Best Friend For Your Heart?
Monounsaturated Fat!

Monounsaturated Fat Lowers your Total Cholesterol

It also lowers your LDL (bad cholesterol) and increases your HDL (good cholesterol).

It also lowers triglycerides, or the amount of fat circulating in your blood.

I think it's time you and I get acquainted with this good guy.

It's probably the healthiest type of unsaturated fat. It has none of the adverse effects associated with saturated fat, or trans fat.

I'm sure you've heard this before - Good fat? Bad fat? Or all fats are bad?

I want to make one thing clear here - fats aren't created equal. So some are good, some are bad.

Monounsaturated fat is a good fat. Saturated fat is a bad fat. Very clear, right?

We need some fat for our body to function well as fat helps our nutrient absorption, nerve transmission, maintain cell membrane integrity and so on.

The key is for us to consume fat not in excess amount but within the healthy range, like the American Heart Association's recommended daily intake of 30% of fat, based on your total calories per day.

And to consume most of this 30% fat intake in the form of unsaturated fats.

If you consume excess amount of fat (especially saturated fat), you not only gain weight but also increase your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes and certain types of cancer.

Well, health wise, you benefit tremendously when you eat this fat in moderation and and when you use it to replace saturated fat or trans fat in your diet.

It can help reduce bad cholesterol levels in your blood and lower your risk of heart disease and stroke.

Typically, it lowers your total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) while increasing HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol).

It provides nutrients to help develop and maintain your body’s cells and essential fatty acids for healthy skin and the development of your body's cells.

It protects you against certain cancers, like breast cancer and colon cancer.

It's high in vitamin E, an antioxidant for your cells' good health.

In terms of calories, it still contains 9 calories per gram, same like other fats. But mind you, it's healthier because of the health benefits I just mention.

Here are some good sources together with the percentage of this fat :

• Olive oil - 73%
• Rapeseed oil - 60%
• Hazel nut - 50%
• Almonds - 35%
• Cashew nut - 28%
• Brazil nut - 26%
• Sesame seed - 20%
• Pumpkin seed - 16%
• Avocado - 12%

See? Olive oil is the best as it has the highest percentage.

It's also the best to use as cooking oil as it has the highest oxidation threshold - it remains stable at high temperatures and doesn't easily become hydrogenated or saturated.

After knowing that monounsaturated fat is the "good guy", what do you do?

Simple.

Keep your fat intake to not more than 30% of your total calories and at least two-thirds of that to be in unsaturated fats- monounsaturated or polyunsaturated.

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