Continued from our Retreat & Renew Daily Tip.
Each time you saute fresh vegetables you face a troublesome decision. Do you cook them in olive or canola oil? Or would a fat-free cooking spray be better? And what should you spread on your innocent piece of whole-grain toast? Is it butter or margarine? Or do you skip the fat altogether, and go with jam?
Today’s health-conscious consumers face a steady stream of mixed messages. Trendy diets range from high fat to no fat to everything in between. Although fat is no longer considered our number one health enemy, incorporating the right amount of fat, not to mention the right types of fat, into a heart-healthy diet can be tricky.
Fats are one of four substances in food that provide calories, protein, carbohydrates, and alcohol being the other three. Your body needs fat to function. Besides being a valuable energy source, fat aids in blood clotting and helps regulate one’s blood pressure, heart rate, and nervous system. It is also necessary for the transportation and absorption of the fat-soluble vitamins – A, D, E, and K. And there’s also the satiety factor. A plate of crackers is not going to fill you up like a plate of cheese and crackers.
Yet, a diet too high in fat can increase your risk of cardiac failure, high blood cholesterol, and diabetes. It can also lead to obesity, a risk factor for strokes as well as heart disease and cancer. Fatty diets and obesity go hand in hand because fat is calorie dense. Fats provides 9 calories per gram, while carbohydrates and proteins supply only 4 calories per gram (alcohols provide 7). So in addition to increased health risks, a diet that includes a lot of fatty foods can also result in a lot more of you.
It’s important to keep in mind that all fats are not created equal. Many foods contain several types of fats with varying levels of each type (see ‘Fat Chemistry 101’), and some fats are better for your health than others.
Fats to fear:
Saturated
When you think bad fat, think saturated. Saturated fats increase your risk of heart disease by raising LDL (bad) blood cholesterol levels. Saturated fat deposits plaque in the coronary arteries, which is bad news for you and your heart. Plaque deposits lead to blocked arteries, and blocked arteries may lead you straight into your local hospital cardiac care unit.
Saturated fat is most often found in foods from animals including beef, cream, butter, whole milk, and cheese. It is also found in plant foods such as tropical oils (coconut, palm, and palm kernel) and cocoa butter. So avoiding saturated fat is challenging because it’s in such popular foods as pizza, hamburgers, steaks, tacos, cheese, and ice cream.
Trans
The new buzz word in nutrition circles is trans. That’s because the Food and Drug Administration recently passed a regulation requiring food manufacturers to list trans fat on all nutrition labels. (Food companies have until January 2006 to comply, but many labels have already started to change.) Why? Studies have shown that trans fat is as bad for your health and heart as saturated fat. Not only does trans fat raise LDL (bad) cholesterol, it also lowers HDL (good) cholesterol; the worst possible combination.
Where does this nasty stuff come from? Small amounts of trans fat occur naturally in meat and dairy products, but that’s not the real problem. To make foods stay fresh on the shelf or to turn liquid oils into solids (turning oil into margarine for instance), food manufacturers hydrogenate (add hydrogen to) polyunsaturated oils. Thus, margarine, shortening, cooking oils, as well as foods made with them constitute a major source of trans fat. (See ‘The Secret Life of Trans Fat.’)
Fats to find:
Monounsaturated
Monounsaturated fats can lower your risk of heart disease if used in place of saturated fats by lowering your overall blood cholesterol. Foods rich in these fats include olive, peanut, and canola oils. High amounts of monounsaturated fats can also be found in nuts and avocados.
Polyunsaturated
When used instead of saturated fat, polyunsaturated fats help lower blood cholesterol levels and reduce the amount of cholesterol deposits in your arteries. Polyunsaturated fats are found in vegetable oils such as cottonseed, safflower, corn, and soy oil, and in seeds and nuts.
One type of polyunsaturated fat, omega-3, may be especially important to include in your diet. They appear to help lower blood cholesterol, reduce the risk of heart attack, and protect against irregular heartbeats. Eating seafood, particularly fatty cold-water fish like salmon and herring, two times a week is recommended to ensure you are getting enough of this super fat. Fish not your thing? Take a fish oil pill. Look for one that supplies 500 to 1000 mg of EPA and DHA combined. (EPA and DHA are the key fats found in fish.)
Fats done right:
How does all this fat information translate into a sensible diet? Here are some quick tips to keep you (and your heart) ‘fat’ healthy:
Reduce the amount of bad fats (‘Fats to Fear’) you eat, but include a moderate intake of good fats (‘Fats to Find’).
Limit your fat intake to 30 percent of your daily calories or less. If you eat a 2,000 calorie diet, that’s around 65 grams of total fat per day. No more than 20 of those grams should come from saturated or trans fat.
Balance high-fat foods with lower-fat dairy products, vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.
Cut down on commercially fried foods and commercially baked goods. Not only are these foods high in total fat (and calories), they may also be high in saturated and trans fat.
At home use canola oil as your main oil, with others thrown in for taste.
Sprinkle nuts and seeds on your salads, and use avocado, instead of cheese, for your sandwiches.
Eat seafood at least twice at week or take a fish oil pill with no more than 1 gram of combined DHA and EPA daily.
The Secret life of Trans Fat
Trans fats are hiding in your food, and until the new nutrition labels are mandatory, these fats will be difficult to find. Right now the only way is to squint at the tiny print in the ingredient list for partially hydrogenated oil or vegetable shortening. The higher these ingredients are on the list, the more trans fat the food contains. Fried fast foods and restaurant foods (many restaurants cook in partially hydrogenated oil) like French fries and doughnuts may also be high in trans fat. There are no regulations for labeling restaurant foods, so the best way to avoid trans fats in restaurant food, is to not eat fried food.
Fat chemistry 101
All fats are a mixture of saturated and unsaturated (polyunsaturated and monounsaturated) fatty acids. For example, butter contains some unsaturated fat, but a larger percentage of the total fat is saturated. Canola oil, on the other hand, has a high percentage of monounsaturated fat and contains smaller amounts of polyunsaturated and saturated fat.
Fat or Fiction
1. Fat makes you fat.
False.Excess calories make you fat. Fat is calorie dense, but if you include an extra 2,000 calories a day in your diet it’s not going to matter if those calories come from pasta or butter.
2. Margarine is better than butter.
False. Margarine is only better if you use the right type. Some margarines are made with partially hydrogenated oil (PHO), which contain trans fats (see ‘Fats to fear’).Trans fat is as bad for your heart as the saturated fat found in butter. Choose trans-free spreads instead of butter or margarines made with PHO.
3. A heart-healthy diet is fat free.
False. Fat needs to be included in a healthy well-balanced diet. Rather than eliminating fat from your diet, you should choose the best types and enjoy them in moderation.
By Heather Jones, R.D.
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