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Hello, I am Omega-3. I am here to help you learn about fats and make healthy choices for your meals and snacks.Fats are really important. They make sure our hormones work. I will teach you about good and bad fats.

Omega-3/Fats

Fat is the body's major form of energy storage. Many fats that people eat are really a combination of two different types of substances: saturated fatty acids and unsaturated fatty acids. Saturated fatty acids come from animal foods like meat, milk, cheese, and some oils that come from plants. Unsaturated fatty acids are different - they come from plants and fish. Together, these two substances are grouped and called the fat content in food.

Our bodies need some fat to work properly. Fat insulates our bodies from the cold and provides some cushioning for our organs. Fat gives our bodies energy. Some fats help to make important hormones that we need to keep our bodies at the right temperature. They also keep our blood pressure normal. We you have the right amount of fat you have healthy skin and hair. Fat is your body's storage and moving service: it helps vitamins A, D, E, and K get through your bloodstream when your body needs them!

How Do We Get Fat?
Foods with lots of fat in them taste good - like cookies, chocolate, and fast-food hamburgers and french fries! It's OK to eat cake and ice cream at someone's birthday party once in a while, if you balance it with protein. But the real trick is not to eat these kinds of foods all the time, or even most of the time. Instead, you should eat them in moderation, always in bakance wiuth protein - that means eating only a little bit at a time and not very often. Staying healthy and keeping your body in shape is easier when you go for foods and snacks that are lower in fat - and you'll feel better, too!

The types of fat are:
  1. Polyunsaturated fat - These are necessary as they are the building blocks of the the most powerful hormones of the body. They control every cell, every organ, every system.
  2. Monounsaturated fat - are good fats. They have no effect on insulin and should be our major source of fat in the diet. These are found in olive oil, canola oil, olives, macadamia nuts, avocados and guacamole.
  3. Saturated fat - should be kept to a minimum. They are found in animal protein sources and whole-fat dairy products. If you eat a lot of saturated fat the cell membranes become too rigid and there is no fluidity in the cell membranes. They tend to raise insulin levels by creating a condition known as insulin resistance.
  4. Trans fat - If you know something has trans fats stay far away. The problem is that we are not told when something has trans fats. They are very dangerous to our health. It was interesting to see that McDonald's is lowering the trans fats by 40% in their french fries!