Finding the right heart smart balance

Here’s a very interesting article from  Johns Hopkins Medicine, part of the integrated global health enterprise and one of the leading health care systems in the United States which also includes the Johns Hopkins university school of medicine and the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

And here’s the good news: You don’t need to cut out all fat from your diet to eat in a heart-healthy way. But according to recent thinking, say Johns Hopkins researchers, you do need to know your good fats from the not-so-good kinds.
Fats and Your Food: Striking a Heart-Smart Balance

Fat has become a bad word in heart health, but it’s more complicated than that. While it’s true that carrying extra body fat is bad for you, the types of fats that come from different foods are not all the same. Your body needs dietary fats in order to function. And the new thinking is that trying to cut out all fats from your diet may actually be contributing to obesity.

“There’s been a big shift in thinking about what makes a healthy diet,” says Kerry Stewart, Ed.D., a professor of medicine in the cardiology division at The Johns Hopkins University. Research at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere shows that cutting out dietary fat alone doesn’t have much of an impact on reducing cholesterol levels. “People need fat, carbohydrates and protein—the major macronutrients—for good, balanced health,” Stewart says.

One key to heart health is the type of fat you eat. All fats contain the same number of calories—9 calories per gram. But the three main types have different effects in the body.

Read on:https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/healthy_heart/eat_smart/fats-and-your-food-striking-a-heart-smart-balance