Fat is the most energy rich of the three foodstuffs. It yields 9 calories per gram, whereas carbohydrate and protein yields 4 calories per gram. Therefore, a food that contains fat has much more caloric energy content than one with little or no fat. For example, one large Snickers bar has as much fat (200 calories) as 50 apples or 120 potatoes.
Fat is fat
All foods are fattening, but some more than others. Because of its richness, it is said that fat makes you fat. It is possible, however, to become fat on carbohydrates, but the basic rule is that it is the fat in your diet that makes you fat.
Fat is the way your body stores extra calories. A person who is thirty pounds overweight will hold 100,000 extra calories in those fat deposits. It sounds like a lot and it is. For that reason, it is important to have a long time-line in designing corrective dieting. On average, older women's bodies contain 45 percent body fat. It should only be 25 percent. Older men's body fat is 35 percent. It should be 15 percent. It has been calculated that every pound of excess body weight over ten costs you one month of life.
Good fat vs. bad fat
The American diet currently gets 37 percent of its total calories from fat, while the recommended proportion should be no more than 30 percent. Perhaps more important is the type of fats ingested. Fat is classified according to how saturated or unsaturated it is. These terms refer to the chemical nature of fat, whether it has the full complement of hydrogen atoms (saturated) or a relative lack of hydrogen atoms (unsaturated). Fundamentally, saturated fats are solid, and unsaturated fats are liquid. Nevertheless, they all contain the same amount caloric energy. Ultimately, the critical distinction between the two is that the effect of saturated fat on raising blood cholesterol levels is more dramatic.
Therefore, although fat is calorically rich, it is the saturated fats that are bad for your cholesterol. Saturated fats are found predominantly in the animal sources of meat and milk products. The National Research Council recommends that no more than 10 percent of daily calories come from animal fat sources.
Cholesterol alert
Ancel Keys, one of the pioneer nutritionists in the cholesterol field, devised a formula that predicts the effect of a given dietary fat on cholesterol levels. Most important are the animal saturated fats, which are harmful; next in terms of importance are the unsaturated vegetable oils, which may even help lower the cholesterol; and least important is the actual cholesterol in our diet, which, again, raises the blood levels. The NRC recommends no more than 300mg total cholesterol per day, usually found in egg yolks. The wise intake for eggs seems to be no more than four per week.
The Prudent Diet
The Prudent Diet says: reduce the diet fat load.
- Choose lean meats. Use more poultry, fish.
- Remove visible fat.
- Broil/bake; do not fry.
- Replace meat with vegetables.
- Use low-fat/non-fat milk and cheese.
- Watch the dressing, dips, popcorn butter.
Bottom line:
Increase exercise, avoid fat triggers, reward yourself for pounds lost, and cholesterol levels lowered.
