Why do we need protein? The message around fat is a confusing one. These generally fall under the category of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats and omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids like salmon, avocados, olive oil, whole eggs and nuts. What counts? They contain high levels of trans-fatty acids. Your Message. It is in foods because both plants and animals use fats as the most economical way to store energy. Not necessarily. For baking, try canola oil.
Fats are important part of your diet but some types are healthier than others. Choosing healthy fats from vegetable sources more often than less healthy types from animal products can help lower your risk for heart attack, stroke, and other major health problems. Fats are a type of nutrient that you get from your diet. It is essential to eat some fats, though it is also harmful to eat too many. The fats you eat give your body energy that it needs to work properly. During exercise, your body uses calories from carbohydrates you have eaten. But after 20 minutes, exercise then depends on calories from fat to keep you going. You also need fat to keep your skin and hair healthy. Fat also helps you absorb vitamins A, D, E, and K, the so-called fat-soluble vitamins. Fat also fills your fat cells and insulates your body to help keep you warm. The fats your body gets from your food give your body essential fatty acids called linoleic and linolenic acid. They are called “essential” because your body cannot make them itself, or work without them.
In fact, getting some fat from our diet is absolutely vital. In this section, you will find out what fats are, why we need them, what they do for us and where we find them in our foods. Virtually all natural foods contain some fat. It is in foods because both plants and animals use fats as the most economical way to store energy. It is needed for their growth, development and function when there is a shortage of food supply or a shortage of sunlight in the case of plants. Certain specific dietary fats have other essential functions. We are much like other animals so we do actually need some fat from our diet to survive. And while in general, as with most things, too much fat is bad, a certain amount is perfectly compatible with good health.