Remember being told fats were bad and that was that? Well, the truth is, when it comes to your health, dietary fat has never really been black and white. But it can be easier to understand if you follow three simple rules…
Some fats aren’t great for you, sure. But others are the foundation of good health. Fortunately, science is finally chipping away at mainstream medicine’s fear of all things fat — and saving your life in the process.
Take the latest study to come out of Harvard, for example…
Harvard researchers found that eating more unsaturated fat actually helps you live longer. Which means that all those years the doctors, nutritionists and other health experts were encouraging you to eat low-fat diets, they were actually cutting your life short.
Of course, hindsight is 20/20. At the time, they were operating under the best dietary theory they had to work with — the old ‘fat makes you fat, leads to higher cholesterol, cardiovascular disease and (eventually) death’ mantra.
But now we know better. This latest study (and others like it) show that healthy, unsaturated fats help you live a longer, healthier life. After studying the health records of a whopping 126,233 people, researchers determined that eating more unsaturated fat reduced your risk of dying prematurely by 11 to 19 percent.
Of course to experience these life extending benefits, you need to have a firm grasp on healthy versus unhealthy fats. If you eat the wrong kind of fats, you are essentially putting one foot in the grave. So when choosing what fats to include in your diet, follow these three fat facts:
Trans fats are not healthy fats—avoid them. They are probably the worst fat you can eat. They are artificial, processed fats that clog your arteries and increase your risk for heart attack and stroke. Unsurprisingly, these unhealthy fats increase your risk of premature death by 16 percent or more. Trans fats are often listed on labels as “partially hydrogenated oils.” So keep your eyes peeled for them.
Saturated fat falls somewhere in the middle of the healthy to unhealthy fat spectrum—eat sparingly. There are some really healthy foods that contain saturated fat… like grass-fed beef, grass-fed whole milk, eggs and coconut oil. So you don’t want to avoid it all together, else you give up a lot of good nutrients from those foods. The best advice here is to apply a bit of moderation. Because according to this latest study, a high intake of saturated fats still led to an eight percent higher risk of premature death.
Now the healthiest fat — the kind that will help you live longer — is unsaturated fat. Both polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats will do the trick. And especially those with omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids, which are like the building blocks of optimum health. Here are some of the best sources of healthy unsaturated fat you can find:
- Olive oil
- Salmon
- Flaxseeds
- Walnuts
- Avocado
- Mackerel
- Herring
- Trout
- Sardines
- Sunflower seeds
- Chia seeds
Try to incorporate these foods into your diet as much as possible, and you may just have a lifespan that makes the record books one day.
Source:
D. Wang, Y. Li, S.E. Chiuve, M. J. Stampfer, et al. “Specific Dietary Fats in Relation to Total and Cause-Specific Mortality.” JAMA Internal Medicine, July 5, 2016.
“The truth about fats: the good, the bad, and the in-between.” Harvard Medical School. http://www.health.harvard.edu. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
