Is saturated fat bad for you?

There is a lot written on the essential fatty acids – omega-3 and omega-6 – and a low saturated fat diets. But do you hear much about how you need saturated fats in your diet? Most advertising tells you that saturated fat are harmful to you and that you need to eat low or little saturated fatty foods. But the truth is that you need a certain amount of saturated fat in your diet, otherwise you will create disease and illness.

The problem is that you need only a small amount of saturated fat and most people have a large percentage of their daily fat allowance as saturated fat and very little essential fats. Saturated fat is found in meats, poultry skin, dairy products, walnuts, coconut, and palm oils. It is found in variety of foods. So how does your body use saturated fats. Here is a list of some of good things saturated fats do in your body:

• Your cell membrane contains about 50% saturated fat. So saturated fat helps to form and solidify your cell’s membrane. To keep your cell membrane health, use MSM to keep the cell membrane fat permeable, since as you age the cell membrane hardens, preventing less nutrients from enter the cell and toxins from exiting.

• Bones use saturated fat to help use calcium.

• Saturated fat can reduce heart disease. Plaque, which forms on the artery walls, consists of cholesterol and a lipoprotein. Saturated fat has less lipoprotein than unsaturated fat, so if you eat more unsaturated fat than saturated fat, you are more likely to create heart diseases.

• Saturated fats protect the liver from becoming toxic.

• Omega-3 essential fats function better in your body when assisted by saturated fats.

• High stress uses saturated fat and allows your heart to remain healthy.

• Saturated fats fight fungal infections. Caprylic acid, which is found in coconut oil, fights candida.

• Saturated fats protect you against disease by building up your immune system.

So how much saturated fat should you have in your diet? Your over all diet should contain from 15 – 20% fat depending on your physical work and activity. You should have at least 40% saturated fat in your diet. The reminder should be the essential fatty acids, omega 3, 6, and 9.

Most people eat 80% saturated fat and 20% good fats. You don’t have to change your diet unless you are eating over 50% saturated fats.