Your body needs fat for energy, and to store vitamins, protect organs, regulate hormone production and assist with numerous other functions. Fat should account for a portion of your total calories, with protein and carbohydrates representing the rest.

Although fatty foods contribute to various health conditions, including high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease, these are illnesses that develop over time. You don’t expect to get sick shortly after eating fat. If you do, you might have a gallbladder disease, and it is possible that you have gallstones.

Soybean oil is extracted from soybeans and is a good source of healthy fats, including omega-3 fatty acids and polyunsaturated fats. While these types of fats may have several health benefits, soybean oil is still pure fat, which means that eating too much of it can be detrimental for your overall health.

Women have some flexibility in the amount of fat they consume, so it's OK to customize a diet plan that works best for your lifestyle. If you’re on a weight-loss diet, aim for the least amount of fat.

Oils that contain higher amounts of monounsaturated fats, such as canola and peanut oil, tend to be among the healthier options since they help lower your low-density lipoprotein, or bad cholesterol, while increasing your high-density lipoprotein, or good cholesterol.

Your body needs some dietary fats, especially the healthy unsaturated fats that you can't make yourself, including omega-3 fatty acids. But dangers are associated with eating too much total fat, saturated fat and trans fats.

Fish is the richest dietary source of essential omega-3 fatty acids. Eicosapentaenoic acid, or EPA, and docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, are the major omega-3 fatty acids found in fish. Plants can provide only alpha-linolenic acid, or ALA, an omega-3 fatty acid that appears to have fewer health benefits.

Originally cultivated by ancient North Americans, sunflower seeds have been used as everything from a snakebite cure to a snack for baseball players giving up tobacco. The kernels are high in B vitamins and minerals like copper and magnesium.

Dietary fat plays an essential role in vitamin absorption and healthy development, but too much fat in your diet leads to weight gain, as well as other health concerns.

Your gallbladder works together with your pancreas and other organs that aid in the digestion process. Certain types of foods can cause your gallbladder to become inflamed and irritated and cause gallstones to form. Gallbladder inflammation can cause intense pain.

Vegetable shortening is a common ingredient used in cakes, pies, breads, doughnuts and other baked goods. It is also typically used in fast food restaurants to prepare fried foods such as onion rings, breaded fish and chicken, and breakfast sausage.

Tropical oils, such as palm and coconut oils, come from plants but have a very different nutritional profile from other plant-based fats. Palm oil is pressed from the flesh and kernel of the palm oil tree fruit and is produced at a rate of 47 million tons per year.