The Importance of Protein and Fats

Dr. Alex Tam of Absolute Integrative Physical Medicine in Vacaville can help answer any questions you may have about proteins, bad fats, and good fats. Check out this information below and if you have any further questions give him and his expert team a call today!

Protein

Proteins are often referred to as the building blocks of the body. They basically help build and repair tissues as well as fighting off infection. The extra protein will also be used by the body for energy. For your protein intake, the best ones to add to your diet include eggs, seafood, lean meat and poultry, soy products, beans and peas, and unsalted nuts and seeds. You can also acquire protein through the dairy group. There are also plant sources that have protein but they don't contain cholesterol, they're low in saturated fat, and they provide fiber and other health-promoting nutrients.

Fats in Vacaville

Fat can give you energy, and they assist the body in absorbing certain vitamins. Essential fatty acids help the body function, but they're not produced by the body and you have to consume them. Most foods naturally contain fats, including avocados, coconuts, eggs, meats, nuts, poultry, seeds, seafoods, and dairy products.

There are certain types of fats that can be bad for your health which are saturated fats and trans fats. Here are more details of these two below:

• Saturated fats: This can be found in huge amounts in butter, beef fat, and palm, coconut, and palm kernel oils. Higher-fat dairy and meats and cookies, cakes, and certain snack foods are high in saturated fats. Dishes that have several ingredients are also good sources of saturated fat such as burgers, casseroles, pizza, sandwiches, and tacos.
• Trans fats: This is a short-term for trans fatty acids, wherein they are naturally found in some foods but most of which are artificially produced. Trans fats are not healthy, which is why a lot of food manufacturers are trying to phase them out. There are also trans fats that can be found in processed foods like desserts, margarine, coffee creamer, frozen pizza, and microwave popcorn.

Fats that contain mostly saturated and trans fats are solid at room temperature. You need to only consume less than 10% of saturated fats based on your daily calorie intake and lower your trans-fat consumption always.

Healthy Fats

Saturated and trans fats can be replaced with 2 types of healthier fats. This method can keep your total fat intake within the recommended range. These fats include the following:

• Monosaturated fats: You can find an abundant amount of this fat mostly in canola, olive, peanut, safflower oils, and sunflower as well as in avocados, peanut butter, and most nuts.
• Polyunsaturated fats: This type of fat is very common in food sources like corn, soybean, sunflower, and cottonseeds oils as well as walnuts, fatty fish, and certain seeds.

Oils mostly contain monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats and are kept as a liquid at room temperature. This type of fat can lower your risk for heart disease when they replace saturated fats.

If you want, you can lower the saturated fat in your diet through these suggestions.

• Use fat-free or low-fat dairy products
• Make sure to use olive or canola oil for cooking
• Pick cuts of meat with less fat and remove the skin from the chicken
• Replace foods that are high in saturated fats with vegetables, whole grains, fat-free and low-fat dairy products, or lean cuts of meats and poultry