Good Fat v. Bad Fat ?

My opinion is in the minority on this site, but the research I've done tells me that the only fat that's a truly bad fat is trans fat. Fat from meat will raise your so-called "bad" cholesterol, but it will also make it fluffy and less dense, which is actually good and not bad.

There are different kinds of fat. There is saturated fat, unsaturated fat, and trans fat.

You always want to avoid trans fat, which comes from foods like fried foods, or fast food. The difference between unsaturated fat and saturated fat is that one comes from animals (saturated) and one doesn't (unsaturated). Foods that have saturated fat in them are foods like meat, milk, butter. And foods that have unsaturated fat are foods like avocados, canola oil, and olive oil, and ceertain margarines (as long as they don't also have trans fat). If you had to choose which one was "healthier" it would be unsatruated fat, because it isn't connected to heart disease or high cholesterol like saturated fat.

Just remember, when you choose your other foods throughout your day; like milk, cheese, yogurt, sour cream, etc.; you need to choose either fat-free or low-fat options. Because, obviously, having too much of any fat isn't good for your body/diet. However, when you ate your almonds today you were eating unsaturated fat.

Hope this helped!

I also agree there are good fats and bad fats. Avocado, nuts, oily fish, coconut, etc is good fats. You need them to be healthy. Bad fat would be more saturated fats from fast food, chips, etc. I even think meat, full fat dairy and butter are fine in moderation. But I know that's not a common belief!

To those thinking saturated fat is bad for you; here is an excellent article (with the studies cited) that details why saturated fats are good for you.

http://www.coconutoil.com/truth_saturated_fats.htm