Fats are our friends!

We so hate the fat on our own bodies, we often avoid it when shopping
for foods. But, surprise! Many fats are actually our friends, and
important to a healthy body.

Enemy Fats

* Trans fat removes good cholesterol and adds bad cholesterol to your
body. Limit your intake to less than 1% of your daily calories.

* Saturated fat adds bad cholesterol to your body. Limit your intake
to less than 10% of your daily calories, or 20g--whichever is less.

* Trans and saturated fats cause heart disease and high blood
pressure.

Friendly Fats

* Monounsaturated fats reduce bad cholesterol and can be found in
olive oil, almonds, and peanuts. It truly is our friend.

* Polyunsaturated fats reduce both good and bad cholesterol. It's
almost a neutral effect, but the star of polyunsaturated fats is
omega-3. It's an essential fatty acid that strengthens your immune
system and fights depression, diabetes, cancer, etc. Get 3g per day
from tuna, salmon, walnuts, and flaxseed oil.

* Get 20% - 35% of your daily energy from fats, mostly the friendly
kind. Fat is necessary to absorb vitamins and to keep your skin looking
healthy.

335/332/215

Legal Disclaimer: This information is based on USDA and AHA guidelines.
I am not a registered dietitian and guarantee neither the accuracy of
the original guidelines nor my paraphrasing of them.

wrote:
We so hate the fat on our own bodies, we often avoid it when shopping
for foods. But, surprise! Many fats are actually our friends, and
important to a healthy body.

Enemy Fats

* Trans fat removes good cholesterol and adds bad cholesterol to your
body. Limit your intake to less than 1% of your daily calories.

* Saturated fat adds bad cholesterol to your body. Limit your intake
to less than 10% of your daily calories, or 20g--whichever is less.

* Trans and saturated fats cause heart disease and high blood
pressure.

Friendly Fats

* Monounsaturated fats reduce bad cholesterol and can be found in
olive oil, almonds, and peanuts. It truly is our friend.

* Polyunsaturated fats reduce both good and bad cholesterol. It's
almost a neutral effect, but the star of polyunsaturated fats is
omega-3. It's an essential fatty acid that strengthens your immune
system and fights depression, diabetes, cancer, etc. Get 3g per day
from tuna, salmon, walnuts, and flaxseed oil.

* Get 20% - 35% of your daily energy from fats, mostly the friendly
kind. Fat is necessary to absorb vitamins and to keep your skin looking
healthy.

335/332/215

Legal Disclaimer: This information is based on USDA and AHA guidelines.
I am not a registered dietitian and guarantee neither the accuracy of
the original guidelines nor my paraphrasing of them.

Good post, but the govt's recommendation is no more than 30% of
calories from fat. Less is OK. The essesntial fats that you need plus
some extra omega-3 would put you at about 5% of calories from fat. All
the rest is probably not helpful and some could argue it is harmful for
some people like those with heart problems. dkw

wrote:
wrote:

We so hate the fat on our own bodies, we often avoid it when shopping
for foods. But, surprise! Many fats are actually our friends, and
important to a healthy body.

Enemy Fats

* Trans fat removes good cholesterol and adds bad cholesterol to your
body. Limit your intake to less than 1% of your daily calories.

* Saturated fat adds bad cholesterol to your body. Limit your intake
to less than 10% of your daily calories, or 20g--whichever is less.

* Trans and saturated fats cause heart disease and high blood
pressure.

Friendly Fats

* Monounsaturated fats reduce bad cholesterol and can be found in
olive oil, almonds, and peanuts. It truly is our friend.

* Polyunsaturated fats reduce both good and bad cholesterol. It's
almost a neutral effect, but the star of polyunsaturated fats is
omega-3. It's an essential fatty acid that strengthens your immune
system and fights depression, diabetes, cancer, etc. Get 3g per day
from tuna, salmon, walnuts, and flaxseed oil.

