What a Diabetic Needs To Know About Fat: It has been suggested that simply being overweight is not enough to establish the probability for diabetes. It is possible that individuals who are overweight may never develop diabetes while others who may not seem overly prone to developing the disease actually do contract diabetes.
Many nutritionists point to good fat vs. bad fat when they talk about diabetes management and avoidance. Some might argue that partially hydrogenated oils and trans-fats have a significant bearing on the role of the development of Type 2 diabetes.
There are those that indicate the use of lard would be preferred to shortening, and butter would be better for you than margarine or other butter spreads.
Did you know that trans-fats (the stuff we’ve used for cooking for years) only have the capability of elevating bad cholesterol? They cannot raise good cholesterol.
Let’s take a look at a short list some of the good fats our body can use.
- Fish. The best fish as far as Omega-3 fatty acid is Atlantic salmon. The least effective is lobster.
- Vegetable, nuts and seeds. These are polyunsaturated fats and raise good cholesterol.
- Olive oil. This is a monounsaturated oil and one nutritionist liked it so much they suggested using it for everything from coating toast to using it as a salad dressing base.
- Butter. This may surprise you since too much of it can be problematic, but real butter contains Butyric Acid. This substance is a useful aid in your digestive tract and can produce natural antibiotics.
Now let’s take a look at some of the bad fats our bodies do not need. These are grouped in context of fat types because in most cases these fat types are used in cooking the food we eat.
- Trans-fatty Acids. Some nutritionists have such a hate relationship with trans-fat that they refer to it as poison. It has the potential to damage cells within our bodies and strip essential enzymes rendering them ineffective in aiding in the digestion of our food.
- Hydrogenated oils. Not only do these oils seem to promote allergic reactions to foods within the body they also break down the cells of our body making it easier to contract illnesses. These fats are chemically altered and are extremely bad for individuals who may already be ill.
- Long-chain saturated fats. These are fats that are found in some meat and can raise bad cholesterol without bringing good cholesterol up. However, this is not the case with all meats. As with almost all good things moderation is important.
Many nutritionists believe that you can be overweight and still show no signs of diabetes IF the fats you consume are good fats.
There are two primary problems many nutritionists see in a lack of information among food consumers.
- For many years virtually all fast food was cooked in trans-fat, which may have some bearing on the rise in cases of diabetes.
- A low-fat diet may not help consumers avoid diabetes. You just might be a skinny diabetic. The reason is that many low fat options are still made with bad fats. Since our bodies need a certain amount of fat we may be rushing to find low-fat options without looking for good fat options instead.
Fat is one subject diabetics must consider in their use of food. If a diabetic can work to eliminate the bad fat from their diet while taking in good fat for proper health they may see an improvement in their overall health – diabetes included.
