Food and Your Skin Health: The Fat Edition, Part 1

Fats are some of the most maligned nutrients in the world! This has less to do with their properties and more with the confusion created by the widespread misinformation.

Are they good or bad? Should I eat omega-3 or omega-6? Saturated or not? What oils can we use for cooking?

Fats play a big role in the membrane structure and signaling function of each cell. And therefore, the answer to healthy glowing skin is quite literally in your hands, through the food you eat.

They are a vital component of our diet and should not be demonized for any reason. Like all foods, portion and quality control as well as variety are necessary to ensure that we get all the nutrients our body needs to function at an optimal level.

The easily available and best sources of fats to include in our diet are nuts, seeds and avocados. There is a lot of controversy regarding the non-vegetarian sources of healthy fats, namely oily fish such as salmon, mackerel and sardines because of their possible high mercury load.

This makes it healthier to rely on the vegan sources as the regular option. It is beneficial to use the appropriate oil for the type of cooking method – a good quality extra virgin olive oil works well at low temperatures and for dressings or garnishes, whereas sunflower, grapeseed or coconut oils have higher smoking points and can be used at high temperatures.

We will go into more details about other aspects of fats in our diets, including fat digestion, omega-3s and 6s and the effects of saturated fats on our health in the next few posts on Ask The Owl.