Facts about fat
Both the amount of fat and the fype of fat you eat are important for heart health.
Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are the 'goodies' because they can help reduce the cholesterol in your blood, so these are better for your heart. They are found in olive and rapeseed oils, and spreads made from these and oily fish.
Saturated fats - are the real 'baddies' because they can raise your blood cholesterol and increase risk of heart disease. Usually solid, they are found in foods like butter, hard margarine, lard, cheese, cream, meat fat,cakes, biscuits, chocolate and savoury snacks like crisps. Check labels of processed foods for amounts of saturated fat.
Hydrogenated fat - These fats raise your LDL (bad) cholesterol and lower your HDL (good) cholesterol and therefore increase the risk of heart disease. These are often called ''hydrogenated fats'' and are found in processed foods. Most trans fats are made from unsaturated fats during the making of some margarines which are then used in some foods, especially confectionary.
Both the amount of fat and the type of fat you eat are important for heart health. Most fats come from the top shelf of the food pyramid - so reduce the amount of these you eat.
Your guide to saturated fats:
- 1 tbsp of oil is 15g of fat.
- 1oz of butter or margarine is 22g of fat.
- 1oz of low fat butter or low fat spread is 11g of fat.
- If you are using butter, why not try low fat butter or low fat spread?
Content thanks to YouthHealthNE authors.
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