Fat is often demonized and labeled as unhealthy. However, fat is an essential macronutrient and should therefore by no means be missing in a healthy diet .
In this post, we'll explain the difference between healthy and unhealthy fatty acids , how to recognize them, and why fat is important for our bodies. We will also provide you with practical tips to help you incorporate healthy fats into your diet in cereals or porridge.
Basically, there are two different types of fats in terms of satiety: saturated and unsaturated fatty acids.
Saturated fatty acids – thus they are rather unhealthy
Saturated fatty acids do not have double bonds in the fatty acid chain. This makes these fatty acids rather unhealthy. Even if saturated fat is rather unhealthy, it makes no sense to want to eliminate it completely from your diet, as low amounts of saturated fat are found in all fatty foods.
Unsaturated fatty acids – the healthy fats
Unlike saturated fats, unsaturated fatty acids have at least one double bond in the fatty acid chain. The number of double bonds influences the physical state of the fats at room temperature.
Saturated fatty acids remain solid at room temperature. On the other hand, polyunsaturated fatty acids become liquid at room temperature.
The ratio between saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in your diet is particularly crucial. This ratio should be approximately 1:2.
This means that your daily intake of saturated fats should be one-third, and the intake of unsaturated fats should be two-thirds of the total fat intake per day.
Why is it important to eat enough fat?
Fats fulfill various important functions in our body. These include, but are not limited to:
- Protection for our organs : Fats are also important for the human body because they protect our organs, such as the kidneys, liver, and brain. Fat acts as a small protective cushion for our organs and also contributes to our thermal protection function.
- Building blocks for our cells : Fat is an important building material for our cells and their components. Therefore, it should definitely not be missing in a healthy diet.
- Intake of vitamins : In addition, the body can only metabolize various vitamins (A, D, E, and K) when consumed in combination with fat.
- Contain essential fatty acids: Some fatty acids cannot be produced by the body itself and must therefore be absorbed through food. These fatty acids are essential for life; therefore, we must consume them through food. These include omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids.
- Satiating Fat: Fats have a higher calorie density than proteins and carbohydrates and therefore keep you full for a long time.
This is your daily requirement for healthy fatty acids
All foods consist of the three macronutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Throughout the day, you should consume all three macronutrients through a varied diet . However, we often either eat too much unhealthy fat or avoid fatty acids too much. Both variants are not good for our body.
Undersupply of fat is bad because our body needs fat to build our cell walls and control our hormones. If you eat too little fat in the long term, this can also have negative consequences.
For example, it can weaken your immune system, you could lose hair, and it can also cause growth delays or even infertility.
Of course, an overdose of fat is also harmful to our body. If we consume too much fat in the long term, the fat is stored around the abdominal cavity, liver, pancreas, heart, and skeletal muscles, for example. However, the fat in these places is not healthy and can therefore lead to chronic inflammation.
In order to be optimally supplied with fat, you should cover 30% of your energy needs with fats every day. If you consume 2000 kcal per day, you should therefore consume a maximum of 600 kcal through fats. This corresponds to about 65 grams of fat per day .
How to Identify Healthy Fatty Acids
There are various healthy and tasty foods that contain a variety of healthy fats. Foods with healthy fats are those that contain a high proportion of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids and a low proportion of saturated fatty acids.
These foods are particularly high in healthy fats
You can easily find out which fatty acids and how much fat different foods contain in the nutritional value table . This provides information about the total fat content, as well as the fat content of saturated or unsaturated fatty acids.
Nuts contain many healthy fats
Nuts in particular are known for their high content of healthy fatty acids. Because various nuts, such as walnuts and macadamia, contain a particularly high amount of healthy fats. Among other things, the walnut is known for its high content of omega-3 fatty acids. You can find out more about the nuts and their nutritional values here.
You can easily integrate
Seeds and vegetable oils – full of healthy and plant-based fats
Various other seeds and seeds, such as sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, or pumpkin seeds, are also rich in healthy fatty acids. Furthermore, vegetable oils, particularly cold-pressed oils such as olive oil, linseed oil, and rapeseed oil, contain healthy fatty acids.
A very simple rule of thumb that tells you how much saturated fat is in a food: the more liquid a fat is, the higher the proportion of unsaturated fatty acids. Rapeseed oil, for example, consists of 90% unsaturated fatty acids and is therefore very liquid at room temperature.
In the Verival Grain-Free Muesli you will find a variety of different nuts and seeds that provide you with optimal healthy fats.
Avocados also contain a good portion of healthy fat. So you see, it's also quite easy to meet your daily fat needs with healthy foods.
Animal fat sources
When you eat fish, fish species like salmon, tuna, and mackerel are also a good healthy source of fat. In addition, eggs, especially the yolk, contain healthy fats.
3 tips for a healthy diet with fats
1. Watch out for hidden fats
Many finished products, such as cakes, ready-made sauces, and fast food, often contain large amounts of saturated fatty acids. Therefore, you should generally avoid unhealthy finished products and take a close look at the nutritional table.
Unhealthy fast foods such as French fries, fried snacks, or desserts also often contain trans fats, which can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.
As with everything, however, moderation makes the poison here as well. So it is perfectly fine to treat yourself now and then, but you should rather rely on healthy fats, such as those found in nuts, healthy oils, or fish, in your daily diet.
2. Use oil and fat more sparingly when searing
1 gram of fat has 9 kcal. In comparison, one gram of carbohydrates and protein has only 4 kcal. This means that fats generally have a higher calorie density than proteins and carbohydrates.
That is why it is important to use fat sparingly . Especially when searing, you should use fat sparingly, as you can easily grab too much fat here.
3. Use healthy sources of fat
As mentioned earlier, fat, as well as carbohydrates and proteins, is an important macronutrient that should not be neglected. The only thing that matters is to have access to healthy fats. You can find the healthy, unsaturated fatty acids in nuts, vegetable oils, seeds, and fish, for example.
Vegan Walnut Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 2 brown bananas
- 50 g oatmeal
- 100 g spelt flour
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 1 tablespoon crushed flaxseed
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 60 g walnuts
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 70 ml plant-based drink
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder (as desired)
Preparation
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First, preheat your oven to 180 degrees (convection).
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Next, use a fork to crush the 2 bananas into a porridge and then place the mixture in a bowl.
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Next, place the walnuts in a food processor until they are crushed and add them to the bananas.
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Then let the coconut oil melt and add it to your mixture.
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Next, add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and mix all the ingredients well until a creamy dough is formed.
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Then place the dough for the banana bread in a box tin. If necessary, lightly grease the mold.
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If you want, you can also add a few whole walnut kernels on top of the dough as decoration.
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Now put the banana bread in the oven for about 40 minutes. If the bread becomes too dark at the top, you can also cover it with some foil.
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After the baking time, remove the banana bread from the oven and let it cool briefly. Then you can take the banana bread out of the mold and cut it into pieces.
Nutritional values
Conclusion
Even though fat is often claimed to be unhealthy and leads to obesity, this is by no means true. Fat is an important macronutrient that should not be missing in a healthy diet.
It is only important to rely predominantly on healthy sources of fat and to rarely eat real fat bombs, such as fried foods or fries. Already at breakfast, you can supply your body with healthy fatty acids and thus start the day fit and strengthened.
