Thursday, October 17, 2013

Fats and Your Body

The solid proof- literally!
Hello readers, today's post is about fats and the negative effects that it has on your body-both inside and out. I was inspired to do this topic after a nearly 2 month long observation that I noticed in my house. My roommate has a George Foreman that she lets us use and out of courtesy, I always wash it immediately clean it. There have been those lazy days where I did not quickly wash it but I noticed that the juice or run off from my grilled chicken stayed a liquid. No matter how long it stayed there, it would always look like a brown juice. However, around 2 months ago, my roommate prepared breakfast sausage patties on the grill and has let the runoff sit in the juice pan ever since. Nearly 30 minutes after the sausages were cooked, the "liquid" runoff quickly froze into fat- and has remained that way ever since. From time to time, I like to move the pan and see if anything will fat out and NOTHING moves. Literally, I would shake it and it would still stay in the pan! This got me thinking, if this is how fat freezes and remains in a plastic dish, then what are its' effects in our bodies?
To start off, a fat is a common term for lipids and includes fats and oils. At room temperatures most fats are solids and oils are liquid (think butter and lard vs. olive oil). Many of us have heard of saturated fats, trans fats, and unsaturated fats but don't really know what they are or where they come from.

  • Saturated Fats- These occur naturally in foods that come from animal products such as red meat and dairy products. Many of the fatty meats, bacon, and chops, poultry with the skin on, cream, butter cheese and whole fat dairy products also contain dietary cholesterol. Some plant oils such as palm oil and coconut oil also contain saturated fats but not dietary cholesterol. A diet high in saturated fats leads to obesity, cardiovascular and heart diseases, high cholesterol, high blood pressure.
  • Trans Fats- Trans fat raises your LDL cholesterol and lower your HDL cholesterol. Additionally, consuming foods that contain trans fats increases your risk of developing heart disease and stroke. While they are deadly, food companies hide them in their ingredients list so another name for trans fats are partially hydrogenated oil. Limit your consumption of fried foods, baked good, pizza, pizza dough, cookies, crackers, stick margarine, and shortenings. 
  • Monounsaturated Fats- Monounsaturated fats provide nutrients to help develop and maintain your body's cell and are high in vitamin E, an important antioxidant. You can find these good fats in olive oils, canola oil, peanut oil, and sources such as avocados, peanut butter, and many nuts and seeds.
  • Polyunsaturated Fats- When eaten in moderation, polyunsaturated fats have beneficial effects on your health due to their ability to reduce cholesterol levels in your blood and lower your risk of heart disease. Foods sources include fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring, and trout, and nuts and seeds.
Obviously, the fat in the picture above is a trans fat. Now if the fat lasts that long in a pan, imagine the effects in your arteries and your body. These fat deposits will collect in your arteries for years and will form plaque. This plaque will break off and move into smaller blood vessels, eventually blocking them. This blockage deprives your body of blood and oxygen and lead to damage. Common effects from plaque buildup are heart attack, stroke, and even death! These are all scary things that college students shouldn't have to worry about! Simply changing dietary choices from fried foods to grilled or baked and substituting peanut butter for butter on toast will have big positive effects in the long run.
-Eating Clean in College

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