Fats | Carbohydrates | Proteins

At the most basic level food is needed to prevent starvation. Calories in food provide the energy for cell metabolism which keeps the body functioning and healthy. The main main building blocks in food are the atoms carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. The way these elements are linked together allows them to create foods with unique characteristics. Food comes in three basic forms: carbohydrate, protein, and fat. These are called macronutrients and are needed for a healthy life. Fat supplyies 9 calories per gram with protein and carbohydrate supplying 4 calories per gram.

FATS

Fat comprises a large group of complicated chemicals made up of fatty acids. The terms saturated and unsaturated fat refer to the status of the chemical bonds present. Each atom has a certain number of available sites for bonding with another atom or molecule. The element carbon is the backbone of all foods and has four available bonding sites. A saturated fat means that all four of the carbon sites are connected to another carbon atom or a different atom or molecule.

A monounsaturated fat has one carbon and a polyunsaturated fat has more than one carbon that has a site not connected to a different atom or molecule. Animal fats are for the mostly saturated. Vegetable fats or oils are usually a combination of mono and/or polyunsaturated.

We manufacture our own fats which participate intricately in the formation and maintenance of all organs. They are involved in the forming of the hormones and enzymes. Fats also are critical to the processes that allow healing and rebuilding of tissue.

Humans have no need to consume saturated fat but there are two polyunsaturated fatty acids linoleic and alpha-linolenic that must be part of the diet for normal functioning of the body. They are called essential fatty acids.

The American Heart Association recently advised that fat restriction should not be below 15% of daily caloric intake. At least one reason for this recommendation is so that people do not become deficient in the essential fatty acids mentioned above.

Trans fats are an important part of what constitutes the diet in the Western world today. Trans fats and hydrogenated fats are essentially the same. They are produced by adding chemicals, hydrogen gas, and heat to vegetable oils to produce hard fat that is spreadable in the form of margarine. It also allows long shelf life without refrigeration

The process breaks the bonds of fats creating many unnatural substances which have been shown to be detrimental to our health. Trans fats cause an increase in the total blood cholesterol similar to saturated fats but also cause a decrease in the percentage of the so-called "good" cholesterol. Hence eating trans fats, which are hidden in an enormous number of food products, is worse than eating saturated fat!