10. Balancing Your Fats
Now that we’ve discussed the importance of natural dietary fats
for human performance and the necessity of healthy body fat, it’s just
as important to outline how to balance your consumption of certain
fats in the diet. It’s accomplished in three simple steps. When using
fats and oils:
- For cooking, use only olive oil, butter, coconut oil or lard.
- Avoid all vegetable oil and trans fat.
- Balance consumption of omega-6 and omega-3 fats in a
2:1 ratio.
The issue of balancing fat consumption is quite complex; volumes
have been written on the subject and many scientists have devoted
their entire careers to this topic. But I have simplified the explanations
to help you achieve this important task. First, let’s look at three com-
mon types of fats: monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and saturated.
Monounsaturated Fat
This fat is associated with improved health and disease prevention
and should make up the bulk of fat in your diet. Monounsaturated
fat, also referred to as oleic or omega-9, has been shown to have many
health benefits, including helping prevent cancer, heart disease, obe-
sity and other chronic illnesses. The Mediterranean diet, with its
lower incidence of obesity and diseases, is relatively high in monoun-
saturated fat, which may be the key reason for the health benefits. In
some cases, we know how monounsaturated fat can prevent disease.
For example, this fat is known to raise “good” HDL cholesterol and
lower “bad” LDLcholesterol, which can greatly improve cardiovas-
cular health.