So if some PUFAs are essential, can they be bad for you? Yes! We know this is counter-intuitive, but please bear with us.

One of the main problems is that PUFAs are not very stable and should be avoided for cooking (high or low heat); they are best consumed raw in whole food sources like salmon. PUFAs are also prone to rancidity which turns them somewhat toxic. Omega-6 fatty acids are especially problematic because their rancidity is hard to notice. Unlike omega-3 fatty acids, omega-6 fatty acids don’t emit a distinctive smell when they go rancid.

It’s also important to note that despite being an essential fatty acid, too much of them can be harmful and cause inflammation, as is the case with linoleic acid (LA). Moreover, consuming seed oils which are full of PUFAs is linked to increased risk of common western diseases such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer and more.

Many of the highly processed industrial seed oils are rich in LA and other omega-6 fatty acids. It’s best to be cautious of omega-6 fatty acid intake, as the typical standard American diet is often highly imbalanced when it comes to omega-6 to omega-3 ratio. The ideal ratio is close to 1:1, up to 4 or 5:1, thereabouts [13]. In the typical western diet the ratio can skyrocket up to 30:1 [14]!

Optimal fat intake with Nutrita

Nutrita helps you choose foods that both work towards your long-term goals and are genuinely tasty. Following a ketogenic diet with Nutrita makes it easy to get the hard things right, like optimizing your omega-3 to omega-6 ratio.

Our rule of thumb is: don’t worry about getting lots of omega 3’s but instead focus on diligently avoiding seed oils that are major sources of omega 6. Nutrita helps you with the hardest part; figuring out the ‘hidden’ sources of seed oils, like in industrial sauces or most brands of mayonnaise.

Even if your goal is to lose fat, don’t be afraid of eating fat. Simply be mindful of avoiding industrial sauces that have seed oils hidden in them. If you’re out at a restaurant don’t hesitate to ask what fat they used to cook your food in. Yeah, it’s annoying to have to ask, but your health is worth the hassle.

Again, don’t fear fat. Afterall, fat is the primary source of energy on a ketogenic diet, whether coming from your plate or belly. Yes, 1 gram of fat has more than twice as many calories as do protein or carbs, but we care more about how it affects fuel partitioning than we do its caloric content. Fuel partitioning is a fancy way of saying what your body decides to do with the food; shunt more of it towards growing your muscles or growing your fat stores? That’s the balance that matters. The caloric balance simply follows on from that. People getting the causality upside down.

Remember, fat loss is about biology, not physics. And no, we’re not saying calories don’t matter on a ketogenic diet – they do. But if your diet is low-carb and low-fat, it is also low-calorie. That sounds an awful lot like chronic caloric restriction that failed for most people most of the time. What bodybuilders do for competition prep is another question that we’ll leave aside for now.

The keto score will help you to stay in ketosis and achieve the right macronutrient mix while feeling full and sticking to nutrient dense food. Our insulin index will help you avoid carby junk-food which also happens to be chock full of nasty seed oils – a double win!

Fat distribution in food

Most foods contain a mixture of many different kinds of fats. For this reason, it’s challenging to remember what type of food includes what kind of fat. Interestingly though, most people who still think that saturated fat causes atherosclerosis don’t even know in what kind of food it occurs in!

Lard, for instance, doesn’t have a stellar reputation. This is despite the fact that more than 50% of fatty acids in lard are unsaturated, mostly coming from oleic acid, the monounsaturated fatty acid that is also found in olive oil (more than 60% of it) [15]. It’s linked to many positive health benefits. Most people who demonize lard certainly don’t realize that it consists largely of the fatty acids that they praise for their health benefits when it comes from more ‘acceptable’ sources.

The only foods in which the percentage of saturated fat exceeds unsaturated fat are coconuts and dairy products. While this may seem frightening, it’s not a problem. In fact, an association study found that dairy consumption is associated with decreased cardiometabolic disease mortality [16].

I will never understand how meat became associated with being the primary source of saturated fat. First of all, the majority of meat that we eat is very low in total fat. For example, the average steak contains about 5% fat [17]. There are fattier cuts like pork belly and ribeye steak that people enjoy, no less because of fat’s ability to literally transport flavor. Most of us however, mistakenly avoid the parts of the animal that are high in fat, such as the brain and the fattier cuts of meat. Do you know anyone who eats brain (except for Nutrita’s co-founder Raphael…)? Clearly, fatty cuts are thought to not be good for our heart health by most people. It may surprise you though that meat is actually higher in unsaturated than saturated fat – who knew?

Interestingly, 100g of fatty fish such as mackerel contains a little less monounsaturated fat (5.5g) than a ribeye steak does (6.5g) [18,19]. You’ve already heard that beef should be avoided because it contains too much saturated fat, right? Besides that, fish is an essential source of the omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA. Because these are rarely obtained in adequate amounts through non-animal dietary sources, it’s smart to eat fish once or twice per week.

Nuts also mostly contain unsaturated fats and are an excellent source of healthy fats. The same is true for avocados, of which 85% is unsaturated, most of it being monounsaturated [20].