Latest / Stacked Intent: Your Guide to Authentic, Intentional Living / Dietary Fats Explained: The Difference Between Healthy and Unhealthy Fats in Your Diet

Transcript

Dietary Fats Explained: The Difference Between Healthy and Unhealthy Fats in Your Diet · Stacked Intent: Your Guide to Authentic, Intentional Living

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_02: Hello all and welcome to the Stack and Hip Podcast.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_02: I am Becca Sacas Morrison and I look forward to having you join us.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_02: As we go along with relationship, finance, and nutrition, we're going to look at the DNA of how you can take those life and dreams that maybe stuck better and help give you some resources for mapping out a plan.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_02: My background is social sciences and I have a certification for Family Life Education.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_02: So I look forward to sharing those with you throughout the podcast.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna have lots of fun.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_02: If you do need a tweet to become authentically you, you're going to look at the ways that you can be your authentic self and be intentional with yourself.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_02: You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you're gonna finish each episode being motivated to live your life more authentically.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: But in these specific episodes, we are gonna have a special co-host, and we're going to let her introduce herself.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, my name is Ashley Beard, and I'm the new business family consumer science and for both Gaimler and Edwards County in the Southeastern part of the state of Georgia.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited to be here today, and I'm a kind of background in nutrition from an education standpoint and then also from a community standpoint.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: And this is something I'm super passionate about, and I'm excited to work with Becca to talk more about being intentional in the things that you can do in the things that you put into the side.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to our podcast of Stacked Intent.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: We are here to discuss and drop tips on how to intentionally stack your life today, and we're gonna be talking about fat.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_02: So I am Becca and we have Ashley with us.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: So Ashley, what are those objectives we've got today?
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Today we're gonna talk about what is fat, dietary fat, and what purpose it has in our body.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: We'll also talk about the differences between saturated fat and unsaturated fat, and then how to incorporate healthy fats into your diet.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: So we're gonna get started with talking about what is fat and how does our body use it.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, well, you have probably heard varying tales of dietary fats um throughout your lifetime and have been just as confused as everyone else at some point about if they were good or bad for you.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: It seems to change either yearly or within generations or decades about is fat good for you or is it not?
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: What's important to know is that your body needs dietary fats and they are essential to our body's function.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: They give us energy, they help protect our organs, help keep us warm.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: So for body temperature regulation and insulation, and fats are also important in nutrient absorption and hormone production.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: All fats provide, oh yeah, what were you gonna say?
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: I just said, wow, our bodies need it.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, our bodies need it.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um our brains specifically definitely need it.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: So when you think about your your neurons and your neurological pathways, fat helps to develop the the protective sheath around your neurological pathways.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so if we don't have that, um our bodies, our bodies can't make that insulation within our brains without fat.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: So it is really important.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: So when if you've got a fatty brain, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but we do know that all fats provide nine calories per gram.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: So eating too much of them in excess, regardless of if they're saturated or at or unsaturated, can lead to weight gain if we eat too much.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: However, our unsaturated fats can still provide different important nutrients like omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, which are specifically good for our brain and for our heart.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: Which it's like anything, it's eating it in the portion sizes that our bodies need.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so going back to our brain, 60 to 70 percent of your brain is made up of fat.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: And those omega-3 fatty acids that come from food um are the essential building blocks for our brains, and they do play a role in learning and memory.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_02: So it's also important that we feed our brains, not just our body.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: It helps our other organs in our body as well.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, and not just thinking about using it as an energy source, but all of the nutrients in the foods that we eat should play a vital role in what um are in our bodies, but there are some nutrient, um, the nutrient-dense foods that have lots of different nutrients, and there's some that are just nothing but calorie dense.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: So they just only provide calories and sugar and nothing else.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: We want to limit or avoid those.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_02: So not all our fats are equal.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: So why aren't our fats equal?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: Well, there are four major dietary fats that are found in food.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: So you've got your saturated fats, trans fats, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fats.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: Saturated fats and trans fats are considered to be the bad fats.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: They are the ones that can raise your blood cholesterol or raise your cholesterol or your low density lipoprotein levels, which are not good, and affect your blood pressure.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: So these fats are typically more solid at room temperature, like a stick of butter.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I gave this example in a class that I was teaching to picture your artery.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like a cylinder or a tube, right?
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: And then you have a stick of butter.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: So if you take a stick of butter out of the refrigerator, it's not gonna immediately melt into a puddle, but it's gonna stay solid or maintain its shape at room temperature for at least a little bit of time.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's because it's high and it's got saturated fats.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: So if you took that artery, you took that stick of butter and you tried to shove the stick of butter into your artery, what's gonna happen?
