The no-fat or low-fat diet is so last century. Fortunately, most people have learned the truth about the low-fat diet myth.

While the above study provides strong evidence as to the overall importance of consuming fat as a regular part of your diet, please be sure to remember two vitally important points:

• Not all fat is created equal. In other words, certain types and forms of fat are extremely nutritious and necessary to maintain optimal health, while others should be avoided at all costs.

• While the results of this study suggest that assuring an adequate, overall intake of fat is obviously important, obtaining the proper balance of different types of fats may be even more so.

Types of Fat

• The types of fat I recommend you avoid completely fall into two categories: Hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated, or trans fats

• Liquid vegetable oils

Hydrogenated fats are typically found in margarine and shortening, as well as processed and/or fried foods like french fries and fried chicken, doughnuts, cookies, pastries and crackers.

They are formed by chemically altering the structure of vegetable oil so that it becomes hardened; these fats are one of the worst "foods" you can possibly consume, as they are converted into trans fat. Research has proven them to play an important role in the development of:

• Diabetes
• Heart disease
• Cancer

Liquid vegetable oils include any oils that require mechanical pressing and processing to be created (coconut and olive oils are traditional oils that can be created without the use of machines). These oils are very unstable and typically rancid before they are even opened, and the heat used in cooking with these oils further damages them.

Consuming vegetable oils also leads to an imbalanced intake of fatty acids (discussed below), as the omega-6 fats, which are typically high in these oils, were never meant to be consumed in such high amounts.

To understand this concept, consider for a moment how much oil you might find in a typical ear of corn, or cup of soybeans. Certainly nowhere near the amounts used when cooking with liquid oils derived from these foods. Also consider how difficult it would have been for humans, living before the modern age, to squeeze even a drop of oil from such foods without the aid of a machine.

A Balanced Intake

During Paleolithic times, when our ancestors ate a diet that was most natural for their bodies, the ratio of omega-6:3 fats was anywhere from 3:1 to 1:1.

Currently, Americans consume omega-6 and omega-3 fats at a ratio anywhere from 20:1 to as high as 50:1. Needless to say, this is a tremendous difference.

At the end of the 19th century, Americans consumed less than one pound of liquid vegetable oil a year. At the turn of the 20th century, that amount had increased to 75 pounds per year. Nearly all vegetable oils are loaded with omega-6 fats. We were simply never designed to eat so many processed vegetable oil fats. When one combines this with a decline in the intake of clean fish and fish oils, we have a prescription for disaster.

The Best Fats to Eat

Following three simple rules when selecting the fats to consume in your diet will help assure that you are getting the proper types of fats, in the proper ratios.

Rule #1: Choose only fats that would have been available to you in pre-industrial times, when oil-pressing machines, chemicals and other technology used in creating modern fats were unavailable. The fats that fall into this category include fish oil (mechanical processing is used to create fish oil, but the amounts of it you would consume still mirror the intake of pre-modern humans) coconut oil, olive oil, butter, and any fat that is naturally present in the food you are eating.

Rule #2: Consume a balanced diet that contains a wide variety of foods.

Rule #3: Using rules 1 and 2 above as your guide, select only fats derived from foods that have been organically raised and (when indicated) fed their natural diets (grass in terms of cows; raised in the wild, in terms of fish).

Fats for Everyone

For optimal health, I recommend that you consume regular amounts of high-quality fish oil, grass-fed organic butter, extra virgin olive oil, raw egg yolks, healthy meats and virgin coconut oil. Consuming these natural sources of healthy fats, along with a varied diet of vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and clean animal foods will assure that you are taking in all the healthy fats you need.

Related Articles:

The Truth About Saturated Fat

What Oil Should You be Cooking With, and Which Should You Avoid?

Trans-Fat: What Exactly is it, and Why is it so Dangerous?