Good Fats for the Healthy Diet

Dieters and people who have health concerns, such as heart, and high cholesterol. are usually advised to skip the fat in their diets. The American Heart Association is now making recommendation to include healthy fat in the diet.

Make no mistake, fat is still fat, and is therefore high in calories. Therefore, this is not a carte blanc to eat all the fat you want. However, healthy fat does have some benefits.

The Harvard School of Public Health has published findings the "Low-Fat Diet Not a Cure-All". The eight year study on women showed that the dietary advice of the 1990's, which was reflected in the USDA food guide pyramid, was inadequate. for weight loss and the prevention of disease. The Woman's Health Initiative Dietary Modification Trial was started in 1993, when dietary fat was seen as evil.

The low-fat diet was seen as a straightforward way to prevent heart disease and obesity. The results of the study, which were published in the Journal for the American Medical Association, showed no benefits for a low fat diet. Women assigned to the low fat strategy did not appear to gain protection against breast cancer, colorectal cancer, or cardiovascular disease. The women in the low fat group weighed generally the same as the other group.

The long time recommendations to cut fat from the diet were based upon the mistaken beliefs that body fat was added by eating dietary fat. This is partially true, but not absolutely true. While Americans have decreased the proportion of calories for fat over the last decade, the rates of obesity have increased dramatically.

It seems that the advice to lower all fat was over simplistic. There are some fats that can actually help to lower cholesterol in the bloodstream. High blood cholesterol has been linked to heart disease. Cholesterol deposits can build up inside arteries and narrow the artery enough to slow, or stop, blood flow. The results of this can be blood clots, heart attack, stroke, or sudden death.