The closer a food is to its natural state, the better it is for you. Most health and fitness professionals recommend you eat fresh fruits and vegetables and stay away from fats, particularly saturated fats should be avoided at all times. But the truth is you don’t need to avoid dietary fats as long as you make healthy natural choices and stay within your daily caloric range to maintain your body.  If you’re interested to know why saturated fats can be good for you, click here to read the article written by Dr. Mary Enig.  Following is a list of some of the healthy fatty foods and some of the fatty foods to avoid.

Healthy Fats  to Enjoy

• Avocados - The fat in avocados is about 60% monounsaturated, 25%  saturated, and 15% polyunsaturated.   Avocados are healthy natural food that provides many nutrients, fiber, healthful fats, and adding  a great flavor to a meal. 
• Coconut fat - Coconut fat is a healthy natural saturated fat, this is a surprising fact  to most people. The sources of coconut fat are coconut oil, organic coconut milk,  or fresh  coconut. Coconut oil is an excellent cooking oil for baking and stir-frying.   Most health and fitness professionals are brainwashed to believe that tropical oils are unhealthy.  A big portion of natural food supply on earth is composed of saturated fats, substances that we  humans are meant to eat. It is only when we take natural food and put it through all kinds of chemical  and physical processing  that it becomes unhealthy.
• Non-hydrogenated palm oil is another healthy tropical oil that is highly saturated.
• Extra virgin olive oil - Olive oil is about 70% monounsaturated, 16% saturated, and 14% polyunsaturated.  Extra virgin olive oil, which comes from the first pressing of the olives, has great quantities of  antioxidants. This type of olive oil is not extracted with the use of industrial solvents and is one
of the healthiest choices for liquid oils. Mix a small amount of olive oil with vinegar to make salad dressing, this is healthier than most store bought salad dressings. 
• Dark chocolate - The cocoa bean is a concentrated source of antioxidants and this is the healthy part of dark chocolate. The fat portion of the cocoa bean, cocoa butter is a healthy natural fat, composed of  about 58% saturated fat, 38% monounsaturated fat, and 4% polyunsaturated fat. Most milk chocolates are  about 30% cocoa, and dark chocolates are about 50% cocoa, leaving the remainder of sugar, milk fat and  corn sweeteners. Get high quality dark chocolate that has cocoa content between 70% - 80%. A dark chocolate  with cocoa content in this range will contain mostly cocoa and very little sugar, it has a mildly sweet taste with a creamy texture. Although dark chocolate can be a healthy treat, it is high in calorie,  so keeping it to  one or two square.
• Fish such as wild salmon, sardines, trout, mackerel, herring etc. Just about any fish or seafood are good sources of natural omega-3 polyunsaturated fats, but the fish listed here are the best sources of omega-3’s.
• Nuts - walnuts, almonds, peanuts, and cashews are great sources of healthy unprocessed fats as well  as minerals and other nutrients. Almonds and cashews are great sources of monounsaturated fats, while walnuts are a good source of unprocessed polyunsaturated fats, including omega-3’s. Choose raw
or dry roasted nuts, and avoid nuts that are cooked in oil. 
• Seeds - sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds, etc. All of these seeds are great  sources of natural unprocessed healthy fats. Flax seeds have received a lot of attention lately due to  their high omega-3 content. However, omega-3 polyunsaturated fats are highly reactive to heat and light, and prone to oxidation and free radical production, so freshly ground flax seed is the way to go.  Instead of buying the store ground flax seed, you can buy whole flax seed and use coffee grinders to  grind your own flax seed. Try grinding fresh flax seed into yogurt, cereal, or salad. If you’re using  flax oil, make sure it’s a cold-pressed oil in a light-proof refrigerated container, and use it up within a few weeks to prevent it from going rancid.
• The fat in organically raised, free-range animals - This is the area where most people have been  misinformed. Animal fat is inherently good for us, if it came from a healthy animal. Human beings have  thrived on animal fats for hundreds of years. Unfortunately animal products today do not come from
healthy animals, they come from animals given loads of antibiotics, fattened up with hormones and fed  with unnatural feed. The answer is to choose organically raised, free-range meats, eggs, and dairy.

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Foods to Avoid

• Hydrogenated oils - These are industrially produced chemically altered oils subjected to high pressure  and temperature, with added industrial solvents, and have catalyst added to promote artificial  hydrogenation. These oils have been linked to obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Even small
quantities of 1 to 2 grams of trans fats per day have been shown in studies to be dangerous.  Foods like fries, cookies, cakes, donuts are all processed with trans fats.  You must inspect the ingredients of anything you purchase to know if it’s free of hydrogenated oils, margarine or shortening.
• Refined oils - Most refined oils undergo the high temperature, high pressure, solvent extraction, bleaching,  and deodorizing processes. Anything labeled vegetable oil, soybean oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil,  safflower oil, and canola oils have been damaged by this refining process. This damages the natural structure of the fats, destroys natural antioxidants,and a generally unhealthy product.
• Deep fried food includes potato chips, tortilla chips, french fries, donuts, fried chicken, etc.  It’s all fried in hydrogenated or refined oils, like cottonseed or soybean oil. If you can find  something that’s deep fried in a non-hydrogenated tropical oil like palm or coconut, then that might be the only deep fried food that’s acceptable.
• Homogenized milk fat - Milk fat is a healthy fat in its natural raw state, that is non-pasteurized and  non-homogenized.  Again, food processing damages a good thing by pasteurizing and homogenizing milk fat, rendering it
potentially dangerous inside human body. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to find raw milk in the U.S. unless you personally know a farmer. 
As an alternative, dairy products like yogurt have at least had beneficial microorganisms added back  to them making them better for health. Be wary for the yogurts that are loaded with refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Instead, get the one that is lightly sweetened with honey or real maple syrup, or get plain yogurt and add fresh fruit to sweeten. Realistically,  you probably won’t find raw milk, sticking to skim milk is probably the best option.  If you use butter for cooking, cultured organic butter is the best option.

This article has shed some light on the truth about dietary fats and bring about their importance in a healthy diet. This is simply a guide to show a healthy diet including healthy fats, including the healthy saturated fats is important to overall health.