READ THIS.

Last time, I gave you “Part A” of the nutrition label / math lesson so you could become more knowledgeable about your favorite foods.  Today, as promised, I am going to go through the section “Total Fat.”  Once you’ve read the information below, take out some of your favorite foods from the pantry.  After figuring out the percentage of fat calories to total calories, next see what KIND of fat this food contains.  Better equipped, you can now decide if it’s worth the health risk.  

Consider fat.  There’s no doubt that just reading that word made some of you cringe.  If there’s a scarier word to those of us who are confounded by our attempts to get healthy, I don’t know what it is.  Do you know that we are the only culture that uses the same word for what shows up on our thighs and rear ends because we overeat, and the nutrient? 

There are three essential nutrients in the food kingdom.  Essential means you have to eat them, because your body doesn’t manufacture them on its own.  Just as a 3-legged stool would never balance upright if you knocked one of the legs out, your diet (as in, the generic term for what we eat) will never be balanced without taking in protein, carbohydrates and fats.  I’m going to save the first two for future food label blogs, because fats, in my humble opinion, are the most misunderstood of all three.

So we MUST eat fats.  They have all kinds of benefits, but the main reason this vain woman includes them in my diet is because I care about how my hair, skin and nails look.  They must be eaten if you hope to reap the benefits of the fat soluble vitamins D,A,K or E (and believe me you WANT to reap those benefits.)  Another great thing fats do is slow down how fast we digest and absorb the food in our system, giving us the sensation of feeling full longer.  Finally, in the absence of fat in your food, you’re likely never going to feel satiated after eating.  As in happy and full and content.

Here’s the catch.  There are some really great healthy fats and then some pretty awful ones, I’m not gonna lie.  There are 3 types; I’ll give you the lowdown on each.  2 are found in nature, and 1 comes from a science laboratory.  

Unsaturated fats, usually liquid at room temperature, are the GREAT ones.  They are good for your heart, they help lower your bad (LDL) cholesterol and raise your good (HDL) cholesterol and they help lower your triglycerides.  To increase your intake of unsaturated fats, include oils such as olive, sesame, peanut and canola.  Increase the amount you eat of things like nuts and seeds, olives, avocados, and flesh fish like salmon, tuna and mackerel.  Yum, right?

Saturated fats, generally solid or semi solid at room temperature are largely found in animal products.  Beef, pork, chicken, turkey and dairy products* contain saturated fat.  Dairy products have an asterisk because you can find reduced fat and fat free varieties to reduce the amount of saturated fat you eat.  Don’t forget that butter is actually a dairy product too.  There are 2 tricky exceptions of plant based saturated fat, and they are coconut and palm oil, found in lots of processed things in your pantry right now.  They are used in processed foods because they have an unbelievably long shelf life.  Haven’t you heard about the twinkie experiment, where a time capsule revealed an old-as-dirt twinkie that was still “fresh?”  Look for the palm, palm kernel and coconut oil on the labels.  Reduce or eliminate these saturated fats.

The 3^rd category, unfortunately, is a double whammy on your poor cholesterol, because it lowers your good percentage AND raises your bad.  These are partially hydrogenated fats.  You’ll find these fats in things like margarine, salad dressings, canned soups and sauces.  (Also known as “trans fats.”)

Now that you know a little more, how are you reacting?  Does this make you want to go read every label in your house or does it make you say, “nobody’s come out of here alive, I may as well die happy?”  Somewhere in between would be a great place to start, in my opinion.  

So here’s your action:  1.  Become aware of what kinds of fats you are eating.  2.  Try to reduce the amounts of saturated and partially hydrogenated fats.  3.  Increase your unsaturated fats.  

Simple enough?  Great!  Anybody have any “ew. Ick.” moments?  Care to share?

P.S.  If you keep each individual food item percentage to below 30%, the totals for your day should pretty much stay in line.  The exception is when you eat something that is 100% fat calories, and that’s why you use these things 

S-P-A-R-I-N-G-L-Y.