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna clog up.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: So that's basically what happens with cholesterol.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: So foods that are higher in saturated fats and bad cholesterol can start to build up in your arteries and restrict your blood flow and can lead to heart attack or stroke.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: So that is why we want to limit our saturated fat sources.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: And so sometimes it's what do you really want something cooked like?
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_02: You really need to look at what's in it.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_02: Of are you putting a lot of lard and butter and Crisco in it?
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: Or and you can see too, like when you cook bacon or you cook sausage or another another type of fatty meat.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: And if you let the grease sit there for a little while and then it starts to harden or starts to to create um looks a little gelatinized, I I hate it.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's so gross, but that is that saturated fat.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: So once it's gotten cooled down to room temperature, it becomes solid.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: So we have to think about that like in our bodies.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: So if you pour that down the drain, it'll clog the drain.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: And that everybody knows that.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: So think about why you would want to put that in your body where you're it could could clog up, like I mean, essentially over time, could could clog up your arteries and then cause issues with your your blood pressure, um, increase your risk for heart disease and stroke and other heart and brain related because of restricted blood flow.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_02: Mm-hmm.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: So that's it.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's interesting.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_02: So what about trans fats?
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: Well, trans fats are used in many fast food restaurant fryers to deep fry foods, and they can provide a desirable taste and texture in baked and baked goods.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, however, they have been linked to increased risk of developing heart disease and stroke as well as higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: So you may have seen on like pre-packaged goods or um or processed foods in the grocery store, it may say on the front, like zero grams of trans fats.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know why, just an Oreo package is coming to my brain right now, but I think it's because I've seen that I've seen it um on the front of an Oreo package that it says zero grams of trans fat.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that doesn't mean that the Oreos have no fat at all or that they're a fat-free food.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: They just may not contain that those trans fats, which are on a different level of bad for us.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: But that doesn't necessarily mean that Oreos are good for us.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: So um there are you have to just be knowledgeable of what of what trans fats are.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so sometimes a marketing tactic may be even if something doesn't would not naturally contain trans fats, anyways, or it never contained trans fats, marketing um strategists may put that on the front of their package to say, oh, zero grams of trans fats, or like may say on a bag of carrots, zero grams of trans fats.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: Well, a carrot isn't a carrot would not naturally have trans fats, anyways.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: But sometimes we may be willing to pay a little extra more for something because we think it's healthier for us than maybe something else.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's sometimes our packaging is all marketing, it has really nothing to do with what's good for you and what's not.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: That's very true.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: So we've talked about our bad fats, but there are some good fats.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: So our unsaturated fats, both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated, are typically liquid at room temperature.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: These fats are considered the good ones because they can help keep your good HGL cholesterol or high density lipoprotein cholesterol up, and it can help reduce your bad cholesterol levels in your blood.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: So, to get really technical, the difference in a monounsaturated and a polyunsaturated fat is it's just the fat molecule in a monounsaturated has one unsaturated carbon bond in the molecule.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: Polyunsaturated fat is one that has more than one unsaturated carbon bond.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's really really sciencey and really technical, but it's recommended to reduce the amount of excuse me, of those fats and incorporate more healthy fats in your diet.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_02: It is helpful.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_02: And incorporating, I mean, healthy fats can be as simple as an avocado or just basic something simple that just gives you add an avocado instead of mayonnaise to a sandwich, and you might still get that creamy texture, but it'll be in a healthier fat format.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's one example of how you can make a substitution with just your fats and your food.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: So it would provide, like you said, that same texture.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: You have to know it's gonna have maybe a little different taste to it.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: But we do know that like mayonnaise and lots of our condiments and creamy salad dressings and things like that are typically higher in saturated fat.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so a really easy way to substitute that would be either using avocados, like you said, um as a spread instead of butter, or you could even do a salad dressing.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: You can make it with avocados, or just do like an oil and vinegar salad dressing.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but use avocados in the place of mayonnaise instead.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: So there's lots of ways that you can switch out your fats and get more bone for your buck.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: But again, just keeping in mind too that regardless of if it's an unsaturated fat or a saturated fat, it still has nine calories per gram.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: So you don't want to eat an abundance of regardless of unsaturated or saturated fats, but you're still getting it's a better option to choose the unsaturated fats over saturated.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then what about our fats and our foods?
