can you take in too many "good fats?"

[dogsoldier]

The title pretty much sums it up. But here is a better explaination of my question.

I take 4 Flameout pills per day, which totals up to roughly 8 grams of fats. Add to that pumpkin seed oil caps, 2 grams. This is does not take into account the ground flax seeds I toss into my protein shake three times per week.

[Chefguy]

Don't know what flameout is, but the amount is not in excess. The pumpkin seed oil I hope is an organic cold pressed oil, which has quite a bit of omega 6 in it, and should be kept to a bare minimum, Personally i wouldn't use it. And ground flax is good for fibre but it would take 5 tbsp of ground flax to equal 1 tbsp of flax oil. And flax oil is AA and must be converted to EPA/DHA which the body doesn't do very efficiently, maybe 20% under ideal conditions. If your eating flax meal for fibre then fine, but if it's for it's omega properties I would switch to fish or seal oil IMO. Just saying.

[big_addz]

yes you can take in to many good fats, dont know where i've seen it but this pretty much sums it up for me "good fat, bad fat, its still fat"

[Chefguy]

Originally Posted by big_addz

this pretty much sums it up for me "good fat, bad fat, its still fat"

That statement doesn't make too much sense. There's a big difference between the two.

[ktinspired]

too much of anything isn't healthy.....found this maybe it will help.

The total amount of fat in your body is divided into 2 parts: essential fat and storage fat. Essential fat is needed for proper functioning of certain body structures (brain, nerve tissue, bone marrow, heart tissue and cell membranes). Essential fat in males is approximately 3%. In females, it is higher (12-15) due to reproductive hormones.
Storage fat is a depot for excess energy, and the quantity of this fat may vary considerably. Some storage fat is needed for protection of body organs (insulation). Over 50% of total body fat is found as subcutaneous fat (fat right under the skin).

Typical/average body fat for men is 15%, and 27% for women. When you speak of ideal, I suppose that is individual. If you are a body builder, the less fat, and more lean tissue, the better. Everyone has their own perception of "ideal."

As for how many grams of fat you should eat, this will also vary on your calorie level, and energy expenditure. On average, you should consume less than 30% of total calories as fat. If you eat 2000 calories per day, 30% of this total is 600 calories. In order to figure out the number of grams, divide 600 by 9 (there are 9 calories per gram of fat). So, your diet should have less than 66 grams of fat per day. For people with high blood cholesterol or those that need weight loss, this number may be even less.

Diets TOO low in fat are not healthy either. There are 2 essential fatty acids that the body cannot make, and must be derived from the diet. Most vegetable oils, grains, fish and leafy green vegetables will provide essential fatty acids. By eating a variety of foods from these food groups, you should meet your needs for essential fatty acids.

The type of fat in your diet will also affect your health. Foods high in saturated (solid) fat can harden your arteries and possibly lead to heart disease in the long run. Foods high in saturated fat come from animals and some vegetables (beef, chicken skin, whole milk, butter, dairy foods made from whole milk, avocado, palm kernel and coconut oils). These foods should be eaten in moderation (approximately 10% or less should be saturated). Trans fatty acids (found in margarine and processed foods) may also increase the risk of heart disease. These should also be eaten in moderation.

Unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature. Current research has shown a benefit with monounsaturated fat (the kind in olive, canola and peanut oil). This fat aids in the production of HDL ("good" cholesterol) and may aid in the reduction of heart disease. Regular aerobic exercise also increases HDL levels, so if you work out, keep it up!

In conclusion, the safe minimum number of grams of fat per day would be approximately 40-60 grams per day (again, depending on your caloric intake).
Lisa Cicciarello Andrews, MEd, RD, LD

[Chefguy]

ktinspired, some of that info from your source is very much out of date and pretty much the conventional thinking in regards to saturated fat in particular. I think you'll find today that vegetable oils that were invented to replace naturally occuring saturated fat to be the main villian as far as fat is concerned for metabolic syndrome.
Choice of cooking oils--myths and realities. [J Indian Med Assoc. 1998] - PubMed Result

In contrast to earlier epidemiologic studies showing a low prevalence of atherosclerotic heart disease (AHD) and type-2 dependent diabetes mellitus (Type-2 DM) in the Indian subcontinent, over the recent years, there has been an alarming increase in the prevalence of these diseases in Indians--both abroad and at home, attributable to increased dietary fat intake. Replacing the traditional cooking fats condemned to be atherogenic, with refined vegetable oils promoted as "heart-friendly" because of their polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) content, unfortunately, has not been able to curtail this trend. Current data on dietary fats indicate that it is not just the presence of PUFA but the type of PUFA that is important--a high PUFA n-6 content and high n-6/n-3 ratio in dietary fats being atherogenic and diabetogenic. The newer "heart-friendly" oils like sunflower or safflower oils possess this undesirable PUFA content and there are numerous research data now available to indicate that the sole use or excess intake of these newer vegetable oils are actually detrimental to health and switching to a combination of different types of fats including the traditional cooking fats like ghee, coconut oil and mustard oil would actually reduce the risk of dyslipidaemias, AHD and Type-2 DM.

PMID: 10063298 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

It's pretty common knowledge that of the fat found in animal protein is mostly mono fat in the form of oleic acid, the same found in olive oil, and most of the saturated fats is stearic acid, which has a positive effect on CHO levels.

The veg oils that are replacing saturated fats, found in most all processed and fast foods are high in omega 6's and have extremely detrimental effects on LDL. Not to mention the high imbalance of omega 3's to 6's....hence all the hype on omega 3's over the last few years.

Naturally occuring saturated fat is healthy.........again keeping inn mind everything in moderation. I know this is probably more information that is needed for this post but it bothers me that this type of thinking (your source)
and many others continue to resite as gospel. Sorry for the mini rant.