Fat Facts

Fat - a word that not many people like to hear.

Fact - most people aren't having enough FAT in their daily diet.
Fact - muscle does not turn into fat, nor fat in to muscle. Imagine salt and sugar, can they become the other? No they cannot, it is physically impossible. What happens is the muscle goes into atrophy phase (decreases in size) making it seem like your muscle has turned into fat. If you decrease exercise and keep the same food intake you will store more fat.

Why do we need Fats?
We need fat in the body to protect vital organs and to insulate the body. Without a protective layer the body is at risk. From skin health, heart benefits, hormone production, efficient immune system and more we require a certain amount of what we call "good" fats into our diet.

Types of Fats
Saturated Fat - this is what raises the LDL cholesterol (bad) and can be solid in form at room temperature. Watch out for terms like lard, coconut milk, milk fat & palm oils. All fat on meat is saturated.

Monounsaturated Fat - found in animal and plant fats, oils. Healthier kind of fat but intake should still be in moderation. Plant food sources are peanuts, macadamias, olive oil, canola. If replacing saturdated fat with unsaturated fat has unique properties in reducing heart disease risk.

Polyunsaturated Fat - Comes from plant seeds, from safflower oil, sunflower oil, grapeseed and soybean oil. soya beans, corn and sesame are high in polyunsaturated fats.

Essential Fats or EFA are Omega 3 and 6. They are all polyunsaturated fats which our body cannot make (fatty acids) so we need to have adequate intake. These are important for cell membrane function, blood clotting, controlling blood pressure and reproductive functions.
Omega 3 foods are deep sea fish (tuna, herring, mackerel, salmon, sardines) also in soya beans, walnuts, linseeds and green leafy vegetables.
Omega 6 foods are polyunsaturated oils

Facts on Cholesterol
Cholesterol in food is only found in animal products. Our bodies can make it and is done from the liver. If large amounts of cholesterol are eaten the body produces less. Provided the overall saturated fat intake is low the cholesterol levels will remain normal.

Fat Guidelines
**Limit saturated fat in the diet (butter, cream, full cream milk, fatty meats, cakes, pastries and fried foods)
** Eat three fish meals per week (careful of mercury content if you are pregnant)
** Low fat dairy products
** Trim ALL fat off meats, choose lean meat and limit process meat or eliminiate
** Choose liquid fats over solid fats (eg olive oil over butter)
**Incorporate small amounts of unsaturated fat into diet known as "good fats" nuts, avocado, fish, olive oil
**Omega 3 daily (fish, salmon, tuna)

Fat provides more energy than other nutrients with 37kj to 1g fat
(carbs is 17kj per gram, protein 16kj per gram and alcohol is 29kj per gram)

Check out fat quiz
http://www.aca.com.au/cp/food/badfat1.cfm