* Get 20% - 35% of your daily energy from fats, mostly the friendly
kind. Fat is necessary to absorb vitamins and to keep your skin looking
healthy.

335/332/215

Legal Disclaimer: This information is based on USDA and AHA guidelines.
I am not a registered dietitian and guarantee neither the accuracy of
the original guidelines nor my paraphrasing of them.


Good post, but the govt's recommendation is no more than 30% of
calories from fat. Less is OK. The essesntial fats that you need plus
some extra omega-3 would put you at about 5% of calories from fat. All
the rest is probably not helpful and some could argue it is harmful for
some people like those with heart problems. dkw

There seems to be considerable disagreement over the effects of mono and
poly unsaturated fats in the diet. Saying "probably not helpful and
some could argue it is harmful....." is almost certainly overstating the
evidence. There is some evidence that monounsaturated fats contribute
to increasing HDL which are beneficial.

del

--
Del Cecchi
"This post is my own and doesn’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions,
strategies or opinions.”

wrote:
Good post

Thanks. I hoped others might be interested, or perhaps someone would
have a different view and I would learn something.

but the govt's recommendation is no more than 30% of calories from fat. Less is OK.

The US Government, American Heart Association, and Mayo Clinic changed
their recommendations to 20% - 35%. Some suggest 20%-30%, and others
suggest 25%-35%. What's more important is to limit your intake of trans
and saturated fats and add more good fats to your diet.

The essesntial fats that you need plus some extra omega-3 would put you
at about 5% of calories from fat. All the rest is probably not helpful and some
could argue it is harmful for some people like those with heart problems. dkw

I'm only presenting the mainstream guidelines. Before you embark on a
diet very low in fat, consider the following:

In a 1999 World Health Organization publication, a large group of
doctors asserted that very low fat intake may have adverse effects.
They showed that Greeks in the 1960s ate more than 30% of their daily
energy at fat, mostly monounsaturated fat, and had the lowest rates of
heart disease, colon cancer, and breast cancer in the world.
Populations that restricted their fat intake to 15% faced much higher
rates of heart disease.

A recent, eight-year study of 49,000 women demonstrated that reducing
fat intake by 25% did not reduce the risk of heart disease or cancer.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritio...e/low_fat.html

Trans and saturated fats are still your enemy--eliminate them as much
as possible. They do cause heart disease.

Modern research suggests you have friends in the fat world that will
help you combat heart disease, cancer, depression, diabetes, etc. Try
to eat 3g of omega-3 fatty acids per day, and get 20%-35% of your
energy from fats, mostly the monounsaturated kinds.

335/331/215

wrote in message
oups.com...
What's more important is to limit your intake of trans
and saturated fats and add more good fats to your diet.

Bingo.

Modern research suggests you have friends in the fat world that will
help you combat heart disease, cancer, depression, diabetes, etc. Try
to eat 3g of omega-3 fatty acids per day, and get 20%-35% of your
energy from fats, mostly the monounsaturated kinds.

I've never been a big fan of counting. But I know that if I'm getting some
olive oil and some salmon regularly, I'm doing myself a favor, while butter
and fried foods are not doing me any health favors.

I take flax seed oil capsules and B complex supplements when I'm under a lot
of stress.

Like most matters nutritional, choosing fats seems to be a matter of a
certain amount of education and a certain amount of common sense. But some
people seem to like to discuss numbers, and that's cool by me, of course!

ep
size 22/16-18/10-12

Del Cecchi wrote:
There seems to be considerable disagreement over the effects of mono and
poly unsaturated fats in the diet.

It's all very interesting. This past week I've only worried whether the
percent fat I ate ended up in the 20% - 35% range and saturated fat
ended up below 10%. Now I've learned that since I don't eat seafood my
diet is deficient in omega-3 fatty acids and perhaps vitamin e. I'm
going to focus on reducing my "bad" fats and making sure I eat some
"good" fats.

335/331/215

wrote:
Del Cecchi wrote:

There seems to be considerable disagreement over the effects of mono and
poly unsaturated fats in the diet.


