Understanding Fats!

When it comes to fat in food, there’s a lot of confusion and misunderstanding around what fats are good and what fats are bad.

Consumers’ minds are also abuzz with conflicting information about which diet is best. We are constantly served up endless of information about low fat, high fat and no fat diets just to name a few!  But how on earth do we navigate through all of the information to find out what diet really is best for our health?

Here at Herman Brot, all of our products are relatively high in fat, HOWEVER they are definitely fats of the ‘good’ type with most of the fat in our products coming from sunflower seeds, linseeds and soy grits.

There was a time when low fat diets were the diet of choice, however it was quickly discovered that by while food manufacturers were cutting fats out, they were replacing them with carbohydrates – sugar, grains and starches.  This was not ideal either!  Now we’ve got the current ‘Keto’ style diet trend which supports a diet very high in fat.

Regardless of whatever diet you choose and how much or how little fat is included, it’s important to know what type of fats to eat for good health and what fats to definitely avoid!

What is clear is that we DO need fats in our diet, but we just have to make sure they are the right type of fats.  Fat is a major source of energy and it helps your body absorb vitamins and minerals.

Let’s take a look at the good and the difference between good and bad fats in foods that are served up every day.

GOOD ‘Healthy’ Fats = Unsaturated Fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) nuts, seeds, fish, avocado, and cooking oils like canola, olive, peanut, soybean, sesame, sunflower.

Monounsaturated fat contributes to healthy cholesterol levels and Polyunsaturated fats help with heart health – ridding fats from the blood and lowering the risk of heart disease and stroke.  Healthy fats are also good for the skin, eyes and brain.

BAD “Unhealthy” fats = Trans Fats and Saturated Fats.  These are found in a lot of processed foods.

Trans fats – Deep fried food, butter, margarine, cakes and pastries.

Saturated fats – cheese, butter, red meat, coconut oil, coconut cream, palm oil, margarine, chips, cakes, biscuits, pastries and takeaway foods.

At the end of the day, we shouldn’t be scared of eating fat.  As long as we are educated on the difference between good fats and bad fats, then we should be able to fuel our bodies with the good types which will help us lead a long and healthy life.

For more information on the nutritional value of our products, including fat content, please visit our product pages.