Fats in vegetarian nutrition

The lack of culture regarding nutrition issues has caused many people to assume a hostile position towards everything that contains fat, it is like a forbidden component that we try to avoid at all costs. It is important to understand the role that fats play in our diet, to demystify some important questions about their behavior and their interrelation with the rest of the nutrients and macronutrients we consume.

Below we will analyze everything about fats, so that we can thoroughly understand how we should work on the consumption of fats in a healthy way and what kind of fats we should avoid and which ones we should include in our diet.

What are fats?

Fats are just another nutrient, present in many of the foods we eat. It is an organic substance classified as a lipid, and they are essential in the production of nervous tissue. They play a decisive role in the production of energy for the organism, so their consumption is necessary for our health.

Importance of fats: As we mentioned before, fats are essential in the production of energy for our body. It is known that the consumption of carbohydrates provides useful energy, but once these are exhausted, it is fats that act as a reserve to allow the normal functioning of our body in its daily activities. Another important function of fats is their role in facilitating the absorption of vitamins. By consuming fats, our body can more easily acquire the vitamins in food, so less vitamin intake is needed to meet our body's minimum requirements.

Another very important aspect is that 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.

Types of fats: There are several types of fats with very notable differences between them. By their main characteristics they are usually classified into saturated, trans, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.

Saturated fats are the most harmful for our organism, these are one of the responsible for the increase of cholesterol that causes so many evils to our body, affecting the cardiovascular system in its totality. They are usually found in various products of animal origin and some of vegetable origin.

Trans fats are undoubtedly the most damaging to our body. As with saturated fats, trans fats considerably increase cholesterol levels in the body, causing various cardiovascular diseases. Precooked foods and industrial sweets are among the major sources of this type of fat. Their consumption is extremely harmful, so you should avoid them even in small amounts.

Monounsaturated fats is the name given to fats from various oils such as olive oil and some nuts such as hazelnuts. This type of fat, contrary to the previous ones, is very beneficial for our health. 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.

Polyunsaturated fats are very common in vegetable oils such as sunflower or soybean oil. We can find them, in the same way, in several fish such as salmon. Their consumption is associated with the improvement of the arteries, counteracting cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases. Like monounsaturated fatty acids, their consumption is recommended in all types of balanced diets.