The Skinny on Fats:
Extracted, Pressed, Hydrogenated, Trans
What Does it All Mean?
We’re finally back to continuing our series on FAT. Today I’d like to go over several modern methods of processing fat. (If you need to catch up, see here and here.)
Heat and Chemical Extraction
Extraction is used to remove (or extract) naturally occurring fats from fruits, nuts and seeds. Traditionally these fats were pressed from their sources by slow stone presses. But today, the name of the game is speed (and money, as in getting every last drop) and so big factories do it a bit differently…
The Skinny on Fats:
Short-, Medium-, Long-Chain Fatty Acids
What Does it All Mean?
Today we’re continuing to talk about FAT. In the first fat post, we introduced fatty acids and discussed the details of classifying them by saturation. Another way to classify these fatty acids is by length.
Do you remember two elements that make up fatty acid chains? That’s right: carbon and hydrogen. The total number of carbon atoms determines whether it is a short-chain, medium-chain or long-chain fatty acid. Let’s look at some quick facts for each type. Read the rest of this entry »
The Skinny on Fats:
Mono-, Poly-, Un-, Saturated and Essential
What Does it All Mean?
Let’s talk about FAT.
Fat is one of the most misunderstood and vilified substances in all of nutritional science. I’d like to spend the next few days getting to the bottom (no pun intended, haha) of why we need fat, what kinds we need, and why fat has gotten such a bum (wow, two puns in one sentence!) rap. Today, let’s go over what some terms commonly used to describe fat actually mean. It may not be the sexiest thing you’ll ever read, but it will help you gain a better understanding of nutrition in general.
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