Healthy Fats we need.

Hi people, now being on any diet is not easy especially when you don't know what you should eat.
Today I will try to put together food list to make it easier for eating and shopping.

First lets talk of healthy fats. Why did fats start getting a bad rap? It all started in the '60s when American Heart Association had recommended that people reduce their fat intake and increase their carbs in form of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Unfortunately many people understood it as - any kind of carbs were good ( even refined carbohydrates like white bread, white rice and white paste). Trust the food industries to pounce on that,suddenly everybody is producing low fat foods which are unusually high in sugar because the truth is - Once you remove natural occurring fat from food, it becomes tasteless. To give it taste large amount of sugar are added to these "Low-fat" foods. So what do we have today, high increase in obesity.

Healthy fats are wonderful. They not only lower bad cholesterol and help in shedding excess weight, they also give us shiny hairs and nails.

Healthy Fats and Oils

In ketogenic lifestyle, meals are supposed to be made up of at least 75% Fat. The three types of healthy fats needed are:

• Healthy Saturated Fat - Coconut oil, red Palm Oil and high-fat dairy like grass-fed butter and ghee
• Omega-3 fatty acids - These are found in Omega-3 foods like Mackerel (Titus in Naija), Sardines, Salmons, Tuna, Cod etc
• Healthy Omega-9 fatty acids - These are found in Olive Oil, Avocados, Almonds

Please AVOID hydrogenated oils such as MARGARINE which are usually exposed to heat, chemicals, hydrogenation, bleaches, emulsifiers, and additives. Most times what we call butter here in Nigeria are Margarines. Note that Butter is usually wrapped in paper foils unlike Margarines that are in plastic containers.

Other sources of fat are

• Mayonnaise ( Carbohydrate content MUST be less than 2g per 100g)
• Coconut butter
• Beef Tallow
• Non-hydrogenated Lard
• Chicken Fat