Are Fat-Rich Diets Bad for your Health?

If the topic ever centers around fat-rich diets, we should always make a point to distinguish between the different types. Every kind of fat has benefits and risks.

More than any nutrient, we’ve always considered fats to be an enemy against our health. Fat has been carrying around a bad reputation for decades, to the point where people have eliminated it from their diets to be healthier. Today, we’re going against the current trend and analyzing fat-rich diets and their effects on health.

To get started, we need to break down the popular myths you’ve heard time and time again. You won’t believe the real story behind this controversial nutrient!

Fat-rich: we need every kind of nutrient

Many people believe that a fat-rich diet leads to being overweight, obesity and an endless list of health problems. As a result, people have tried restricting fat in their diets as much as possible while others have completely eradicated it.

But eliminating fats is a huge mistake that could have negative health consequences. In a healthy diet, all nutrients have to play a role and fats are no exception. In fact, around 20 percent of the calories you consume throughout the day should come from fat.

You just have to remember to consume nutrients in appropriate portions. In the case of fats, they’re best in moderation.

Fat-rich diets: don’t generalize

If we’re talking about fat-rich diets, we need to specify which fats we’re talking about. Each kind of fat impacts your body differently.

Below, we’ll summarize the different types of fats, the kinds of foods that contain them and the impact on your body.

1. Saturated fats

Most of the fats we tend to eat are saturated fats because they make up many different foods such as meat, fish, eggs and coconut oil. You should eat saturated fats in moderation as the body tends to store them as fat reserves.

2. Unsaturated fats

People also refer to unsaturated fats as “good fats” because they offer the body many health benefits. You can find them in olive oil, fish, corn, and soy. One of its most positive benefits is that it helps reduce cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

3. Fat-rich: essential fats

The name might not ring a bell because they’re often called “omega-3”. Consuming omega-3 fat sources is crucial because your body can’t make its own supply. You can find these fats in fish.

Now that we’ve run through the different kinds of fats and how they affect your body, you’ll notice how they’re really quite different. That’s precisely why we need to specify which fat we’re talking about when we dive into the matter of fat-rich diets.

Diets with plenty of essential or unsaturated fats can offer plenty of health benefits as long as the portions don’t reach excessive amounts. Some of the best benefits they might offer are weight loss, lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels and healthier blood pressure levels as well.

On the other hand, diets that are high in saturated fats can be harmful to your health. Being overweight, obesity and a higher risk of suffering heart attacks or strokes are only a handful of the risks that they present.

Conclusion

After analyzing the different kinds of fats and their impact on health, the conclusion is crystal clear. Diets rich in healthy fats don’t present any health problems. But, if your diet has excessive amounts of saturated fats, you could be putting your body in danger.

In any case, remember that these kinds of diets are only beneficial in the short-term. In the long-term, we recommend following a balanced diet.

More often than not, we’re not hurting our bodies by consuming healthy fats. But, if we’re eating high amounts of them, that often means that we’re missing out on another nutrient that’s just as important.