We all try to do our best when it comes to eating healthy, but it’s not always easy. There’s so much mixed information about how to eat for healthy living and it is hard to know what to believe or where to begin. One step is to cut down on some of the fats in the diet, but don’t cut out fat completely. We always here about “fat free” and 0 grams of trans fat, but the truth is we need fat in our diets. The key is to choose the right kinds of fats.
So, what are the bad and good fats? The bad fats are those that increase our risk for disease. These fats are the saturated fats and trans fats (also called trans fatty acids). The good fats are the unsaturated fats, called monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat.
Trans fat comes from adding hydrogen to vegetable oil through a process called hydrogenation. This process makes the fat more solid and less likely to spoil. Thus, trans fats can improve the shelf life of processed foods. Trans fat is a common ingredient found in commercially baked goods – such as crackers, cookies, and cakes – and in fried foods, such as doughnuts and French fries. Shortenings and some margarines are also high in trans fat. To see if a product contains trans fat, look for the words partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (another name for trans fat) or for the ingredient “shortening.”
Saturated fat is most often found in animal products, such as red meat, poultry, butter, and whole milk. Other foods high in saturated fat include the tropical oils like coconut oil, palm kernel oil, and palm oil. Foods that fall into the “good fats” category include olive oil, peanut oil, and canola oil. Avocados, olives, and most nuts also have high amounts of monounsaturated (good) fat. Foods high in polyunsaturated (good) fats include vegetable oils, such as corn oil, cottonseed oil, safflower oil, soybean oil, and sunflower oil. Omega-3 fatty acids (including salmon, mackerel, herring, lake trout, sardines, albacore tuna, flaxseeds, flax oil, and walnuts) are also polyunsaturated fats.
Be sure to take a look at the Nutrition Facts labels the next time you are at the store and see what kinds of fats you’re eating. A healthy diet includes some fat, but in moderation. Even unsaturated “good” fats have a lot of calories, so you still need to limit them. In a 2,000 calorie per day diet, a person should only be eating 30 percent of calories from total fat – 7 percent (or less) should come from saturated sources, and only 1 percent (or less) should be trans fat. That’s about 16 grams of saturated fat and about 2 grams of trans fat per day – the rest (about 49 grams) should come from good sources of fat. The idea is to replace the bad fats with good fats – not simply add good fats to the diet.
