How much Fat do we need?

For most of us, more than we were told we should be eating. In a world of Atkins, Ketobombs, and Paleo, it is clear the old Food Pyramid is being tossed out along with the leg warmers and the SnackWells from the 1990s that never went bad SCARY!! Fat is no longer the enemy.

Before you pull a Homer Simpson and wrap bacon around a stick of butter and start to eat it, let’s talk about current Health Findings

I like to keep things to the number 3 so it is easy to remember, and Nutrition meets me halfway with things like 3 types of macronutrients and 3 types of Fat.

1) Unsaturated fat, commonly found in fish, avocado and nuts
2) Saturated fat, examples are butter, palm and coconut oil, cream and ghee
3) Trans fat, ingredients in fast food, margarine, and commercially baked cookies

It is 11:45 and I have already had a good portion of unsaturated fat with the almond butter I had this morning. I feel satisfied as it also had protein and fat. I ran the numbers and in the servings of almond butter I had, there was zero cholesterol as it did not come from an animal (don’t stress we will go over cholesterol in a few days). The almond butter also had a few carbs and even a little naturally occurring sugar. This is all normal with whole unprocessed foods I.e things that could be label-less if I was to actually make my own almond butter, which I totally could if only I wasn’t busy writing about I was too busy to make it!

The World Health Organization (WHO) writes “Transfat (found in processed food, fast food, snack food, fried food, frozen pizza, pies, cookies, margarines and spreads) are not part of a healthy diet” So eating a Whopper or a Tostino pizza thinking you are in the clear because Fat is Back, is being selective with the current health findings.

In a study published in 2014 in Journal of Internal Medicine, Over the course of the 15-year study, people who got 17% to 21% of their calories from added sugar had 7 times the risk heart disease than the control group with 5% of added sugar. ”Basically, the higher the intake of added sugar, the higher the risk for heart disease,” says Dr. Hu.

Trans Fat and Thin Mints

The WHO also recommends we “Avoid processed, baked and fried foods that contain industrially produced trans-fat”

I think to the Thin Mints I used to eat by the sleeve. We had a wonderful babysitter Jenna, or as Liam called her “Jen-Den”. She was one of these great teenagers who never got too cool to come over, and worked for us until she left for college. As a huge bonus to me then, Jenna never stopped being a great connection for Girl Scout Cookies.

I used to buy Thin Mints by the cases. I would also get them for the US Soldiers, so don’t think I was a complete glutton but remember I had a Sugar Addiction for decades. The old Thin-Mints used to coat the roof of my mouth, the old school trans-fat ones. Especially if you think one sleeve is a serving. I still remember my horror when I realized NO, that is not one serving, in fact, it was 6.

In 2011, all trans-fat was eliminated from Thin Mints. (Before the Girl-Scouts said they did not use it, but since I can trust my super trained junk food sensors, I knew others wise) the new ones did not leave the same coat, no matter how many sleeves I ate, and trust me, I ate many a sleeve.

I was still overeating Thin-Mints, which were full of fat and a bunch of other nasty things but trans-fat was no longer part of the problem. Like Jay-Z likes to sing “I got 99 problems and a bi^ch ain’t one”. Trans-fat was no longer a concern, but I had a good 99 other health concerns, or at least 5, but who is counting?

So how much fat should you eat?
Current recommendations by the World Health Organization are for 30% of our overall diet to come from Fat. They recommend we reduce saturated fats to less than 10% of total energy intake, and trans fats to less than 1% of total energy intake, and replacing both with unsaturated fats. So more avocado and less butter, however, that does not mean any butter.

Full disclosure: My daily goals on MyFitnessPal are for 40% fat as I feel much better with a higher percentage of my Fat intake from Fat. I have low cholesterol and blood pressure. I have gone over my daily food plan with my health care providers, and they are happy with the changes, I have made since I cut out Sugar, Artificial Sweetener, and Flour.

What is your favorite type of fat?

I used to buy Thin Mints by the cases. I would also make a donation to the US Troops, so don’t think I was a complete glutton but remember I had a Sugar Addiction for decades. The old Thin-Mints used to coat the roof of my mouth, the old school trans-fat ones. Especially if you think one sleeve is a serving. I still remember my horror when I realized NO, that is not one serving, in fact, it was 6.

In 2011, all trans-fat was eliminated from Thin Mints. (Before the Girl-Scouts said they did not use it, but since I can trust my super trained junk food sensors, I knew others wise) the new ones did not leave the same coat, no matter how many sleeves I ate, and trust me, I ate many a sleeve.

I was still overeating Thin-Mints, which were full of fat, sugar, preservatives and a bunch of other things but trans-fat was no longer part of the problem. Like Jay-Z likes to sing “I got 99 problems and a bi^ch ain’t one”. Trans-fat was no longer a concern, but I had a good 99 other health concerns, or at least 3, but who is counting?

So how much fat should you eat?

Current recommendations by the World Health Organization are for 30% of our overall diet to come from Fat. They recommend we reduce saturated fats to less than 10% of total energy intake, and trans fats to less than 1% of total energy intake, and replacing both with unsaturated fats. So more avocado and less butter, however, that does not mean any butter.

My daily goals on MyFitnessPal are set for 40% fat. I feel the most satisfied with a higher percentage of my Fat intake from Fat. I have low cholesterol and blood pressure. I have gone over my daily food plan with my health care providers, and they are happy with the changes, I have made since I cut out Sugar, Artificial Sweetener, and Flour.

What is your favorite type of Dietary Fat?