High Protein Shake Recipe
Saturated Fats
Fat-Burning FoodsNutrition: Saturated Fat
Saturated fat usually consists of triglycerides that contain saturated fatty acids only. Read our article on fats to get more detailed information on how fats are constructed. Generally, fats that originate from animal sources, such as butter, have a high level of saturation. Saturated fats are more solid at room temperature than unsaturated fats.
foods high in saturated fats
Saturated fats can be found in all kinds of junk food/ fast food. Every piece of food with cooked oils and fats contains saturated fats en masse. You can also find saturated fats in foods like beef and pork. Dairy products and hydrogenated vegetable oils contain many saturated fats as well.
saturated fats cause...
Saturated fats in your diet are known to cause an increased incidence of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease. This means a high saturated fat diet can increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. The explanation for that is easy. Your body stores fat to prevent you from starving. Fat keeps your body warm and is an excellent source of energy. If your diet contains lots of fatty meat, fatty dairy products, refined sugar and flour (corbohydrates) you eat a lot of saturated fat. If you eat more saturated fats than necessary or saturated fats which were cooked or fried (very difficult for your body to produce energy from), they attach themselves to the inside of your blood vessels. You risk that your blood vessels do not reach organs like the liver and heart anymore (artery clogging), what can cause a stroke, coronary heart disease and other illnesses. You can read find information on heart healthy diets in our article "Healthy Heart".
Saturated Fat Facts
You may or may not know that the less saturated the fat molecule is, the more liquid it is. Of course, like with every rule of thumb, there are exceptions. Coconut and palm oil, liquid saturated fats, are two of them.
When margarine was developed it was made of animal fats (mostly saturated fat). Nowadays margarine is not made of saturated fats anymore but made from vegetable oils which are hardened chemically.
Statistics say that today people eat ten times as much saturated fat as a hundred years ago.
Saturated Fatty Acids
These are the most common fatty acids:
- lauric acid with 12 carbon atoms which you can find in coconut oil, palm oil
- myristic acid with 14 carbon atoms which you can find in many dairy products
- palmitic acid with 16 carbon atoms which can be found in palm oil and several meats
- stearic acid with 18 carbon atoms which can be found in meat and cocoa butter
good saturated fats
Not all saturated fats are bad. Good saturated fats can be found in cheese, avocado or raw nuts for example. These untransformed (e.g. cooking, frying) are good for your health.
