When you eat food, the calories you consume are stored in fat cells, before being converted into energy. Doctors refer to this fat that is stored in the fatty cells as triglyceride fats. We all have these fats in our blood, they are fats generated from calories and deposited into fatty cells in our blood.
When you go for a blood test, the lab results will show the level of triglyceride fats in your blood, because high levels (above 150mg/Dl) of these fats in the blood can lead to coronary heart disease, the heart arteries get blocked by the fats. It’s also a sign of overweight/obesity because it means you’re consuming much more calories that you are using, basically you’re metabolism is low. To increase your metabolism and reduce the fat deposits, all you have to do is exercise, increase your body activity, so that you can burn more energy.
There’s a lot of confusion about dietary fats. It’s clear we need fats. The fats store energy, as well as fat-soluble vitamins.
Fat does not only come from meat muscles; plants are an excellent source of fats, plants have a better source of fats than animals. You see, animal fat comes in a solid form, we call is saturated fats, but plant fats are in liquid form, unsaturated fats, and so they cannot clog your blood arteries.
Just like us, plants use lipids for energy storage. These fats are stored in the fruits and seeds of the plants. Think of the level of good fat in these foods: avocado, cashew nuts, mung beans, cowpeas, peanut butter, simsim (sesame seed) etc.
When you eat lipids, the body breaks down the bigger molecules in the lipids – triglycerides into smaller ones: glycerol and fatty acids. These molecules are later used in the production of ATP (the energy storing molecule).
Most of the conversion of the fatty acids happens in the liver, but some fatty acids cannot be converted into complex nutrients for your body. These fatty acids are known as essential fatty acids because our body needs them for good health but can’t produce them, so we need to eat foods that have them. Omega 6 and 3 fatty acids are some of the essential fatty acids.
Your best source of Omega 3 and 6 is soya beans, peas, meat and fish; the plant based Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids are also your best option. After this, they can be turned into all kind of useful molecules. Lots of foods don’t provide every essential amino acid, but when you combine foods in meals, your chances are higher of consuming Omega 3 and 6.
