BoomerGirl Diary

Everyone is talking about fat in the American diet; animal, vegetable, saturated, polyunsaturated, hydrogenated, trans fats. How do you make sense of all the words? What are the differences and how do you know what to look for?

The first thing you should know is your body needs a certain amount of fat in your diet for proper growth, development, and maintenance of good health. Fats help the absorption of vitamins A, D, E & K and good fats can help raise your good cholesterol (HDL).

So we’ll start with the GOOD fats

Good fats are your unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. The key word here is "un," as in "unsaturated." These are generally your plant and seafood fats, as found in olive oil, safflower oil, fish oil, canola oil, nuts, seeds and avocados. In moderation, unsaturated fats can have a positive effect on your health. They can help lower the causes of heart disease and obesity, and help lower inflammation. Most unsaturated fats are in the form of liquid when at room temperature.

Now, the BAD fats

Saturated fats are bad fats. These are mostly animal fats, such as those found in meats, but also found in butter, dairy products, coconut oil and palm oil. These foods contain dietary cholesterol, and will usually contribute to an increase in your body’s bad cholesterol (LDL), which can lead to heart disease. These bad fats are usually solid at room temperature.

The good and bad fats as described above are all fats we find in nature. But there is another kind of fat that is making the headlines, and those are ...

The dreaded trans fats

Trans fats are man-made “enhancements” to natural fats that turns them from a liquid to a solid or semi-solid form. On food labels these are identified as “vegetable shortening” and “partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.” The food industry loves this hydrogenation process because the foods made using trans fats have a longer shelf life and are more stable. The FDA once estimated that approximately 80 percent of frozen breakfast foods, 95 percent of prepared cookies and 100 percent of crackers contained trans fat.

So why are we hearing so much about trans fats now? Because what is good for the food and restaurant industry turns out to be very bad for your health. Trans fats can increase your cholesterol, increase your risk for cancer, add to obesity and lower your immunity. You should strive to keep trans fat consumption to little or none in a healthy diet.

So how do you trim the fat? Just remember that small changes can add up to big results. In fact, one study showed that replacing just 2 percent of energy from trans fat with healthy unsaturated fat could decrease the risk of heart disease by 33 percent.

Here are easy substitutions for everyday foods:

• Use four egg whites instead of two whole eggs. This saves you 9 grams of saturated fat.

• Use 8 ounces of skim milk instead of 8 ounces of whole milk. This saves you 8 grams of saturated fat.

• Four ounces of ground turkey breast instead of the same size 85 percent lean ground beef will save you 16 grams of saturated fat.

• Replace your ranch dressing with lemon juice, vinegar & 1 teaspoon of olive oil to save you 13 grams of saturated fat.

With just the four substitutions listed above, you’ve painlessly trimmed 46 grams of saturated fat and 414 calories out of your diet! And cutting 400-calories a day, in a managed weight loss program, would lead to over 40 pounds of weight loss in a year!

So how much bad fat can you trim from your everyday food plan?