Are You Eating Too Much Fat ?

Are You Eating Too Much Fat ? Keep in mind that being overweight is primarily due to how much fat you eat. Most of the fat you eat comes from two sources: animal products and oils.

Because of this, the optimal diet is a low-fat Mediterranean diet where meat is consumed once or twice a week.

The only vegetarian products to use in moderation are oils such as avocados, olives, nuts and seeds because these are high in fat.

Nonfat dairy products are high in protein, so consume these in moderation because too much protein is not healthful. Whole milk is second to beef as the largest source of saturated fat in the American diet. "Low-fat" products sound fine, but they aren't. "Low-fat" milk is sometimes called "2 percent fat" milk, which sounds pretty good - but it's 2 percent of the total weight, and most of the weight in milk is water. Whole milk is 50 percent of calories as fat, "low-fat" milk is 38% of calories as fat, but skimmed milk or 1% milk is less than 2.5 % of calories as fat. Or put it another way, one cup of whole milk has eight grams of fat, one cup of "low-fat" milk has five grams of fat and one cup of skimmed  milk has less than one-half gram of fat - big difference.

Fish and chicken are, in general, lower in fat than beef, pork, or veal, but they still contain significantly more fat (and cholesterol) than most plant-based foods. Also fish and chicken are often cooked in oil, butter or margarine, which are very high in fat.

If you really want to be able to eat as much as you want until you are full and still lose weight, then you need to reduce fat down to around 10 per cent of calories. This means eating small amounts of fish, seafood, skinless chicken or turkey.  Fish such as perch, sole, cod, or flounder are lower in fatthan the more fatty fish such as mackerel or salmon. The ones that don't move, such as clams, mussels, scallops, and oysters, are the vegetarians of the sea, and they consume the phytoplankton, or sea vegetables. Since these shellfish eat a vegetarian diet, their bodies are relatively low in fat and cholesterol.

Please keep in mind that all oils apart from olive oil should be avoided. All oils are 100 per cent fat. Consume not more than  2 tablespoons of olive oil a day.  The more oil of any type that you consume, the more weight you will gain. You would likely lose weight if you were to do nothing more than eliminate oils and oil-containing products from your diet. Remember, frying food is going to load it with oils.

The Table below makes it a little more clear that plant-based foods are very low in fat, high complex carbohydrates, high fiber, and have no cholesterol. In contrast, animal-based foods are high in fat and cholesterol, low in complex carbohydrates, and low in fiber. On average one should consume about 20 to 25 grams of fat per day, this changes slightly depending on your weight, height and level of activity. People who are active may consume larger amounts of fat.

Plant Products

Food                  Amount             Fat (grams)

Apple                 1 whole                 0.5

Lettuce              1 cup                     0.1

Carrots              1 cup                     01

Lentils                1 cup                    0.8

Brown rice         1/2 cup                  0.9

Oatmeal             1 cup                    2.4

Animal Products

Food                     Amount         Fat (grams)

scrambled egg        1 egg                7.1

butter                     1 tsp                 3.8

cheeseburger          4 oz                  15

mackerel               3.5 oz                 14

goose, roasted       1.3 lb                  75

fried chicken           10 oz                 52