Vegetable fats

Vegetable fats is one of the most confusing topics in nutrition. We come with the preconceived idea that everything that begins with "fats" should be avoided at all costs, that fats are bad, cause diseases, increase our body weight, affect the cardiovascular system, among others. The truth is that there is a classification used in nutrition to distinguish good fats from bad fats, being vegetable fats a very good type of fats for our organism.

In order to clarify all these doubts on the matter, we propose the following guide, where we will approach the subject of vegetable fats and their benefits for our organism.

What are vegetable fats?

Vegetable fats are those that have their origin in vegetable foods and belong to the lipid group. They are known as unsaturated fats or good fats, due to the numerous properties and benefits they provide to our organism.

Vegetable fats are healthy fats for our body, they are considered essential in any balanced diet, they provide a great energetic value and contribute to improve the textures and flavors of our food. As an example of the most common foods that contain vegetable fats, we have palm oil, olive oil, among others. It is an organic substance classified as a lipid, and are essential in the production of nerve tissue.

Benefits

In gastronomy, vegetable fats are widely used to improve the textures and flavors of our food, because they have a great impact on our palate, making food much more appetizing. They are very useful for the maintenance of cellular structures, since they act as natural repairers in the face of their wear and tear. They work as a protective element of the cardiac system, so they help to reverse many of the effects caused by the consumption of trans or saturated fats.

They also act as a regulator of body temperature, are an important source of high quality energy for our body and are very useful to satiate the appetite. Vegetable fats are essential when it comes to absorbing fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamin A or E, since these are dissolved in lipids, as their name indicates.

Another very important aspect is that vegetable fats allow us to access essential fatty acids such as linoleic acid, which cannot be produced by our body and is of vital importance in the normal functioning of many functions of our body.

Foods rich in vegetable fat

Avocado is one of the vegetable foods that provides our body with the most properties, its high concentration of vitamins and minerals makes it an essential product in our meals. It is very rich in fiber, so its consumption allows to satiate the appetite with great ease and contain hunger without having to eat large amounts of food, being a very useful product for those who wish to undertake a diet.

Olives are very popular all over the world, their exquisite flavor is accompanied by a considerable source of B vitamins and omegas such as 3 and 6. Like the avocado, they are rich in fiber, favoring our digestive system and contributing to the containment of appetite.

These are just two of the many examples of products rich in vegetable fat, in general these foods share many of the same characteristics and properties, being a very important element when planning a balanced diet.