Healthy High Fat Foods - Diet

About Healthy High Fat Foods - Diet

For decades, we’ve been told that fat is the enemy, that it is harmful to our health and well-being. But the reality is, fat, or certain types of fat, when incorporated correctly into our diets, can actually have powerful health benefits. Take it from Domini Kemp, who for years avoided fat but loaded up on carbs and sugars, until her health took a turn. She set out on a path to discover the truth and what she learned may surprise you.

"Cholesterol is a non-issue. The issue is fat -- total fat and, to a less extent, the type of fat," said Mary Abbott Hess, president of the American Dietetic Association, during the opening session of the food writers' annual meeting in Chicago.

It is not, of course, necessary, advisable or even possible to eliminate fat from one's diet. The body needs and uses fat. It is, however, necessary to reduce the amount of fat now in most Americans' diets if people are to live longer and healthier. The most frequently cited goal regarding fats is to limit them to 30 percent of the calories a person consumes instead of the 40 or 50 percent of calories that fats now take up in many Americans' diets.


The good news about reducing fat intake, said Hess, is that it can be done by substitution and in some cases nearly painless substitution rather than elimination.

Reducing fat in a diet doesn't mean you'll never taste cream cheese again. It does mean you'll taste less cream cheese less often if health professionals and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have their way.

In fact, the revised Dietary Guidelines for Americans, to be released early next month by the USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services, will be more forthright about fat, Hess suggested. The 1985 guidelines said "avoid too much fat, saturated fat and cholesterol." The new ones will read "choose a diet low in fat, saturated fat and cholesterol."

Hess particularly likes this recommendation because it "turns nutrition advice into food." Instead of talking about starches and complex carbohydrates, the guideline says "if an individual eats more fruits and vegetables and more breads and cereals . . . it is going to shift the balance of the diet away from the high fats and high protein foods . . . so that you are getting 50 or more percent of your calories from the carbohydrates."

The guideline also details which foods are most healthful and how much of these foods to eat, Hess said. The recommendation will advise adults to eat three to five servings of vegetables and two to four servings of fruit a day.

This represents a substantial increase for the typical American, who eats "about two to three servings total of fruits and vegetables a day," she said.

No amount of trans fat is healthy, regardless of whether you're trying to maintain or lose weight. This manmade fat is being phased out of the food supply, but for now, you'll need to read labels to avoid buying foods that contain it. You can identify it in the ingredient list as "partially hydrogenated" or "hydrogenated" oil.

Women often look at me in disbelief when I tell them that fat is not the enemy. They’ve spent so many years listening to the media tell them fat is a villain; it’s hard for them to buy into any other story about fat. But what they fail to acknowledge is that there are many different types of fat; they’re lumping them all into the same category without even realizing it. And that’s a big mistake.

It doesn’t surprise me that so many people have misconceptions about fat — the food industry has pushed their “low-fat” and “no-fat” processed foods with a heavy hand and considerable marketing dollars for decades. But research simply doesn’t support the “fat is evil” story.

Despite what many ads imply, a low fat label doesn’t make a junk food healthy. In fact, due to the addition of sugars and refined carbohydrates to replace the flavor from fats, processed low fat foods can be even worse for you than their full fat counterparts.