Fat Free-dom. Fats Don’t Make You Fat!

And other lessons from the new 2011 Dietary Guidelines

Who knows what to believe any more. One day, you’re told to lower your intake of fats, all fats, and another you are told to increase omega 3 fats, because they’re healthy. Margarines—the spread of choice? Perhaps in my parents’ generation, but not these days. Now they are equated with poison in our bloodstream, full of trans fats, those plastic-like substances worse than saturated fats. Fatty fish are fine, but fatty meats are not. Nuts? Peanut butter? Avocado? Good for us? Or fattening?

If these questions have overwhelmed you, like most of the public trying to make sense of the ever-changing nutrition guidance, read on.

Like carbs, fats have developed a bad rep. Partly, for good reason, I might add. Compared to protein and carbohydrate, they have more than twice as many calories per unit. Yes, 9 calories per gram versus 4 calories per gram. And over the years, in an effort to lower high cholesterol and heart disease risk, nutrition messages became inaccurately oversimplified. Saturated fats remain linked with high cholesterol and heart disease risk. But in our effort to reduce the saturated fats, somehow the “saturated” got dropped, and the message became “eat a low fat diet”. 

Well guess what? That message backfired. Even with a reduction in saturated fats, heart disease levels remained high. The problem was that we were substituting fats, all fats, with carbohydrate, with high intakes of refined carbohydrate. Remember the post Why Carbs Got a Bad Rep? http://dropitandeat.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-carbs-got-bad-rep-and-what-you-can.html As you may recall, when people started banning fats, they were eating large quantities of carbohydrate from all sources. This diet led to higher levels of triglycerides, another risk factor for heart disease.

Feeling like you can’t win? There is a solution.

The message needs to change from eat low fat, to eat less saturated fat. And, we need to increase the non-saturated fats we’ve omitted from our diets for the past years. Our current approach isn’t working—not for heart disease prevention, and not even for weight management.

Yes, you heard me. A low fat diet doesn’t improve your weight, compared with a higher fat diet with the same amount of calories.

The 2011 Dietary Guidelines For Americans

Why should I now trust this source of nutrition information when I have been wronged before?

First some background info. These guidelines come from the top nutrition experts in the US who form committees every five or so years to update us on the facts. They are not paid by food companies, so no need for that paranoia. Any personal interests must be disclosed, to prevent bias in their conclusions. They do a complete review of the research, eliminating the studies that are poorly done or not statistically valuable. Each group of experts tackles a specific nutrition area, such as fats, to address a range of questions related to the type and amount, as it impacts our health. Weight and heart disease are among the topics explored.

Then they analyze the results of the combined studies, the most up to date information available, and present us with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. So yes, they are quite trustworthy.

And what do these results about fats say?

The full report can be found at http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/DietaryGuidelines/2010/PolicyDoc/Chapter3.pdf, but here’s a summary with quotes from the report:

Eating fat doesn’t make you fat

“Strong evidence shows that there is no optimal proportion of macronutrients (protein, fat, carboydrate) that can facilitate weight loss or assist with maintaining weight loss." It all comes down to the total calories. "In adults, moderate evidence suggests that diets that are less than 45 percent of total calories as carbohydrate or more than 35 percent of total calories as protein are generally no more effective than other calorie-controlled diets for long-term weight loss and weight maintenance.”

Fats should not just be tolerated, but included for health!

“Fats supply calories and essential fatty acids, and help in the absorption of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. Acceptable ranges for total fat intake for children and adults allow for a total fat intake up to 35-40% in children (depending on age) and up to 35% for adults.

These ranges are associated with reduced risk of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, while providing for adequate intake of essential nutrients. Total fat intake should fall within these ranges.”

Increase the typically low intakes of healthy mono and unsaturated fats in your diet!

“The types of fatty acids consumed are more important in influencing the risk of cardiovascular disease than is the total amount of fat in the diet.

Consume less than 10 percent of calories from saturated fatty acids by replacing them with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Keep trans fatty acid consumption as low as possible, especially by limiting foods that contain synthetic sources of trans fats, such as partially hydrogenated oils, and by limiting other solid fats.”

Translating it into foods

“Animal fats tend to have a higher proportion of saturated fatty acids (seafood being the major exception), and plant foods tend to have a higher proportion of monounsaturated and/or polyunsaturated fatty acids (coconut oil, palm kernel oil, and palm oil being the exceptions).

Most fats with a high percentage of saturated or trans fatty acids are solid at room temperature and are referred to as “solid fats,” while those with more unsaturated fatty acids are usually liquid at room temperature and are referred to as “oils.” Solid fats are found in most animal foods but also can be made from vegetable oils through the process of hydrogenation....”

Include oils such as canola, olive, walnut, sunflower, safflower and corn. Choose lean meats, but include fatty fish, whose fat is not saturated. Choose foods that are full flavored, to allow for more modest portions, for the sake of energy balance and weight management. Nuts and nut butters, avocado, and oils are healthy, but should be eaten mindfully to control portions and total calories.

My personal favorites

I love walnut oil (http://dropitandeat.blogspot.com/2010/08/food-finds-roasted-walnut-oil.html) and have recently needed to work more hours to support my truffle oil habit. Absolutely divine! I love good cheese, the full fat types, but yes, they are high in saturated fat. So I grate them, cheeses like Asiago and Manchego, rather than add thick slabs onto my entrées. I choose strong cheeses, and dark chocolate, because a little goes a long way to satisfy. As a result I could keep my saturated fat intake in range, without compromising on flavor. And trust me, I never feel deprived.

If you are still overwhelmed by the idea of adding fats to your diet, start slowly. Add a small amount of nuts or a tasty oil just to test it out. When you see that your worst fears don’t come true, you’ll start to trust these guidelines. Because even though the word is the same, fats don’t make you fat!