It's all very interesting. This past week I've only worried whether the
percent fat I ate ended up in the 20% - 35% range and saturated fat
ended up below 10%. Now I've learned that since I don't eat seafood my
diet is deficient in omega-3 fatty acids and perhaps vitamin e. I'm
going to focus on reducing my "bad" fats and making sure I eat some
"good" fats.

335/331/215

If you won't eat fatty fish, then fish oil capsules are considered a
good idea and recommended/required/prescribed (sorry, no word exactly
fits.) for those with high cardiac risk factors. Apparently the vegan
omega-3s don't do the job.

--
Del Cecchi
"This post is my own and doesn’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions,
strategies or opinions.”

wrote:

I'm only presenting the mainstream guidelines.

Guideliens that utterly ignore the health benefits of low carbing.
While there's nothing wrong with low fatting there's everything
wrong with assuming it's the only process that is beneficial.

A recent, eight-year study of 49,000 women demonstrated that reducing
fat intake by 25% did not reduce the risk of heart disease or cancer.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritio...e/low_fat.html

Saying that low fat isn't a magic cure is not the same as saying
low fat doesn't work. But it does point out the option of low carb.

Trans and saturated fats are still your enemy--eliminate them as much
as possible. They do cause heart disease.

Not true. Saturated fats are only a problem when combined with
high carb eating. Go low carb and there are no problems at all
from saturated fats. It's not the saturated fat it's the
*combiniation*
of them with high carb. So the part about the saturated fat is
only true for low fatters. Transfats, different story, bad for
everyone.

Modern research suggests you have friends in the fat world that will
help you combat heart disease, cancer, depression, diabetes, etc. Try
to eat 3g of omega-3 fatty acids per day, and get 20%-35% of your
energy from fats, mostly the monounsaturated kinds.

If you pick the minimum healthy grams of protein, fat and carb,
your total calories end up too low. There's nothing wrong with
going over 60% of calories from fat as long as you stay low carb
and vice versa. Again you're quoting low-fat-only obsolete figures.

Doug Freyburger wrote:
wrote:

I'm only presenting the mainstream guidelines.

Guideliens that utterly ignore the health benefits of low carbing.
While there's nothing wrong with low fatting there's everything
wrong with assuming it's the only process that is beneficial.

And to balance it out -

Carbs are not essential in the diet. It's doable to stay healthy
eating near zero carbs for years on end. The body just makes
its own blood sugar from fat and protein. But the diet it takes
to pull off health at these low carb levels is one most would not
be willing to eat - Almost all meat raw and certain selective
organs are important. The all meat diet may work, but it
requires extreme measures just like the opposite extreme of
vegan does.

So what that carbs are not essential, there is a mimimum
amount that is healthy without extreme measures. Plenty of
veggies makes health far easier to achieve.

When do excess carbs become a problem? That depends more
on glycemic index and such. There's an enormous range
that's healthy all the way from low carb to low fat.

Doug Freyburger wrote:
wrote:

Trans and saturated fats are still your enemy--eliminate them as much
as possible. They do cause heart disease.

Not true. Saturated fats are only a problem when combined with
high carb eating. Go low carb and there are no problems at all

A diet low in saturated fat should work for people eating high- or
medium-carbohydrate diets. I wasn't aware of the very-low-carbohydrate
exception. Thanks! Part of why I posted this was to get different
viewpoints and point me towards what I should read up on next.

So the part about the saturated fat is only true for low fatters.

It's also true for moderate- and even high-fat diets, like the
Mediterranean Diet. As I pointed out, in Greece in the 1960s people got
more than 30% of their calories from fat and yet had the highest
longevity rate in the world and very low heart disease and cancer
rates. Doctors believe this is in part because they ate lots of good
(monounsaturated) fats and few bad (saturated) fats.

Transfats, different story, bad for everyone.

Good to know.

335/331/215