Fat is necessary for our health. Our bodies cannot live without fat. Dietary fats provide the body with energy, promote healthy cell growth, help the body absorb certain nutrients and promote hormone production. A certain amount of body fat is required to keep your body warm and to protect your body’s organs. A no-fat diet or extremely low-fat diet is a prescription for health issues.

Here some interesting facts about fat:

Not all fats are similar. There are four categories of dietary fat: saturated fats, monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, and trans fats. These 4 fats are differentiated by their chemical and molecular composition, which affects how they are broken down and processed in the body. The bad fats are the saturated fats and trans fats. They are relatively solid at room temperature (butter, lard, bacon fat). The good fats are monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, which are comparatively liquid at room temperature (these include vegetable oils). Learn more about good fats and bad fats.

Fats are packed with calories. Per gram, fat contains 9 calories (this is true of any fat, irrespective of its type). By contrast, protein and carbohydrates contain about 4 calories per gram. This points to the fact that high fat consumption increases the total calories in our diet. For this reason alone, it is prudent to limit fat intake if your are attempting to lose weight.

Certain fats can help lower chloresterol. The bad fats are bad mostly because they lift LDL chloresterol levels (also known as bad chloresterol). Good fats, the monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, raise the HDL (good) cholesterol levels, which helps lower LDL chloresterol.

Fat can help us lose weight. The monounsaturated fat found in almonds, walnuts, avocado, canola oil, and olive oil have been found to promote weight loss, attacking the body fat itself. Keep this in mind, you don’t want to eat too many, but be sure to include small amounts of monounsaturated fat from these nuts and oils in your regular diet if you are on a weight loss regimen.

Fat supplies our body with energy. Polyunsaturated fats (found in oily fish such as salmon and tuna as well as corn, safflower, and sunflower oils) have a detoxifying effect on our cells, removing toxic fats deposited there that clog up cell processes.

Fat lubricates the body. Good fats are like oil in a car engine, providing needed lubrication to our joints, digestive system (flax seed is excellent for constipation) and skin. Some of our dermatological problems are caused by deficiencies of good fats in our diet.