Load up on the fats that could prevent heart disease, cancer, and more.

Specifically, you need more smart fats, which are ...

• omega-3 fats -- from foods such as salmon and walnuts, and
• monounsaturated fats -- from delicacies such as olive oil, almonds, and avocados.

Make no mistake though:  Too much total fat -- more than about 25% calories -- is still a bad idea.  You want to limit saturated fats and trans fats.  And curb omega-6 fats, such as corn oil.

But finally, there's fat so healthy you can go for it!  Try our easy tips to automatically get the right balance of fats in your diet -- especially more delicious smart fats -- starting now.

Only recently have we discovered that these smart fats play critcal roles throughout the body.  (See "Incredible Omega-3s" below.)  But if you don't eat fish two times a week, chances are you only get about a fifth of the omega-3s you need!

WHERE YOU GET OMEGA-3s:  There are two sources: fish, which provides EPA and DHA; and plants, which have alpha-linolenic acid (ALA).  Foods with high EPA and DHA are salmon, mackerel, sardines, herring, anchovies, rainbow trout, bluefish, caviar, and white albacore tuna.  Foods with ALA are canola oil, flaxseed, flaxseed oil, walnuts, walnut oil, and dark green, leafy vegetables.  In your body, ALA is only partially converted to the much more powerful EPA and DHA.

YOUR GOAL:  There's no RDA for omega-3s, though one is being considered.  Omega-3 expert Penny Kris-sEtherton, PhD, RD, distinguished professor of nutrition at Pennsylvania State University in State College, recommends at least 0.5 g EPA and DHA per day.  (In England, the government recommends 1.25 g per day.)  For ALA, she recommends about 1 g per day minimum.

INCREDIBLE OMEGA-3s

Science has uncovered roles all over the body for omega-3s.  Here are a few of the ways omega-3s may help:

PREVENT HEART ATTACK DEATHS.  Omega-3s help heart muscles beat in a steady rhythm.  Maybe that's why studies show that men who eat more fish have fewer fatal heart attacks.

FIGHT DEPRESSION.  Scientists wonder why some patients with depression have lower levels of one omega-3 fat, DHA; we do know that nerve cell membranes in the brain are composed mainly of DHA at the point where one cell "talks" to another.

QUENCH PAIN.  Omega-3s can help tone down rheumatoid arthritis pain and severe menstrual cramps because they dampen out-of-control inflammatory processes.

FIGHT BREAST CANCER.  In studies, women with breast cancer have lower levels of omega-3s in adipose tissue.

9 WAYS TO GET MORE OMEGA-3s

1.    Eat fatty fish twice a week.  That way, you'll average about 0.5 g of EPA and DHA per day.

2.    Say, "I'll have the salmon."  Most restaurants have a salmon entree -- an easy way to get omega-3s.  A
       serving of salmon the size of a deck of cards (about 3 oz) will bring you almost 2 g of DHA and EPA.  Take home
       what's left -- for salmon burgers the next day .

3.    Make tuna salad sandwiches.  Buy canned white albacore tuna in waer (light tune has less omega-3s).  Use
       fat-free mayo or mayo made from canola oil.  A 3-oz serving of tuna averages 1.1 g of DHA and EPA.  (Restaurant
       tuna is mostly yellowfin, not ahigh omega-3 fish.)

4.    Order pizza with anchovies.  Five anchovies have 0.4 g EPA and DHA.

5.    Make a minimeal of sardines with whole wheat toast.  Two sardines have 0.36 g DHA and EPA.

6.    Forget Brie and crackers.  Celebrate with caviar.  One tablespoon has 1 g of omega-3s.

7.    Use canola oil for baking and cooking.  Buy mayo, margarine, and salad dressing made with canola oil.
       One tablespoon has 1.3g of ALA.

8.    Make salad dressing from walnut oil and red wine vinegar.  One tablespoon of walnut oil has 1.4g ALA.

9.    Sprinkle ground flaxseed on cereal or yogurt.  Flaxseed is the plant with the highest ALA levels by far.  One
       tablespon of flaxseed has 2.2g ALA.  You can buy flaxseed athealth food stores or natural food supermarkets
       such as Fresh Fields.
 

In Mediterranean countries, monounsaturated fat from olive oil reduces the risk of heart disease and possibly breast and colon cancers.  Unfortunately, in America we get about one-third of our monounsaturates form a different source -- meat, which means we also get artery-clogging saturated fat.  What we need is less meat and more monos from heart-healthy sources.

WHERE YOU GET MONOS:  olive oil, olives, canola oil (also a good source of omega-3s), most nuts (almonds, cashews, pecans, pistachios), avocados, peanuts, and peanut butter.

YOUR GOAL:  up to 15% or more of daily calories.  The American Heart Association recommends up to 15%, but some heart experts recommend even higher levels.
 

7 WAYS TO GET MORE MONOUNSATURATES

1.    Dress salads in olive oil.  Buy salad dressing made with olive oil or make your own.  (Bonus:  A dressing
       with fat means you absorb more protective carotenoids from your veggies.)

2.    Go nuts.  Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of toasted, chopped nuts a day on cereal, yogurt, stir-fries, casseroles, rice
       dishes, or cream soups.

3.    Take a dip.  Dip crusty bread in olive oil.

4.    Opt for olive oil in cooking.  Though you can find special high-mono sunflower and safflower oils (called
       high-oleic), they're not good substitutes for olive oil, since they lack the disease-fghting phytochemicals that
       oilve oil contains.

5.    Savor peanut butter.  in moderate amounts (1 or 2 tablespoons).

6.    Apprecaite avocados.  Stop assing up this delicious treat.  One quarter of an avocado packs 4.5g
       monounsaturates.

7.    Favor up with olives.  Add punch to salads and casseroles with chopped olives.
 

Omega-6 fats in vegetable oils such as corn oil are essential -- our diets must have some of these polyunsaturated fats.  But in the twentieth century, we've gone overboard and neet to cut back.

Experts think humans evolved on a diet of equal portions of omega-6 and omega-3 fats.  Today, because we eat so much corn, soybean, and cottonseed oil, we get 10 to 20 times more omega-6s than the Stone Age person.  In your body, that hinders the work of omega-3s.  It lowers LDL cholesterol but also can reduce healthy HDL cholesterol.  Some research hints that it could also encourage breast cancer.

WHERE YOU GET OMEGA-6s.  vegetable oils made from corn, cottonseed, safflower seed, sunflower seed, and soybeans.  Note:  Soybean oil has more healthy omega-3s than many oils, but it also has very high levels of omega-6s.

YOUR GOAL.  Dr. Simopoulos recommends aiming for no more than four times as much omega-6s as you get of omega-3s, or about 6g a day.  Don't worry if that sounds complicated  -- our tips make it hapen easily.
 

3 WAYS TO TAME OMEGA-6s

1.    Top strategy.  Margarine and mayonnaise are often made from soybean or other high omega-6s oils.  Look
        for brands made from canola oil.

2.    Make or buy salad dressing with olive oil.  Bottled salad dressings are often soybean-oil based.

3.    Use olive or canola oil for cooking or baking isntead of corn, safflower, or sunflower oils.

Denise Webb, PhD, RD, is the former editor of Environmental Nutrition Newsletter and joined Prevention as "Supplement News" columnist.