Monosaturated vs Saturated Fats

Do you suffer from arthritis, menopause, heart disease, PMS, headaches, skin irritations, infections or a host of other problems.  Then Essential Fatty Acids (EFA’s) should be the first thing on your list.  Unfortunately, most Americans have been brainwashed into believing that fats are bad for us.  Hardly the truth!

Some fats are essential for life.  They are called essential fats because the body can’t produce them on their own.  These fats must be supplied to the body through diet.  Like the nine essential amino acids, these amino acids can’t be manufactured by the body but must be supplied by the diet.  Recognize that carbohydrates (sugars) produce energy.  Proteins are needed to produce muscle.  Fats are needed to produce what?  Hormones and other hormone like structures.

The fats we are referring to are the monounsaturated fats (omega-3 & omega-6).  The American diet is overloaded with saturated fats and not enough monounsaturated fats.  This imbalance creates a host of problems that can affect our health.

Arthritis, bursitis and tendonitis are a problem of inflammation.  “Itis” is the suffix for inflammation.  When we eat saturated fat it triggers the body to produce hormone like structures that produce inflammation.  However, it is the EFA’s in our diet that trigger the body to produce anti-inflammatory responses.  So, when the body suffers from any type of “itis” malady we need to produce anti-inflammatory responses in the body.  Headaches can be a result of inflammatory responses.  EFA’s may ease the pain from headaches.

With heart disease as the #1 killer in America, we should first address clogged arteries.  We need to keep moving blood through the arteries and keep them from clogging.  Saturated fat looks like tiny little logs that are straight and rigid, while monounsaturated fat have one, two or more bends in them. 

If the diet is loaded with saturated fats, you are loading up the arteries with nothing but straight little logs which are uniformly perfect.  This allows them to stack up perfectly and clog an artery the same way a beaver may damn a river.  However, with the addition of EFA’s and their bent structures, it becomes virtually impossible for these straight and bent little logs to stack up so perfect and uniform that they clog up an artery. 

Earlier we learned that fats from EFA’s are needed to produce hormones.  With a history of eating low fat and no fat we have probably created an imbalance of hormones that can be triggering the problems associated with menopause and PMS.  Stay away from the trans fatty acids, which are your hydrogenated fats and do your body a favor and start taking a daily supply of good EFA’s.

If you are not getting enough of the good fats in your diet from nuts and seeds, cold water fish and olive oil...I would suggest using a good fish oil to give your body those essential fats they need.

Dr. Len Lopez