# Adding good fats to a diet



## Cymru (Apr 8, 2008)

Can anyone give me some tips how I can add some good fats to my diet? I've been reading up quite abit recently, and have realised I'm lacking big time in the amount of good/essential fats I have in my diet.

So far I've been thinking of adding olive oil to the rice I have with lunch (how much should I add? Does it change the taste in any way?) and getting some more eggs in.


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## wes (May 28, 2006)

Olive oil is good. You can also get some fish oil tabs. There's also seed like flaxseed and hemp seed etc. Thats all I can think of right now because I'm half asleep.

As for how much. I use, as a general rule, 0.5gram per lb of bodyweight. Total daily fat content


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## Cymru (Apr 8, 2008)

wes said:


> Olive oil is good. You can also get some fish oil tabs. There's also seed like flaxseed and hemp seed etc. Thats all I can think of right now because I'm half asleep.


Haha, cheers wes! :thumb:

How many, and when would you need to take the fish oil tabs?


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## wes (May 28, 2006)

See above again because I edited what I left out. How many depends on the strength of tab and your other daily fats. As for when, thats up to you. Morning, afternoon etc.


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## B-GJOE (May 7, 2009)

Why does everyone think that Olive Oil is a good fat. It is just Omega 9 Fatty Acids, monounsaturate. Which means it is pretty neutral. Just fat calories really. Omega 6 fatty acids (Polyunsaturates) are bad fats. They are the ones found in most vegetable oils. They auto oxidate at body temperature causing free radicals. I also bet that most of you didn't know that during the early stages of organ transplantation the medical proffesion used PFA's (Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids) to supress the immune system so much that the body didn't reject the new organ! NOw they tell us to eat them instead of saturated fats. Is Omega 3 really essential??? Just because the body can't manufature it, doesn't mean we can't live without it. Now what about saturated fats, why does everyone think they are so bad??? There are some extremely beneficial saturated fats, like MCT's caprilic acid and lauric acid, good for boosting immune system, and thyroid function, found primarily in coconut oil (And human breast milk), but we don't see many people citing these as essential do we? Obviously trans fats are bad, but not all trans fats, CLA, Congugulated Linoleic Acid (I think!) is actually a trans fat. I also don't think that good ole animal fats are bad for you, they are extremely stable fats, that don't oxidate easily and cause cancer causing free radicals. Also saturated fats have been shown to boost immune function. Also beef Fat is almost 60% monounsaturated Omega 9's which are the same as olive oil.

I think that Human milk holds the answer to the composition of fats we should be eating for optimal growth and well being. It makes perfect sense that the developing human body is given these by nature. The fat breakdown of human milk from memory is about 50% saturated fats, 30% monounsaturates, and 20% polyunsaturated.

The fats I eat as part of my diet are:

Flax, which gives me my poly's but not too many Omega 6's

Egg Yolk

Double Cream

Coconut Oil

Some Nuts

Olive Oil

In conclusion, almost all fats are good except for Omega 6's.

If you think about the source of fats you will have some idea of their function.

Polyunsaturates come from cold water fish, and seeds/vegetables from cold climates. This is because an oraganism needs the fat to be liquid to make it useable. Poly's are liquid at low temperatures.

Monosaturates come from warmer climate vegetables such as the olive. You may notice that olive oil does become fairly thick in the fridge.

Saturated fats come from warm blooded mammals, and coconuts from very very hot climates.

Now you may ask why doesn't nature make all fats polyunsaturated as they are always liquid at high or low temperature. The answer to this lies in the stability of the fatty acids. For example, in equatorial climates which frequently reach 40° where you find the coconut the polyunsaturated fats would be very unstable at this high temperature, and so would the monounsaturates, so the coconut is full of saturated fats, very very stable even at extremely high temperatures eg cooking. We are 37°C, you do the maths!

As an aside, do not cook with mono and poly fats, use butter or animal fat for you cooking. Heated poly fats are like poison!


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## ba baracuss (Apr 26, 2004)

Personally most of mine comes from whole milk, whole eggs, almonds and fish oils.


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## B-GJOE (May 7, 2009)

ba baracuss said:


> Personally most of mine comes from whole milk, whole eggs, almonds and fish oils.


That's a pretty good choice of fats imo. You might want to look into the benefits of coconut oil too. Some good info on YouTube if you put coconut oil into search, and google 'coconut oil' benefits.


