The Facts on Fat: What a Healthy Diet Should Include

News reports on the role fat should play in your diet can be confusing. Some new studies suggest the type of fat you consume is more important to your health than the amount of fat eaten. Other recent reports contradict these findings.

The following fat facts can help you understand how to include fat in a healthy diet.

Change your fat mix

Fact: Fat can be healthy. Monounsaturated fats, such as canola oil and olive oil, when not eaten in excess, improve blood-cholesterol levels and reduce the risk for heart disease.

But to reduce your risk of disease, you shouldn't simply eat more monounsaturated fat. You need to substitute it for the polyunsaturated fat and saturated fat in your diet.

Cut back on total fat

Fact: Some fat in your diet is essential because hormones and your nervous system depend on it to function properly. Some fats are healthier than others. Monounsaturated fat, omega-3 fatty acids and polyunsaturated fats are healthier than saturated fats. The total fat content of your diet is important, however. Americans get up to 40 percent of their total caloric intake from fat. If you are one of them, reducing the total amount of fat in your diet will benefit your health.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend restricting total fat to no more than 20 to 35 percent of total daily calories. The guidelines emphasize that saturated fats should be 10 percent or less of your total calories. Most people won't stick to a diet much below 30 percent in fat calories. It’s better to stick to a low-fat diet that you can tolerate than to attempt one that you will probably fail at and then return to bad habits.

Here's how to reduce your fat intake:

• Increase your intake of fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains.

• Use fat-free salad dressing, mayonnaise and Miracle Whip. If you cannot, or will not, tolerate the taste, try the low-fat versions of these.

• Skip the butter or margarine on your toast, baked potato, cooked carrots or other vegetables.

• Avoid pastries, pies, cookies, muffins and most commercial snack foods.

• Reduce your cheese intake or switch to low-fat varieties.

• Select fat-free or low-fat dairy products such as skim or 1 percent milk, nonfat yogurt and low-fat cottage cheese. Avoid flavored yogurts, as they have added sugar and a lot more calories.

• Remove all visible fat from lean meat before cooking. Remember to select meats that are relatively low in saturated fats: chicken, turkey and fish. 

• Purchase low-fat or fat-free hot dogs, sausages and processed meats.

• Avoid fast foods.

• When in doubt about a food, read the nutrition label. If more than 30 percent of the calories are from fat, skip it.

Beware of trans fats

Fact: Stick margarine, shortening, processed pastries, cookies and crackers, french fries and other deep-fried fast foods tend to have plenty of hydrogenated trans-fatty acids, a type of saturated fat that's not as healthy as other types of fat. 

Studies have shown hydrogenated trans-fatty acids increase total cholesterol and LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels. In very high amounts, they may even reduce levels of HDL cholesterol.

Trans fats should be only 1 percent of your total daily calories. You can cut down on trans fats by eating fewer processed snacks and deep-fried fast foods and watching what you spread on your toast. Use a diet margarine or a very soft margarine without much hydrogenated fat.

Many food manufacturers are currently making an effort to reduce or eliminate trans fats from their products. Several cities have passed a law to eliminate trans fats from restaurants.

Fat-free vs. low-calorie

Fact: Just because a food product is labeled "fat-free" or "low-fat" doesn't mean it's good for you.

When a food manufacturer removes the fat, something has to take its place, and it's usually sugar. Fat-free and low-fat foods can have just as many calories as the regular version and cause weight gain if you eat too much of them.

Overall, being overweight is a greater risk for cancer and heart disease than the amount or type of fat you eat. If you find yourself eating a whole box of a fat-free or low-fat food, it could be because it's not satisfying. A better approach is to have just a couple of bites of the real thing, then push it aside.