Fats: Friend or Foe?

We all know that. If you eat too much fat, you become overweight. What you probably may not know is that fats are essential for us to survive and a diet low in fat can be dangerous.

Consider these facts: fats have high energy value; they provide essential fatty acids and help in the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins. Being a poor conductor of heat, fats also insulate the body. Of course, an excess of anything is bad. Similarly, excessive fat leads to obesity, heart disease, and other problems.

Did you know that fats can be broken down into saturated and unsaturated?

When you eat fat, you take in both types, but the proportions change. The unsaturated fats are the good guys here and it is much more desirable to have them in your diet than saturated fats. Vegetable oils such as sunflower, saffola, soya bean, corn, and soya bean have a higher amount of unsaturated fats and are preferable to butter, ghee, and vanaspati which are rich in saturated fats.

Excess of fat is harmful in more ways than one. Not only do you suffer from being overweight, but an overabundance of fat can also lead to diarrhea. In such a case, the food has little or no chance of being absorbed and is constantly expelled from the system This leads to an abnormal weight loss and can cause loss of essential vitamins, minerals, and fluids rich in magnesium, potassium, and sodium. This can then lead to serious dehydration and if fluids and other essential elements are not replaced quickly, coma and death can occur.