In this article we will only get into the bad fats and why it’s bad for you. The reasons in this article are also the reasons why athletes should eat less oily & fried foods – and why we should focus on non-refined foods high in healthy fat & grains.
To start with – overall fat can be divided into 4 categories. 2 of them being qualified as good or healthy fats and the other 2 as bad or unhealthy:
Saturated fat (bad)
Trans fat (bad)
Mono-unsaturated fat (good)
Poly-unsaturated fat (good)
What is so bad about saturated fat? Saturated fat is the fat you should try to avoid. A saturated fatty acid is what you find in meat and dairy products. The reason you should avoid this is that a high intake of saturated fat increases the risk of a bunch of lifestyle diseases such as: High cholesterol, Type-2 diabetes, Cancer & Strokes. This is partly because it raises the concentration of LDL cholesterol in the blood vessels, which results in clogged arteries.
The cells membrane is built from the fat you eat, and if you eat a lot of saturated fat it will make the membrane consists mainly of saturated fat. This means the cells membrane acts like saturated fat, which will make them very solid and hard to penetrate. Since the LDL cholesterol can no longer penetrate the cells it transports back into the blood vessels. This means that the blood is unable to flow and in the long run, the LDL cholesterol creates a clog, a complete stop of blood flow and this is when the stroke happens.
So What is trans fat then? Trans fatty acids are the other type of bad fat. It is found in meat and dairy products but also highly processed oils, cakes, and oily foods found in supermarkets. On a molecular level, this type of fat has the same structure as saturated fat, even though it has a double bond like monounsaturated fat. Because it’s not cis like monounsaturated fat, but trans, it acts like saturated fat. The reason it turns from cis to trans is because of too much heating that modifies the fat structure. This modification also occurs naturally in meat and cow’s milk.
Therefore there is good reason to avoid these types of fat and instead, eat mono-unsaturated fat and especially and most recommended poly-unsaturated fat which include omega-3 og omega-6.
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/why-trans-fats-are-bad
https://www.drmcdougall.com/education/free-mcdougall-program/fat-cholesterol-primary-poisons/
https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2014nl/dec/saturatedfat.htm