated fats, and the rest is all unsaturated fats(more than half is polysaturated)??

Saturated Fats are good for us in many ways:

• at least 50 % of our cell membranes is saturated fatty acids
• in order to let calcium to incorporated into our bones, saturated fats have to be more than half of all our dietary fats
• they lower Lp(a), which links to heart disease
• protect the liver from alcohol and other toxins
• enhance our immune system
• help utilize essential fatty acids
• our hearts needs saturated fats in times of stress
• protect us against harmful microorganisms in the digestive tract

WOW!!  Therefore, you don’t need to think twice before good quality real butter, JUST EAT IT!

Fatty acids are classified into saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated, according to their carbon and hydrogen atoms arrangements.

Fatty acids are also classified into short-chain, medium-chain, long-chain and very-long-chain according to their length.

Saturated fats are highly stable, do not go rancid. Therefore, it can be heated. Found normally in animal fats and tropical oils. Our body also make them from carbohydrates.

Monounsaturated fats are stable. Do not go rancid easily, can be heated also. Main component of olive oil. Can also be found in the oils from almonds, pecans, cashews, peanuts and avocados. Our body also make them from saturated fats.

Polyunsaturated fats are highly reactive, go rancid easily. These oils cannot be heated. Two common examples are omega-6 and omega-3. Our body cannot make them so they are called essential fatty acids (EFA).

Short-chain fats are always saturated. Mostly found in butterfats from cows and goats. They have antimicrobial properties. And they will be directly absorbed for quick energy. They also make our immune system healthy.

Medium-chain fats are found mostly in butterfat and tropical oils. Same benifits as short-chain fats.

Long-chain fats are stearic acid (found in beef and mutton tallows), oleic acid (main component of olive oil), palmitoleic acid (has strong antimicrobial properties, found in animal fats), gamma-linolenic acid (GLA, found in evening primrose, borage and black currant oils, contribute to regulating many processes at the cellular level.), and also omega-3 ad omega-6.

Very-long-chain fats are found in organ meats, egg yolks, butter and fish oils. The most important ones are DGLA, AA, EPA and DHA. AA and DHA contibute to the function of the nervous system. DGLA, AA and EPA contribute to regulating many processes at the cellular level.

Resources :: “Nourishing Traditions“

I had been delaying to share about fats since it’s quite a complicated topic.  However, when I noticed a friend of mine buying a big tub of margine last week, I said to myself I really have to get started!  How many times have we checked the label on the food package and look for “0g saturated fat”?  And how many times have we checked the label and look for “vegetable oil”?  We have been trained falsely! 

 In general, saturated fats are good for us.  Avoid vegetable oil like safflower, corn, sunflower, soybean, cottonseed and canola oil.  Eat good quality butter as much as you like.  Coconut oil is great.  Olive oil is good, just keep in mind that it’s more likely to buildup your body fat than butter.  Peanut oil and sesame oil should be used in small amount.  Flax seed oil is good for its high omega-3 content, but should also eat in small amount, and never heat it!  There will be more details later!