There has been a lot of confusion over the years about what to eat. Do we eat non fat, low fat, or full fat foods? No one quite seems to have a straight answer so we are giving you one!
Full Fat: tend to be too high in saturated fats so they are to be avoid.
Low Fat: Has a good balance without stopping your heart with every bite.
Fat Free: Tends to have way to much sugar to replace the flavor of the fat.
You can’t cut your fat intake too low since your body needs fat to absorb important vitamins, such as, vitamin A, D, and E. These vitamins play a key roll in your nervous system and also help your brain function.
The key to finding the right balance in your fat intake is to cut out the bad fats in your diet such as fried foods, creams, butters, and cheeses and replace them with healthy fats. Most healthy fats can be found in things that come from nature; olive oil, avocados, fish and nuts.
Here is a short breakdown from Fitness Magazine about bad fats.
The Bad: Saturated Fats
What they do: They raise cholesterol levels and increase your risk of heart disease.
Where you’ll find them: In meat and poultry, in dairy products like cream, butter, and whole and 2 percent milk, and in some plant foods like coconut and palm oil.
How much you need: Limit saturated fat to less than 10 percent of your total daily calories. One easy way to cut back: “Remove any hard fat you can see, such as the skin on chicken,” says Christine Gerbstadt, MD, RD, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.
The Ugly: Trans Fats
What they do: Made from unsaturated fat that’s been chemically altered to prolong the shelf life of packaged foods, trans fats raise bad LDL and lower good HDL, increasing inflammation throughout the body. “They 100 percent promote heart disease,” says Dr. Gerbstadt.
Where you’ll find them: In shortening, margarine, doughnuts, french fries, and processed foods such as crackers, cookies, chips, and cakes.
How much you need: Zero. But know this: The FDA allows food manufacturers to claim that a product contains “zero trans fats” if one serving of it has 0.5 grams of trans fats or less. “That means if you eat more than one serving, you could be getting a gram or more,” warns Dr. Gerbstadt. Before buying foods, check the ingredient labels for “partially hydrogenated vegetable oil” — trans fats’ sneaky pseudonym (source)
Fat is not the real enemy; marketing and over consumption are. As kids we were lead to believe that eating fast foods and high fat products was normal. Marketing can make you believe some strange things. It’s only through education that we replace the brain washing with the truth about nutrition.
Adria Ali
(CES, PES, CPT, BS)
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