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## ba baracuss (Apr 26, 2004)

B|GJOE said:


> That's a pretty good choice of fats imo. You might want to look into the benefits of coconut oil too. Some good info on YouTube if you put coconut oil into search, and google 'coconut oil' benefits.


Cheers.

I read some good stuff on here on coconut a while back. What about coconut milk?


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## B-GJOE (May 7, 2009)

ba baracuss said:


> Cheers.
> 
> I read some good stuff on here on coconut a while back. What about coconut milk?


Plenty of coconut fats in the milk too.


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## ste08 (Jan 4, 2009)

Hi mate, i am dieting at the moment so my fats are quite high, these consist of;

Natural peanut butter

Mixed nuts, almonds, brazils, cashews etc

Whole eggs

Fish oils

:thumb:


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## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

The reason omega 6 fats are hailed as better than saturated fats is because they don't block arteries or contribute to heart disease in anything like the same way. You are also more likely to burn them for energy than to store them as bodyfat, and they also contribute to health of various processes in the body a lot more.

There is however still an issue with omega 6's. The main thing is how they interact with essential omega 3s and how these two kinds of fatty acid antagonise each other in effect and compete for the same enzymes/carrier molecules. Omega 6 fatty acids are inflammatory (bad), omega 3 anti inflammatory (good), but BOTH are required for brain cell, nerve and hormone development, as well as organ health. As mentioned, omega 6 fats use the carrier particles as omega 3's but much more readily and so too much omega 6 block omega 3 function.

The best ratio of omega 3/omega 6 fats is roughly 3/1... but omega 3's are available in far fewer foods than omega 6 is and, especially in western diets with a lot of processed food eaten, most people have a ratio of 11/1 or worse. This increases the risk of just about every kind of degnerative illness you can think of.

Limited saturates are fine but almost all saturates contribute to arterial hardening if taken above the basic amount your body requires. Most saturates are long chain fatty acids and these are the kind of fat most easily stored as bodyfat. Eating lots of them, if also going low on carbs, will improve your ability to burn fat and use it as a preferential fuel but will also increase your potential to store fat too so in this case calories have to be watched closely.

Coconut oil is good because it contains a large proportion of MCTS - medium chain fatty acids. These are good because the body finds them hard to store but easy to use for energy.

One more thing on omega 6 fats, olive oil and seed oils - be careful when heating them. They are ok until you heat them to the point of smoking, but as soon as they reach this point they start to oxidise much more rapidly and oxidised fats cannot be processed by the body properly at all and block the function of healthier fats. Is best to use them totally uncooked as a dressing.

Good fats to use are coconut oil (good saturates and by far the best fat to fry stuff in), hemp seed oil (perfect balance of omega 3/6 for humans), palm kernel oil (more MCTs) and fish oils (DHA and EPA - the two most vital omega 3 fats). Flax seed oil, and various other omega 3 containing seed oils are almost all ALA (an essential omega 3) and a good choice to top up omega 3 levels but shouldn't make up more than half your omega 3's - a high proportion of omega 3's really should come from fish oils for optimum health.

Egg yolks and some offal also contain phospholipids which are beneficial in small amounts. Fats from milk and butter are ok in one respect, as they have a couple of NATURAL transfats (which are good for you) but are also artery clogging if taken in excess.

Avoid unnatural transfats (anything that contains them that is processed or isn't dairy) and avoid hydrogenated vegetable oils. It annoys the fcuk out of me that hydrogenated omega 3/6 fats are still marketed as healthy as in margarine - they are horribly bad for you and are hard to metabolise and block healthy fat function even more than oxidised fats.

Oh and don't worry too much about dietary cholesterol (although certainly dont seek it out) unless you have high LDL and triglyceride levels - almost all cholesterol you eat gets broken down by the liver before it ever reaches your bloodstream


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## Cymru (Apr 8, 2008)

Thanks for all that info! Great stuff 

Where could I get some fish oil tabs?


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## ste08 (Jan 4, 2009)

I got mine from holland & barratts mate but im sure you can get them cheaper from the different supplement sites which are advertised on here.


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## Cymru (Apr 8, 2008)

ste08 said:


> I got mine from holland & barratts mate but im sure you can get them cheaper from the different supplement sites which are advertised on here.


Ok, cheers! Are cod liver oil tabs and fish oil tabs the same thing?


