Lifestyle Choices

2 ID FAT AVOID BAD FATS

Some fats are essential to health, which is why we have an instinct to eat fat. The body’s ‘fat sensors’ are in your mouth - and we are instinctively drawn towards the creamy texture of fats, sauces, cheese and cream. That’s why fat-free diets are such a struggle for most of us. There are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ fats in food. Only when you eat the right kind of ‘good’ fats will your body stop craving that smooth, creamy texture.

GOOD FATS

The ‘good fats‘ are essential fats (listed on packets as polyunsaturates) found in seeds, grains and oily fish. They include the essential fatty acids (EFAs) such as omega-3 and omega-6. These fats are essential to health and can help you lose weight. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, your body actually craves essential fats. Secondly, they help your metabolism to work properly: they improve the effectiveness of the brain and the nervous system, they boost immunity, balance hormones and create healthy skin.

Your body and brain depend on omega-3 and omega-6 essential fats. One-quarter of your brain is made up of omega-3s and a lack of essential fats can lead to: lower 10, poor memory and a tendency to depression. Your hormone balance changes, possibly leading to mood swings, PMS, sugar cravings and weight gain. Your skin dries, and your heart and arteries suffer. This is why these fats are called essential.

Omega-3s carry a host of healthy benefits, not least of which is their ability to boost fat-burning:

• They reduce the risk of heart disease and sudden heart attack.
• They halve your risk of ever suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
• They clear up dry skin, stimulate your metabolism, boost brainfunction, protect your heart and strengthen your immune system.

The low-GL diet gives you exactly the right kind and amount of essential fats, not only to help you stay healthy but also to reduce your desire to eat unhealthy fatty foods.

The Holford Low-GL Diet Made Easy encourages you to:

• Eat foods high in the essential omega-3 and omega-6 fats, with an emphasis on omega-3 fats from fish, flax and pumpkin seeds, and their oils.
• Avoid foods high in saturated, hydrogenated or processed fats.
• Avoid fried, burned or browned food.

Good food sources

Below you’ll see the common food sources of these different kinds of fats.

Fat family & Good dietary sources

Omega-3 family: Fish, especially salmon, mackerel, herring, tuna and sardines;flax seeds, pumpkin seeds and walnuts, and their oils.

Omega-6 family: Sunflower, sesame and pumpkin seeds and their oils; alsosafflower oil, corn oil and soya oil.

Omega-9 family: Olive oil, almonds, walnuts.

Saturated fat : Chicken or turkey, milk, yogurt, eggs (ideally those enrichedwith omega-3 fats)

BAD FATS

The ‘bad fats‘ are non-essential fats [listed on packets as saturated fats, trans-fats and hydrogenated fats) found in meat, dairy products, processed, fried and junk foods. Eating bad fats leaves you unsatisfied, so you’ll find yourself craving more fats because your body hasn’t received the good fats it needs.

Bad fats feature heavily in the average Western diet and are bad news for your heart, your weight and your arteries. They contribute to diseases such as cancer, diabetes and coronary heart disease, as well as heavy weight gain. If you eat these fats and don’t burn them off immediately, all your body can do is to store them as unhealthy fat.

Worst of all are the trans-fats and hydrogenated fats. These are the real ‘uglies’ that have been processed, fried or damaged.

When the molecules of essential fats are altered by food processing or frying, they set up a reaction in the body that can damage body cells. That is why some crisps, biscuits, ready-meals and fried foods are bad for you.

There is also an ‘in-between’ fat [mono-unsaturated): omega-9. Olive oil is a particularly rich source. Whereas this is nowhere near as good for you as the essential ‘good’ fats, neither is it as bad for you as the non-essential ‘bad’ fats.

On the Holford Low-GL Diet less than a third of the fat you eat is saturated, compared with two-thirds on the average Western diet.

Foods to enjoy

The omega-3 essential fats, found in flax and pumpkin seeds, and oily coldwater fish such as mackerel, herring, salmon and tuna, keep extra weight at bay in a number of ways. They help make hormone-like substances called prostaglandins, which help to control metabolism and fatburning. They also help to limit the potential damage to the arteries caused when eating too many bad fats or sugary foods leads to bursts of high glucose in the blood.

The omega-6 essential fats, found in hot-climate seeds such as sunflower and sesame, have similar benefits to the omega-3s, and are especially good for the skin and maintaining hormone balance, for example in combating PMS.

Foods to avoid

Foods rich in ‘bad’ fats include: French fries, hamburgers, deep-fried burgers or nuggets, confectionery, chocolate bars, potato and corn chips/crisps, biscuits, doughnuts, margarine, mayonnaise and most salad dressings.

Unfortunately, many vegetarian processed foods are also high in these hydrogenated fats. Check the label. If it states ‘hydrogenated vegetable oils‘, don’t buy it.

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