subject: Yoga Diet - Consuming healthy fats and essential fatty acids [print this page] Yoga Diet - Consuming healthy fats and essential fatty acids
Doing yoga-with-weights exercises inspires you to want to feel your best and to tune in to your body's needs. Before you put anything in your mouth, you pause to make sure that it's really worth eating. Your energy and increased mental clarity feel good as a result of yoga with weights, and you don't want to lose that.
"Fat" has become a bad word in American culture, but fats are nothing to be afraid of. Some fats, in fact, are important for a healthy diet and are good for you. Fat provides vitamins A, D, and E and plays an important role in the health of your bones, skin, and hair. Fats are also important for mineral absorption.
Of course, not all fat is created equal. Some fats are better than others, but generally they fall into these three categories:
Saturated fat: You find these fats in animal and dairy products. They include butter, cheese, whole milk, ice cream, cream, and fatty meats. You can eat foods with saturated fats now and then, but not too often. These fats contain high levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the "bad cholesterol," and they've been implicated in heart disease.
Monounsaturated fat: These fats come from plant sources. They include olive, canola, and peanut oils; avocado; and nuts (almonds, pecans, peanuts, and cashews). Monounsaturated fat is high in calories, but it's excellent for your health because it lowers cholesterol levels in your blood and helps prevent heart disease.
Polyunsaturated fat: This fat is useful against blood clotting, heart disease, and high blood pressure. Polyunsaturated fats go rancid quickly if you don't refrigerate them. The fats fall in two categories:
Omega-3 essential fatty acid is found in free-range poultry and in eggs. Most people don't get enough healthy Omega-3 in their diets. The best sources of this fat are free-range eggs and coldwater ocean fish such as salmon, tuna, sardines, and mackerel. Vegetarian sources of Omega-3 which must be refrigerated and not heated before consuming include flax seeds, evening primrose, and borage oil.
Omega-6 essential fatty acid is found in mother's milk, organ meats, lean meats, safflower, sunflower, green leafy vegetables, legumes, and Spirulina.