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## Jason Griffiths (Jun 25, 2009)

I've been using Avocado oil...any opinions on that?


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## kad191 (Aug 16, 2009)

Cymru said:


> Thanks for all that info! Great stuff
> 
> Where could I get some fish oil tabs?


I got mine from boots, (was in there with the mrs). Ive got bad joints in the family and taken them for years.


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## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

Jason Griffiths said:


> I've been using Avocado oil...any opinions on that?


Avocados are nice chopped in a spinach salad with cherry tomatoes and cold chicken breast 

Have never used the oil but it's one with a good profile of healthy fats (mostly omega 6 so take fish oils as well) and I think also a high smoking temperature so is good for cooking with.

With any oil by the way is best to go for a cold pressed variety (minimises damage done to the molecules during processing) and ideally one packaged in a dark bottle - light (believe it or not) causes oxidation of omega 3 and 6 fats quite rapidly and a couple of months on a supermarket shelf is enough to make oil in a clear bottle to go semi rancid.


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## dixie normus (May 11, 2008)

Dtlv74 said:


> Avocados are nice chopped in a spinach salad with cherry tomatoes and cold chicken breast
> 
> Have never used the oil but it's one with a good profile of healthy fats (mostly omega 6 so take fish oils as well) and I think also a high smoking temperature so is good for cooking with.
> 
> With any oil by the way is best to go for a cold pressed variety (minimises damage done to the molecules during processing) and ideally one packaged in a dark bottle - light (believe it or not) causes oxidation of omega 3 and 6 fats quite rapidly and a couple of months on a supermarket shelf is enough to make oil in a clear bottle to go semi rancid.


Avocado oil is 67% Oleic acid (omega 9). It does, however, throw the o63 balance out being a 12:1 ratio.

Best to eat them whole IMO as they have an excellent vitamin and mineral profile which is lost during pressing.


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## Dezw (May 13, 2009)

Flax seed powder.


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## dixie normus (May 11, 2008)

Dezw said:


> Flax seed powder.


good stuff if from a trusted source as it can go rancid easily. keep it in the freezer:thumb:


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## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

dixie normus said:


> Avocado oil is 67% Oleic acid (omega 9). It does, however, throw the o63 balance out being a 12:1 ratio.
> 
> Best to eat them whole IMO as they have an excellent vitamin and mineral profile which is lost during pressing.


Cheers dixie. Didn't realise it was that high on oleic (thought its non omega 3's were mostly linoleic acid)... that's really high in fact & much higher than olive oil!

I don't eat a lot of them but they are nice :thumb:


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## GSleigh (Jan 22, 2008)

INteresting read about fats..

I get mine from whole eggs, milk, olive oil. Sadly cant eat nutts


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## Baggins (Nov 24, 2008)

B|GJOE said:


> Why does everyone think that Olive Oil is a good fat. It is just Omega 9 Fatty Acids, monounsaturate. Which means it is pretty neutral. Just fat calories really. Omega 6 fatty acids (Polyunsaturates) are bad fats. They are the ones found in most vegetable oils. They auto oxidate at body temperature causing free radicals. I also bet that most of you didn't know that during the early stages of organ transplantation the medical proffesion used PFA's (Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids) to supress the immune system so much that the body didn't reject the new organ! NOw they tell us to eat them instead of saturated fats. Is Omega 3 really essential??? Just because the body can't manufature it, doesn't mean we can't live without it. Now what about saturated fats, why does everyone think they are so bad??? There are some extremely beneficial saturated fats, like MCT's caprilic acid and lauric acid, good for boosting immune system, and thyroid function, found primarily in coconut oil (And human breast milk), but we don't see many people citing these as essential do we? Obviously trans fats are bad, but not all trans fats, CLA, Congugulated Linoleic Acid (I think!) is actually a trans fat. I also don't think that good ole animal fats are bad for you, they are extremely stable fats, that don't oxidate easily and cause cancer causing free radicals. Also saturated fats have been shown to boost immune function. Also beef Fat is almost 60% monounsaturated Omega 9's which are the same as olive oil.
> 
> I think that Human milk holds the answer to the composition of fats we should be eating for optimal growth and well being. It makes perfect sense that the developing human body is given these by nature. The fat breakdown of human milk from memory is about 50% saturated fats, 30% monounsaturates, and 20% polyunsaturated.
> 
> ...


