Healthy Fats are Your Friend!

Last week, in my 8-week workshop, “DeMystifying Menopause,” we spent an hour looking at what research is saying about the role of nutrition in our ever-changing menopausal bodies. Really, we could have spent a thousand hours on this topic. It turns out, a huge chunk, if not most, of our menopause symptoms can be alleviated or eliminated by cleaning up our diet with nutrient dense, whole foods.

With that in mind, today’s focus is on fat. Don’t panic. Fat is your friend. Much like that scene in, “Finding Nemo,” where the shark support group repeats their program mantra, “Fish are friends, not food,” fat is your friend, not something to fear. While not as catchy as, “Finding Nemo,” the idea is the same. We absolutely need fat for many important metabolic functions.

Here are just a few:

• Fats, especially when coupled with protein, keep you satiated longer

• Healthy fats such as polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are nutrient dense and have less calories

• Fats store energy

• Healthy fats keep the brain happy which can ward off dementia-related illnesses

• Healthy fats help to lower your risk for heart disease (a major risk factor in post-menopausal women)

• Unsaturated fats, healthy fats, help to raise HDL in the body – you want a high HDL to Low LDL ratio

• Healthy fats are known to decrease inflammation in the body

• Healthy fats encourage insulin sensitivity

Did you notice how often I used the word, “healthy,” after each bullet point? Healthy fats are the key. Say it again with me, “Fat is our friend.”

Let’s get into the weeds a little so you can understand the WHY and the WHAT of fat in our menopausal vessels. This will help you make informed choices for you and your family.

Two Types of Fat:

There are two kinds of fats found in our food – unsaturated and saturated.

Unsaturated foods include two groups: polyunsaturated and monounsaturated. This is your target group of healthy fats.

• Polyunsaturated fats are considered essential fatty acids because we cannot make them ourselves. We must get these from our foods. This includes omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. This type of fat is found in plant-based oils like soybean, corn, and safflower oils. Foods in this category are walnut, flaxseeds, sunflower seeds and in fish like salmon, mackerel, herring, tuna, and trout.

• Monounsaturated fats are found in peanut butter and avocados as well as almonds, hazelnuts, cashews, pecans, pumpkin, sesame and sunflower seeds. Plants oils such as olive, peanut, safflower, sesame and canola oils fall are included in this category as well.

Omega-3 vs Omega-6:

Omega-3’s fatty acids play a vital role as a major building block of cell membranes throughout the body. They also affect the cell receptors of these membranes. Additionally, omega-3’s, “provide the starting point for making hormones that regulate blood clotting, contraction and relaxation of artery walls, and decrease inflammation in the body” (Harvard School of Public Health, n.d.). Omega-3’s also lower levels of triglycerides (Harvard Health Publishing, n.d.).

The highest volume of omega-3’s is found in cold water fish like anchovies, wild-caught salmon (3’s are higher in farmed salmon but the farming practices of Atlantic and Canadian farmed salmon do not make it worth it to consume), and sardines. Omega-3’s coming from fish are often referred to as marine omega-3 fatty acids. Also,the less fatty the fish, like trout, bass, and cod, the less omega-3’s it will contain (NIH, n.d).

As a side note, grass fed beef contains high levels of omega-3’s as well as trace minerals and protein.

Plant sources of omega-3’s include flaxseed oil, chia seeds, and various nuts and seeds described above.

Just a note, that flaxseeds themselves are not digestible. The body cannot breakdown the outside shell. Instead, buy flax meal or better yet, use the oil. The best form is the cold form that is both cold-pressed (it will say this on the bottle) and needs to be refrigerated.

Omega-6 fatty acids: We have long been told to stay away from omega-6 fatty acids due to the risk of the inflammation that omega-6’s supposedly cause. It turns out, we might actually need them. According to a two-year study that included 9 independent researchers (3 from Harvard), and data collected from over 20 studies, all supported the, “cardiovascular benefits of eating omega-6 fats” (Harvard Health Publishing, 2019). Omega-6 helps the heart maintain a steady and consistent heartbeat and when eaten at a 1:1 ratio of omega-3’s to omega-6’s, has shown to decrease the risk of heart attacks and strokes, especially in those who have already had heart attacks and strokes, according to the American Heart Association.

Omega-6’s are most commonly found in cooking oils such as safflower, soybean, corn, sunflower, and seeds like sunflower, walnuts, and pumpkin (Harvard Health Publishing, 2019)

Ways to include healthy fats in daily eating

A quick recap: healthy fats are really good for you. The trend researchers are seeing is people are getting far more omega-6 fatty acids than omega-3’s. Your new mission is to try to eat a 1:1 ratio of 3’s to 6’s, while also working to cut out the saturated fat options you so love. What does this look like? I’ll show you.

• On whole wheat bread, make a sandwich with nut butter

• Spread 1/4 - 1/2 of an avocado on toast like Ezekial bread or a seeded bread

• Use olive oil for cooking instead of vegetable oil whenever possible

• Choose a vinaigrette dressing instead of ranch

• Grab a small handful of trail mix with cashews, walnuts, almonds as a snack with an apple

• Use olive oil as a marinade base when grilling chicken

• Blueberries or raspberries alongside a small handful of nuts

• Wild-caught salmon, asparagus, and some type of avocado salad

When all else fails, use the Mediterranean diet as your guideline for what healthy fats (and how to eat in general) to keep as your target fats. In another post I wrote, “Nutrition Matters in Menopause,” I wrote briefly about the science behind the Mediterranean diet.

My next Menopause Monday post will be about the Mediterranean diet so stay tuned....

I’ll leave you with this: healthy fats are beneficial, helpful, and just plain yummy. We menopausal creatures need fats to keep us going. So get out there, and tell our friends, “Fat is our friend, not our enemy!”