Fats
 
The fat group suffers most during diets. It’s a common belief that all fats are bad - this is clearly not the case. In fact, your brain and hormones need fat to operate efficiently. However some fats are better for you than others:

Saturated fats are mainly found in animal sources such as lard, butter, and cheese, as well as in coconut and palm oil. At normal room temperature, they tend to remain solid. This type of fat is chemically stable, and its pattern allows your body to break it down. But your body does store it as fat, which is only fine in moderation.

Unsaturated fats mainly come from vegetable oils and oily fish. They’re usually found in liquid form at normal room temperature, and there are two types of fatty acid. The first is monounsaturated and includes sources such as avocado and olive oil. This is ideal to cook with, as it doesn’t change its chemical make up when heated. Polyunsaturated fats are found in sources such as sunflower oil.

There are two other important groups of fatty acids. One can aid your health, the other can damage it.

Cis unsaturated fatty acid is natural and can be beneficial (an example is olive oil).

Trans-unsaturated fatty acid is man made. Many spreads have trans fats in them, which means they have been heat-treated causing their chemical composition to change. The heating process (referred to as hydrogenated) changes a liquid into a solid form so that when it’s at room temperature it’s easier to spread. Ultimately, the body dislikes trans fats because reheating at high temperatures turns the original fat into an unrecognised chemical. When your body comes to break it down it treats it with suspicion and stores it in your adipose tissue just under your skin (fat).

There are also essential fats that help your body in a number of ways. Omega 3 is found in sources such as oily fish, flaxseed and linseed. Omega 6 is found in nuts, sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds. They have the following functions:

· Helping to regulate your blood sugar levels.
· Improving the efficiency of insulin in your body and decreasing insulin resistance.
· Acting as a natural anti inflammatory.
· Increasing your metabolism.
· Improving your brain function.
· Improving your immune system.
· Helping you to burn fat.

You need to eat twice as many omega 3 as omega 6 for optimum health. Hemp seed oil is the only oil that contains all known fatty acids.