If you're looking to make some improvements in your diet plan, one nutrient that you must not overlook is dietary fat.  Many people incorrectly assume that if they want to lose body fat and maintain their muscle definition, all fat must be cut out of the picture.

This isn't the case however.  When you choose the right sources of dietary fat to include in your diet, they will offer numerous benefits such as providing key nutrients the body needs, helping to maintain stable blood sugar levels, providing long-term sources of energy, and helping to improve the condition of your skin, hair, and nails.

Adopting an ultra-low fat diet is likely to leave you feeling tired, irritable, and very hungry all the time, so instead, think healthy fats over unhealthy ones and plan your diet with moderate doses of the right varieties.

Let's go over the information that you need to know about dietary fat.

Healthy Fats

The first issue to discuss is the healthy fats.  As mentioned, healthy fats will help to promote optimal health by reducing your risk of cardiovascular disease, providing long term fuel resources and increasing insulin sensitivity.

Fats are also required in order to properly produce many of the hormones in the body, so making sure you're getting enough will be vital.

For healthy fats you want to focus on unsaturated and monounsaturated as well as the omega fats, which are required to sustain life.

The best food sources to include that contain these fats are

• olive oil
• flaxseeds
• flaxseed oil
• avocados, nuts
• natural nut butters
• fatty varieties of fish.

If you can have small doses of these foods each day, you'll be right on track.

Unhealthy Fats

Next we come to the unhealthy fat varieties.  This includes your saturated fat sources, which will put you at risk for cardiovascular disease, as well as many other health problems such as hypertension and stroke.

The fats that you want to be avoiding are those that are found in butter, high fat meat products, high fat dairy products, as well as any foods that have been deep fried.

Ugly Fats

Finally, the last type of fats that you need to be aware of is the ugly fats, which are the trans fats.  These fats should be entirely removed from your diet if possible as no amount will be good for your health.

Trans fats are located in any food that contains the words 'partially hydrogenated vegetable oil', which is a man-made fat that increases your disease risk-factors ten-fold.

Trans fats are most commonly found in foods that are deep fried, in baked goods, in many snack products, and sometimes in some of the frozen dinner meals that you turn to when in a hurry.

By reading the nutritional label on any food you are thinking of purchasing to see if that ingredient is listed in there you can gain a sense of whether this fat is occurring in the product.

If it is, put it back on the shelf immediately.

So there you have the key information to remember when it comes to dietary fats.  Not all dietary fats are to be shunned but it's vitally important that you are choosing only those healthy varieties to include in moderation to your diet program.

Vito La Fata, NASM-CPT, is an international presenter, nationally certified personal trainer, fitness and nutrition expert and the creator of Fitness Evolution, a premier fitness and weight loss facility in Laguna Hills, CA. Vito has been helping people lose weight safely, quickly and permanently while getting in the best shape of their lives for over 10 years. You can get more FREE fat and weight loss tips at www.fitnessevolved.com. Visit www.facebook.com/fitnessevolutionlagunahills to become your personal best.