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: So the fats that we want to avoid are found in foods that are baked and fried using saturated fats, um, like your meat, so beef, lamb, pork, poultry with skin, lard, dairy products like butter and cream, whole or two percent milk.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so the the percentage in a milk or in a in a in dairy products, all of that that percentage just represents how how much fat is in there.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: So skim milk would not have any milk or any fat in the milk at all.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: Whole milk is whole fat.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: 2% is it's got 2% milk fat, 1%, 1% milk fat, and then skim milk just is fat free.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: So like your cheeses and yogurts, too, same thing.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: And then your oils from palm kernels.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: So those are those are our saturated fat sources and the things that we would like to not eat as often um or eat in smaller amounts.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: But then our our good fats, the unsaturated ones, those come from oils like olive oil, peanut oil, canola oil, um, but like you were saying, avocados, nuts, so almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, seeds like pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, um, and then your oils that like corn, soybean, and flaxseed oils, and also fish oil, too.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: So when we are trying to increase our unsaturated fat sources, again, you have to think about the fact yes, they do still contain nine grams um or not nine calories per gram, but they also have omega-3 fatty acids, omega-6 fatty acids, they have all of the good things in them, but you still have to eat them in moderation.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: So there are a lot of different um thoughts around coconut oil.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I will I will touch on that briefly and just let you know that to do your research on coconut oil, so that's one of those ones that are that's a good source of saturated fat, which is the one that we want to avoid.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: So if you look at coconut oil, oftentimes it is kind of gelatinized or it would be solid or or almost solid at room temperature.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and and there are a lot of recipes that call for coconut oil as a good alternative, and that it provides, you know, the claims say that they provide more nutritional benefits.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: However, people are using coconut oil in large amounts and large quantities, and it is a source of saturated fat, which is again bad for your cholesterol, bad for your um those, or it's bad for your high blood pressure.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: So, and then also whatever fat is not used as energy also gets stored in your cells for later.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: So we definitely want to do our research on our coconut oil before we just put it in everything and on everything because it is a hundred percent fat, 80 to 90 percent of that being saturated fat, which is why it is, like I said, um has a firmer texture than like a liquid oil at room temperature.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: So just do your research before you start using coconut oil and everything.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_02: Your research and understanding what you're putting into your body is one of the most important things I think that we can do for our overall health is knowing what you're putting in, not just eating it either because it's what was always fed to you or just because it's advertised to you that way, or just because it's what you got access to.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's really figuring out what your body needs.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: And another way I know I briefly touched on it, and lastly, just want to leave with um your like your processed meats.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: So when you think of like salami or and sausages and things like that, those are higher in saturated fat too.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: Again, because if you can see the fat, then you know that it's a source of saturated fat.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's kind of a graphic image to think of your artery being clogged up by a stick of butter or being having a whole tub of coconut oil or large shoved into it.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: But truthfully, in order to think about why we should should limit our saturated fat intake, that's that could be what is happening over time, of course, in your arteries.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um and we want to avoid that.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, for sure.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_02: And it's a graphic graphic to think about, but I think it's one that we can actually picture.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's like if you took a PVC pipe that was a smaller diameter, then you stick a butter and you put it in.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, it is bright, but it's the reality of do you really know what you're shoving into your arteries and putting into your body?
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_02: How well do you know what it how it connects?
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_02: So I think it's an it's a graphic description, but I think it's a very realistic one.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_02: So what are those recaps that we have from our uh fat discussion today?
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: So we briefly talked about what is fat and how our body uses it and why it is important in our diet to consume some.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: But then we also talked about the differences between saturated and unsaturated fats, which ones are the good ones and which ones are the not so good ones.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then we talked about how to incorporate those healthy fats into your diet.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: So, like you said, using nuts, using um your plant-based oils, and then also using like avocados in the place of mayonnaises and using it as spread instead of butter and things like that.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: So lots of substitutions that you could make to incorporate more healthy fats into your diet.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_02: Very much so.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_02: So, what would you say that our challenge or our call to action for our listeners on fat would be?
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: So, I would challenge you to aim to incorporate more unsaturated fat or those healthy fat sources into your diet.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_02: So just really think about the food that you're putting into your body.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you guys for joining us today, and we hope that you have really enjoyed this nutrition series on really learning about your fats, your proteins, and your carbohydrates.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you guys, and y'all have a great one.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_02: That brings us to the end of this episode of Stacked Integ.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: If you love this episode as much as I did, head on over and rate and subscribe so you never miss an episode.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_02: New episodes are gonna be dropped on Thursdays.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_02: Until then, this is Becca, and don't forget, enrich your life by being intentional.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_02: This podcast was created, produced, and recorded, and edited by Stacked Intent.