Many people in today's society label fats as bad - this is both ignorant and dangerous to your health. Not all fats are the same; there are some that are detrimental to your health, and some that are healing to your body.

The trick with permanent fat loss is to eat less saturated/trans fats (which are the bad fats), eat more essential fatty acids (the good fats), eat less sugar and less total calories then you burn.

There are plenty of benefits of fats, depending on which type you take.

Either way, fats are essential for many basic functions of your body:

• they are a major source of stored energy (body fat)
• They help cushion and protect major organs.
• Fats also insulate the body and protect it against the cold by preserving body heat.

Many people go on such low fat diets these days that they actually develop problems associated with dietary fat deficiencies.

You'd never have thought so would you? People having health challenges because they are having too little fat!

In terms of calories, we've already covered that fats are the most calorie dense of all nutrients. Each gram of fat contains 9 calories so it doesn't take much to quickly add up and reach your daily quota of calories.

Fats are broken down into two main categories: unsaturated essential fatty acids which are the 'good fats' and saturated/trans fats which are the 'bad fats'.

Good fats are good for your health and help you in your fat loss journey. Bad fats are detrimental to your health and your fat loss journey.

Fats To Help You Burn Fat

Unsaturated essential fatty acids are essential to life and must be eaten for you to survive. These are the fats that heal your body because every cell requires them to function.

Unsaturated essential fatty acids are unrefined, cold pressed, are low in cholesterol and are necessary to your body for it to function properly. They are 'essential' because your body cannot produce them. Yet they are required for many functions in the body, including creating the coating around your cells for its protection.

The particular types of unsaturated fats you want to consume are omega 3 fatty acids (also known as alpha Linoleic acid or LNA) and omega 6 fatty acids (also known as Linoleic acid or LA).

Essential fatty acids are fats in natural unprocessed forms. They are very beneficial to your permanent fat loss goals. They help your permanent fat loss goals by maintaining your muscle mass and also help many processes in your body to function healthily, such as increasing your metabolism so that you are able to burn calories and fat easier throughout your day.

Below, I've listed a bunch of reasons why essential fatty acids are great for your health, and also great for your muscle maintenance. A healthy body is more likely to burn fat and keep it off in the long term.

The Benefits Of Essential Fatty Acids

Here are some reasons why Essential fatty acids are great for your overall health:

• It boosts your metabolism which slows down any gain in body fat you might have. EFA's are a major source of energy for the body.
• It assists the role of insulin in your body by helping drive higher amounts of nutrients to the cells of your body.
• Fat soluble vitamins require fats to transport them around the body
• It increases the energy production in cells so that you have more energy throughout the day and when you work out. Research has shown that not enough fats in your diet can reduce strength by up to 15%.
• It helps build the cell membranes which provide a protective coating and of course healthier cells.
• It provides lubrication to the cells in the body so they move around more freely.
• It helps the production of hormones.
• It protects the body by neutralizing excess acids in the body.
• Assists in lowering bad cholesterol
• Plays a very important role in helping your brain and central nervous system function properly
• Helps regulate blood pressure
• Helps maintain the strength of the immune system
• It slows down the assimilation and absorption of carbs in your bloodstream thereby controlling sugar and insulin spikes. If you can manage your insulin then you are a long way ahead in your limiting fat storage.
• Improves skin texture
• Helps strengthen joints

In addition to all the health benefits above, essential fatty acids help you maintain muscle mass by:

• Increasing the production of testosterone in your body which provides the limit on the maintenance and growth of your fat burning army - muscle.
• It increases the production and release of natural growth hormone in you body.
• Helping to retain nitrogen in your muscles - protein is the only macronutrient containing nitrogen. So if your body retains more nitrogen, it doesn't have to tear your muscles to get access to it, it can maintain the muscles you have (and/or grow them).

In Particular, you have to make sure you that you are getting enough omega 3 fatty acids in your body.

Omega 3 fatty acids are particularly beneficial because they provide the following benefits:

• Blocks fat storage (anti lipogenic)
• Is anti catabolic (helps prevent muscles breaking down)
• Is anti inflammatory
• Increases fat burning effects (increased oxidation)
• Helps insulin respond better to changes in blood glucose levels
• Increase the metabolic rate of the body
• Helps lower the risk of heart disease and cancer
• Helps dry flaky skin.

You see all fats are not the same. If you don't get your fair share of the EFA's then you are doing your body a real disservice. You are actually slowing its fat burning process down.