Most of the times we’re told that fat is unhealthy for us. Infact, one of the most common mistake that people make is excluding a essential nutrient from the diet. Healthy fat is almost as important as other nutrients in the diet. Removing healthy fat from the diet will not result in nutritional deficiency but it can also cause hormonal imbalance, poor skin and hair, drying of glands, depression and much more. Fat is an important ingredient of our diet but it needs to be the right kind of fat in right proportion.
Eating healthy fat is a must for
- Thermal insulations for body temperature control
- Organ protection
- Cell growth
- Nutritonal absorption
- Nerve transmission
- Hormone production
- Clean energy
Types of fat
- Saturated fats
- These fats are solid at room temperature and get harder when chilled
- These are heavy and dense
- Eg : animal fat, meat fat, desi ghee etc
- These are considered non essential fatty acids because the human body can synthesis these from other nutrients
- We require these in very small quantity
- Consumption of these in large quantity can lead to an increase in bad cholesterol
- Unsaturated fats
- These form an important part of a healthy diet
- They help reduce the risk of heart disease and lowers cholesterol levels
- There are two types of unsaturated fats : Monounsaturated fatty and Polyunsaturated fatty acids
- Monounsaturated fatty acids
- Olive oil, avocado oil, sunflower seeds etc
- These are liquid at room temperature
- Polyunsaturated fatty acids
- These are liquid at room temperature and stay liquid when chilled
- These are essential fatty acids because they are critical for our health and our bodies can’t make them so they have to be included in the diet
- Eg omega 3, 6 and 9. Main sources are fish, fish oil, flax seeds, chia seeds etc
- An ideal ratio of omega 6 to 3 in our diet should be from 1:1 to 4:1
- Most of us however, only obtain a ratio of 10:1 to 25:1
Oziva’s new vegan / plant based omega multi
- This is India’s first plant based omega supplement with multi vitamins
- It contains 200 mg DHA+EPA which is completely vegan
- It also has multi vitamins like A D E and K2
- It’s ingredients include vegan omega 3, plant multivitamins and extra virgin olive oil
- Ideal dosage is one capsule daily 30 minutes post lunch or dinner
- Oziva has become India’s first clean nutrition based brand
- It has even been awarded by US based clean label project
Why should you include fat in your diet
- As per dietary guidelines, 20-30 % of the total calories in our diet should come from fat
- Trans fat or hydrogenated fat is the unhealthy fat that incrases bad cholesterol in our body
- These are used to increase the shelf life of processed food
- Hydrogenated fat thus causes only harm to the body
- From 2000 onwards, all Indian food manufactures are bound to list trans fat content separately on food labels
- However, the labelling laws allow companies to round down the trans fats to zero and claim no trans fats in the food
- It is thus imperative to ignore the marketing and always read the ingredient list
- Limit or avoid processed food in your diet
- Rather go for unprocessed, cold pressed or virgin food ingredient
- Choose lean meat over red meat
- Consume visible fat in moderation
- Include rich sources of omega 3 in your diet
