Do you pay attention towards every calorie and crumb that you eat in the day but let the fat content go unnoticed? If yes it’s time to understand all about fat content and take it into consideration too. Not to forget, fats are as important as all the other nutrients that you consume every day.
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Greasy burgers, French fries and pizza, are all well known for their fat content and hence it’s no surprise when someone tells you that these are loaded with fat. But what you may not know is that many things that you perceive as low fat, may actually be just the opposite. These even include some vegetables and fish. One thing that we need to keep in mind, is that fat is an important component of our diet and not every fat is bad. What matters is that we closely evaluate the amount of fat that we consume day in and day out as well as the type of fat.
How much fat should you be consuming?
It is important to closely monitor the amount of fat grams that you have been consuming daily and to keep a tab on the right amounts of healthy fats. The daily recommendation of fat is no more than 20-30% of the daily diet. If you are consuming a 2000kcal diet, then you should probably be eating less than 65 gm of fat each day. However, it is easy to consume more than the required amounts of fats on a daily basis, especially in the case of invisible fats.
Invisible fats in food we all love eating
While we might be aware of the fat content of most of the foods but there are a bunch of other foods that tend to contain loads of hidden fats.
1. Movie theater popcorn (because of the way it’s processed, addition of butter, cheese and sugar)
2. Packaged meals with added sauces, butter, oil and salt
3. Chicken and other poultry if consumed with the skin
4. Packaged salad dressings (usually very high in fat content)
5. Highly marbled meats like red meat, lamb and pork (The white marbling is a thick layer of fat, easily seen in a slice of bacon)
However, it is important to realize that packaged snack foods and meals are the biggest sources of hidden fats. These foods contain high levels of trans fats which are listed as partially hydrogenated oil or vegetable shortenings (read the ingredients’ label carefully), which are responsible for the longer shelf life of these foods. Trans fats can act like demons as they have been linked to various health problems like high cholesterol and heart diseases. Hence, the consumption of these fats need to be restricted as much as possible.
Given the fat content of these commonly eaten food items, if you are not careful you might easily exceed the daily limits. Hence it’s important to include good fats i.e unsaturated fats in your diet, limit saturated and eliminate trans fats. Take care of your health and your heart and waistline will say a big thank you to you some day.