Healthy Habit # 7 - Eat Healthy Fats Daily

Healthy Fat Sources:

• Raw, unsalted nuts
• Extra Virgin olive oil
  
• Wild salmon
  
• Coconut oil
  
• Avocados
  
• Krill or fish oil (essential fatty acids)
  
• Ground flax seeds
  

Why do you need fat?
There is strong evidence to support the role of fat in: cardiovascular protection, improving body composition, alleviating depression.  There is average evidence to support the role of fat in: preventing cancers, preserving memory, preserving eye health, reducing incidence of aggressive behaviour, reducing ADHD and ADD symptoms.

What are Healthy Fats?
A good definition of "healthy fat" might be - "relatively unprocessed fats from whole foods"

• saturated
• monounsaturated
• polyunsaturated

Equal amounts of each is best throughout the day. You can find these on nutrition labels

What are Unhealthy Fats?
Unhealthy fats are typically those that are industrially produced and designed to be non-perishable, such as;

• Trans-fatty acids that appear in processed foods
• Hydrogenated fats such as margarine (hydrogen is added to the fat chain to make a normally liquid and perishable fat into a solid and shelf-stable fat)

​Most oils are affected by oxygen, light and heat and can go rancid / cause inflammation in the body. Use coconut oil for high heat cooking, olive oil for medium heat cooking.  Use oils such as olive, flax, avocado for dressings.