most food contains several kinds of fat and some are better for you than others. some fat is needed in your diet so it’s not a good idea to completely eliminate all fat. instead choose foods with healthier fats and enjoy them in moderation. unhealthy fats include saturated and trans fats (also called partially hydrogenated fats). sources of unhealthy fats come from eggs meat dairy and tropical oils (coconut palm and palm kernel oils). good fats include monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. healthy fat sources include nuts seeds avocados olives and other plants. healthy oils aid in having healthy skin hair and a strong immune system. saturated fats and trans fats grams should be less than 10% of your total calories for the day. to determine the healthfulness of fat consider where it comes from -- animal vs. plant origin. healthy fats coming from plants (and fish) are beneficial for health especially when replacing saturated fat (animal fats) in the diet. at too high levels saturated fats can adversely affect heart health. saturated fats are found in high-fat meats full-fat dairy baked goods and fried foods. trans fat the worse fat of all is mostly found in products (i. e margarine) that contain vegetable oils that have been "partially hydrogenated" to become solid at room temperature. since 2006 fda requires companies to label trans fat in food products. if an item contains <. 5g it can be labeled "trans-fat free. "&nbsp; because the american heart association recommends 2g or less per day for the average 2000 calorie diet check the ingredient line for partially hydrogenated fats. &nbsp;for example &nbsp;natural peanut butter only has peanuts (and salt in some cases) in the ingredient line but other peanut butter products often contain partially hydrogenated oils and added sugar. &nbsp; for more on good and bad fats see this webmd article <link> while some dietary fats are good and some are bad; perhaps the worst is trans fat. this type of fat can occur naturally in animal products but is also the result of food manufacturers chemically altering oils through a process called hydrogenation. the reason that trans fat is so detrimental is because it not only raises bad (ldl) cholesterol levels but some research suggests that it also lowers our good (hdl) cholesterol levels as well – a double whammy. saturated fats on the other hand raise both good and bad cholesterol levels. common food sources of trans fat can include: • baked goods such as bread pizza dough and cake • fried foods such as french fries doughnuts or chicken nuggets • snack foods such as chips crackers cookies and candy • pre-packaged foods such as soup or frozen meals • margarines or spreads be cautious because the fda allows for food products to be labeled as “0 trans fat” even though there may be up to 0. 5 grams per serving. read this webmd article for more information: <link>. heathy fats come from healthy foods like nuts and unheathy fats come from fatty foods chips. healhty fats and polyunsaturated fats which help to get better healthy by removing cholestrol and unhealthy fats are saturated trans fats which increases the risk of heart attacks.
what is the difference between healthy and unhealthy fat?