Glad you mentioned breast milk, my good lady gave birth 6 months ago and i have been adding 6 ounces of breast milk a day to one of my shakes


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## Rambo55 (Jun 14, 2009)

I think fish oils are over hyped i like

Coconut oil

nuts ( almods and walnuts) being two of the best

Natural PB ( Meridian brand from Holland and Barrat being the best ive seen YET)


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## B-GJOE (May 7, 2009)

Baggins said:


> Glad you mentioned breast milk, my good lady gave birth 6 months ago and i have been adding 6 ounces of breast milk a day to one of my shakes


mmmmmmm bitty! :lol: :lol:


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## ParaManiac (Mar 20, 2007)

Rambo55 said:


> I think fish oils are over hyped i like
> 
> Coconut oil
> 
> ...


Why are fish oils overhyped?

Do you believe nuts,including PB,are a superior source of fat?


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## Baggins (Nov 24, 2008)

B|GJOE said:


> mmmmmmm bitty! :lol: :lol:


 LMAO wont let me any where near them so she expresses it and stores it in the freezer:thumb:


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## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

Rambo55 said:


> I think fish oils are over hyped i like
> 
> Coconut oil
> 
> ...


Nuts really aren't the best first choice for omega 3's - despite the fact they contain a lot of them. The problem is that it's not just about getting lots of omega 3, as many websites mistakenly suggest, it's about what kind of omega 3.

Nuts contain high levels of ALA but no DHA or EPA at all - and you need your omega 3 intake to be at least 50% (ideally 60-70%) from DHA and EPA. ALA can convert to these two but only in inadequet quantities no matter how much you eat - and many other nutrients can interfere with the conversion process stopping it completely.

EPA and DHA are only found in sea food, sea weed and algae. Rather than being over hyped, despite all the marketing fuss about them I'd say they are still actually underhyped for the benefit these essential nutrients give.

Nuts, if eaten raw and unsoaked, also contain enzyme inhibitors and phytates which can lead to imapired nutrient absorption and an enlarged spleen if taken too frequently. Pre roasted or pre soaked nuts are fine however, and you can soak any raw nuts (lol) at home anyway - http://www.veggiewave.com/soaking_chart ... is really worth doing though if you do eat them raw and unprocessed.


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## fozyspilgrims (Oct 22, 2007)

B|GJOE said:


> That's a pretty good choice of fats imo. You might want to look into the benefits of coconut oil too. Some good info on YouTube if you put coconut oil into search, and google 'coconut oil' benefits.


Thanks for the link going to buy some now. What do you use it for?


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## fitnessfreak (Jun 15, 2009)

Dtlv74 said:


> Nuts really aren't the best first choice for omega 3's - despite the fact they contain a lot of them. The problem is that it's not just about getting lots of omega 3, as many websites mistakenly suggest, it's about what kind of omega 3.
> 
> Nuts contain high levels of ALA but no DHA or EPA at all - and you need your omega 3 intake to be at least 50% (ideally 60-70%) from DHA and EPA. ALA can convert to these two but only in inadequet quantities no matter how much you eat - and many other nutrients can interfere with the conversion process stopping it completely.
> 
> ...


Does this mean that nut and seed butters are preferable to eating the nuts raw because of the way in which they are stored?


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## sizar (Nov 13, 2008)

peanuts walnuts almond cashew nuts make sure it's not salted or don't have any additive go for raw nuts in general . easy to snack on .


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## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

fitnessfreak said:


> Does this mean that nut and seed butters are preferable to eating the nuts raw because of the way in which they are stored?


Nut and seed butters are a great choice. I didn't want to give the impression that there is anything wrong with raw nuts - they are great for minerals and as part of the contribution to omega 3, but just not ideal to eat continuously in large quantities. Moderation and as much variety as possible is key in diet.

The reason nuts have the antinutrients i mentioned is as a natural protection against prematuerly sprouting too early in the year - these chemicals prevent this, and when the weather warms and the spring rains come they wash these chemicals out and allow the nuts to sprout, also making the nutrients within easier to access... so soaking is a simple and effective thing to do.

Nuts contain a lot of good nutrients so are good to include moderately, and fine if prepared properly.


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## B-GJOE (May 7, 2009)

fozyspilgrims said:


> Thanks for the link going to buy some now. What do you use it for?


Put it in shakes, cook with it, put it in your bath, sun lotion, tanning lotion, massage oil, spoon it, pretty versitile stuff!


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