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Good Fat, Bad Fat
by Sonia Ahuja
Tomorrow morning when you get ready to slather some butter or cream cheese on your bagel, why not shake things up a bit and try something new? How about spreading a tablespoon of almond butter on the bagel instead? Or, the next time you cut up vegetables and make a salad, why not sprinkle nuts and olives on it instead of bacon bits and cheese?
Making small changes like these will not only allow you to try new foods, but they may actually provide your body more of the healthy fats it needs while lowering “bad” cholesterol levels.
Figuring out how to create a more healthful diet can be a daunting task, especially in today’s world where we are bombarded with vast amounts of information.
Just what is fat, and how much do we need in our diets to be healthy? What are “healthy fats,” and how much of them do we need to eat? And what are the types of fats we should consume less of, or even avoid altogether? Some of us go to great lengths to avoid eating fat. Some of us eat way too much of it. Some of us don’t even know that some fats are good for us — even vital for maintaining a healthy body.
One of Connie Diekman’s major goals is to clear up confusion surrounding fats so that more people will eat more healthful diets and live longer. She is currently the director of Washington University’s School of Nutrition.
“People don’t know how much fat to include in a healthy diet,” said Diekman. According to some recent surveys, the majority of respondents indicated that they not only didn’t know how much total fat makes up a healthful diet, but they didn’t know how to balance the different types of fat in a healthful eating plan.
According to the American Dietetic Association (ADA), about 30 percent of our calories should come from fat. “Fat is essential for growth and health. We have to have 30 percent of our calories coming from fats, but only 10 percent of that can be saturated fats,” she explained. Fats are necessary because they are essential to the transport, absorption and use of Vitamins A, D, E and K, which are fat-soluble.
UNHEALTHY FATS
Saturated Fats
Saturated fats are unhealthy and should be avoided. They increase the risk for developing high cholesterol levels and heart disease, as well as adding pounds to your frame. Foods that contain saturated fats include meats and dairy products. Also, tropical oils, such as coconut oil, palm oil and cocoa butter are saturated fats.
Trans Fats
Of the unhealthy fats, trans fats are the most detrimental to health. Trans fats are found in most processed and packaged foods, such as chips, crackers, cookies and dessert snacks. Foods that are fried, in most restaurants, also contain trans fats, which is why baked potatoes are a better choice than French fries. Other trans fats are partially-hydrogenated vegetable oils, hydrogenated vegetable oils and shortening.
HEALTHY FATS
Polyunsaturated Fats
Polyunsaturated fats are in safflower, sunflower and corn oils. They are also the main fat in seafood. Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are types of polyunsaturated fat. Fatty fish such as mackerel and salmon contain these healthy fatty acids. Other foods containing polyunsaturated fats are ground flaxseeds and flaxseed oil, soybeans, walnuts and seeds.
Monounsaturated fats
Monounsaturated fats are found in olive oil, olives, canola oil, peanut oil, avocados and nuts. They are liquid at room temperature but get solid when refrigerated.
Even though it’s better to eat healthier fats, it’s still important to be careful about how much of them you consume. All fats are high in calories — so watch your serving sizes.
Diekman and Jennifer McDaniel, a registered dietician and instructor of nutrition at Saint Louis University, recommend including the following foods in your regular eating plan:
• lean meats, fish and chicken breast
• low-fat dairy products, such as skim milk and low-fat cheeses
• eggs
• nuts
• seeds
Both Diekman and McDaniel also said that a way to make sure you get more of the good fats and less of the bad fats is to use oils as dressings and condiments, and to avoid gooey bakery items.
“Fat is important to flavor,” Diekman said. She suggests accenting foods with fats rather than making fat a core food.
Diekman, past president of the ADA, made two presentations on fats in October, one in Thailand and the other at an ADA conference in Denver, because there is so much confusion about the topic.
Eating foods that are high in the healthier fats may help lower your “bad” (LDL) cholesterol level, raise your “good” (HDL) cholesterol level, and lower your chances of developing heart disease.
“The bottom line is if we don’t consume healthy fat, where will we get enough of the essential healthy fats that our body needs?” Diekman said.
The amount of fat you eat is important. The average 2,000-calorie diet should contain about 65 grams of fat, or 30 percent fat. But no more than 10 percent of your total fat should come from saturated or “bad” fats, McDaniel said. The remainder, or about 20 percent, needs to come from unsaturated fats.
Ratio of Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs)
Healthy fats, such as Omega-3s and Omega-6s, are referred to as “essential” fats, according to Diekman, because our bodies cannot make them. Omega 3 EFAs are Altha-Linolenic Acids and are found in fish, nuts and flax. The omega 6 EFAs are Linoleic acids.
“We get too much of these fats and not enough of the omega-3s,” said McDaniel. “Typically, we are getting a ratio of 20 omega-6s to 1 omega 3s. We should get a ratio of 4 to 1.” Reasons why Americans are consuming significantly more omega 6s is due largely to overconsumption of processed and packaged foods and fast foods. Most of these foods are rich in omega-6s and devoid of the omega-3s.
McDaniel said that using more healthy oils such as olive oil and canola oil, adding an avocado on a sandwich instead of mayonnaise or cheese, and adding seeds and nuts instead of bacon bits and cheese on your salads, are ways to decrease the amount of omega-6s in your diet.
For more information on the American Dietetic Association’s guidelines on dietary fat, go to mypyramid.gov.
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