“Fats” just the mere writing of the word puts chills down my spine, WAIT !  can writing about fat be contagious ? How silly, but yet I dread looking at the word “FATS”.

You and I are going to be brave and we are finally going to get to know this word “Fats” and everything it entails, or at least we are going to find out more about it and take the fear out of FATS.

Every time I hear the word “fats”, I picture an obese person. Of coarse when we eat irresponsibly that is the extra weight that millions of Americans carry around and that millions of others constantly strive to either keep off or take off. It’s estimated that 30 million Americans from the ages of 20 to 75 are overweight with child obesity on the rise, particularly in those cases where children are constantly watching the boob-tube (television)or playing video games.

The diet industry in the United States has grown to over a billion (that’s with a “b”-billion)dollars and when you take ALL the diet plans, exercise clubs, books, magazines, exercise equipment, etc. into account, Americans spend nearly 10 billion dollars a year in unsuccessful efforts to permanently lose the weight. At any given time around 20 million persons are on some sort of weight loss program, and more than half will regain what they lost.

When I came across some of the statistics I was speechless. I learned that in the early part of the 20th century, the amount of fat in the average American diet totaled roughly 30 percent of the daily calories consumed, whereas now it has increased to about 45 percent. The average American now consumes about 155gms of fat every day and that’s too much.

Most all authorities on nutrition are advocating a diet with only 30 percent in fats in total calories consumed. So a person on a 2000 calorie per day diet would ingest about 67 gm of fats.  In China, the amount of fats in the diet is only 1/4 that of the American counter part which is a contributing factor to heart and colon diseases in the U.S.

Our dietary fat intake consists of foods that are high in fat content. Such things as saturated butters, creams, cooking oils and fatty meats. We also have the ‘hidden fats’ such as mixed in our foods like whole milk, luncheon meats, avocado, olives, nuts, cheeses, and chocolates.

Fats, like carbohydrates, are composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, but the amount of oxygen in the fat is much less than the amount of hydrogen and carbon. This is what makes fats a concentrated source of energy, providing more than twice the number of calories per gram than carbohydrates or protein.

Fats are made up of fatty acids and glycerol. The most common form of fat we store in over 90 percent of our bodies is called triglyceride.  These types of fats consists of three fatty acids connected to one molecule of glycerol. The predominant type of fatty acid contained in the fats determine its tastes and consistency, solid or liquid. There are approximately 20 different fatty acids in the foods we eat. Each fatty acid contains a long chain of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms attached to them.

When all the spaces in the chain are filled with hydrogen that is called a saturated fatty acid. When there are two spaces in the chain that can be filled with hydrogen that is called monounsaturated and if there’s more than two spaces in the chain that can be filled it’s called polyunsaturated fats.

Saturated fats are usually solid at room temperature whereas monounsaturated fats are a more heavier oil consistency and polyunsaturated fats are usually liquid.

Logically when you think of each one of those different fats coarsening through your veins the more liquid the better, right? Because if it’s more solid it can clog up the arteries, and that’s not healthy.

And now that we know a little bit MORE about FATS.  I think it’s a little less intimidating, and knowing more about fats usually will take the fear out of fats, and start the next steps to a healthier you.

Jasmine Beaupre, author