A Guide to Fat in Your Diet
Avoid fat! Avoid carbohydrates! Avoid everything that’s not a grapefruit! As people ask for a quick, easy way to lose weight, one fad diet after another emerges to answer their request. But although some of these fad diets do work for some people, many of them fail to provide long lasting, healthy weight loss. Additionally, eliminating whole food groups, as many fad diets do, can result in undesired side effects. Low carb diets, for example, can cause headaches, constipation, weakness, and bad breath; people on low fat diets often feel hungry and unsatisfied. In the end, healthy weight loss is not as simple as many people would like it to be. Instead of labeling whole food groups as healthy or unhealthy, you need to know which specific food items are healthy or unhealthy. Luckily, new food regulations, as well as this handy guide to fat, will make healthy eating a little easier.
Of the three main types of calories (fat, carbohydrate, and protein), all three are necessary. Yes, even fat, which has been vilified as a major cause of obesity and poor health, is necessary. Fat is the source of essential fatty acids, which are necessary for life. Essential fat deficiency has also been linked to various skin problems, including dry skin and acne. Without fat, your body is unable to absorb vitamins A, D, E, and K, so even if you take a multivitamin and eat lots of fruits and vegetables, you can still suffer from vitamin deficiency if you are not eating any fat. Fat is also a very good source of energy; the body stores energy as fat. Finally, fat is largely responsible for making food taste good and be filling; people on low fat diets are often continuously hungry and may overeat as a result.
But even though fat is necessary, it can also be harmful. Diets high in fat have been linked to high cholesterol and heart problems. Fat is also the most calorie concentrated food source; therefore, diets that are high in fat are likely to be high in calories and may cause excess weight gain. These facts have led many people to think that fat is the enemy, but this reasoning is too simplistic. Too much fat is bad, and certain types of fat are bad, but fat itself is not bad.
The United States Food and Drug Administration currently recommends that people get about 30 percent of their calories from fat. This means that a person eating 1,800 calories a day should get 540 calories from fat. Since one gram of fat contains nine calories, this would be about 60 grams of fat. Saturated fat should be kept under 10 percent of daily calories; a person on a 1,800 calorie diet should have no more than 20 grams of saturated fat per day. Many diets will suggest other ratios of fat to protein and carbohydrates, but people should generally not go above or too far below the FDA’s recommended amounts.
The FDA’s guidelines differentiate between saturated and unsaturated fat; this is very important. When people talk about the dangers of fat, they are really talking about the dangers of saturated fat. Saturated fats can raise cholesterol levels and cause cardiovascular disease. Saturated fat is solid at room temperature, and animal products, such as milk, eggs, and meat, contain saturated fat. Unsaturated fats, which include most plant-based oils, are liquid at room temperature. Unsaturated fats are the healthy fats that you want to include in your diet.
Understanding the difference between saturated and unsaturated fat is important, but there are critical subcategories as well. Hydrogenated fat, which is an unsaturated fat that has been chemically modified to become more like a saturated fat, is extremely unhealthy. Hydrogenated fats, commonly called trans fats, are very inexpensive and therefore extremely common in mass produced food. However, the danger of hydrogenated fats has become a hot topic in the media, and many food companies have eliminated trans fat from their recipes; this is a selling point, so it will usually be announced in large letters on food packages. Additionally, new FDA regulations now require food companies to list the amount of hydrogenated fat (labeled trans fat) as part of the nutritional information. However, if the amount of hydrogenated fat is less than .5 grams per serving, it will not be listed. To determine whether a food product contains any hydrogenated fats, simply search the ingredients list.
You should also distinguish between polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats. As previously stated, both types of fat can be part of a healthy diet; they both decrease cholesterol levels by lowering amounts of low density lipoprotein (better known as LDL or “bad” cholesterol). However, polyunsaturated fat also lowers high density lipoprotein (better known as HDL or “good” cholesterol) levels. Therefore, monounsaturated fat is healthier than polyunsaturated fat. Olive, peanut, and rapeseed oil contain monounsaturated fat; soybean, corn, sunflower, and safflower oil contain polyunsaturated fat. Pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds contain both polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats.
There is one last type of fat that you should be aware of: omega 3 fatty acids. Diets rich in omega 3 fatty acids have been linked to decreased risks of diabetes, cancer, heart attack, stroke, and even obesity. Oily fish such as eels, herring, kippers, mackerel, rainbow trout, salmon, and sardines are great sources of omega-3 fatty acids. Flax seeds also contain significant amounts of omega-3 fatty acid. If you do not eat fish or flax seeds regularly, consider taking a supplement.
Your goal should not be to create a perfect diet – do you really want to live without ice cream? – but rather to create a healthy diet. And maintaining a healthy diet is all about balance; you need to balance large amounts of various healthy foods with small amounts of unhealthy foods. Now that you know which fats to seek out and which to limit, healthy eating should be that much easier.
