I want to cover why fats are misunderstood?
Fats are misunderstood because of historical fear-mongering in the 1970s-80s, promoting low-fat diets that mistakenly labeled all fats as bad, leading to increased processed foods and health issues, while ignoring that essential monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats ..not seed oils..(like those in avocados, nuts, fish) are crucial for bodily functions, vitamin absorption, and heart health, and that the real culprits are often industrial trans fats and excessive saturated fats, not all dietary fats.
Asian Heart and Vascular Center states Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance essential for building cells, making hormones, and producing Vitamin D, found in all body cells but also carried in the blood, primarily made by the liver and obtained from animal-based foods. While vital for health, too much can build up in artery walls, leading to blockages, heart disease, and stroke, often measured in blood tests as LDL (“bad”) and HDL (“good”) cholesterol.
From https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-truth-about-fats-bad-and-good
Good monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats
Good fats come mainly from vegetables, nuts, seeds, and fish. They differ from saturated fats by having fewer hydrogen atoms bonded to their carbon chains. Healthy fats are liquid at room temperature, not solid. There are two broad categories of beneficial fats: monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.
Monounsaturated fats. When you dip your bread in olive oil at an Italian restaurant, you’re getting mostly monounsaturated fat. Monounsaturated fats have a single carbon-to-carbon double bond. The result is that it has two fewer hydrogen atoms than a saturated fat and a bend at the double bond. This structure keeps monounsaturated fats liquid at room temperature.