Download The Cardiac Clinic for a healthy heart Phone 0508 CARDIAC (0508

The Cardiac Clinic for a healthy heart
Phone 0508 CARDIAC (0508 227 342)
www.thecardiacclinic.co.nz
Fats in the diet
In our food there are “good fats” and there are “bad fats”. Saturated fat is classified as a
“bad fat”. Unsaturated fats are classified as “good fats”
What is Saturated Fat?
Despite saturated fats being called “bad” our body does
need some saturated fat. Saturated fat is responsible for
certain things such as keeping our skin and hair healthy. It
is the excess eating of saturated fat that makes it a “bad
fat”. We only require 50 – 55g of total fat per day in our
daily diet of which no more than a third should be saturated fat (between 16 – 18g).
Often saturated fats are the fats that are solid at room
temperature, the more solid it is, the more saturated it is.
Examples of this are lard, the fat on beef, mutton, chicken
and pork. Not all saturated fats are solid. Examples of this
are milk products, nuts, and oils such as peanut, coconut
and palm oil.
Why is Saturated Fat Bad for Us?
Saturated fat is turned into cholesterol by our
liver. We use cholesterol to maintain healthy cells,
digest fat, make hormones and absorb some
vitamins (Vitamins A, D, E and K) from the food we
take in. It also helps make vitamin D when our skin
is exposed to sunlight.
There is the “good” cholesterol called High
Density Lipoprotein (HDL) and the “bad”
cholesterol called low density lipoporotein (LDL).
When the body has too much of the “bad”
cholesterol there are health problems. The “bad”
cholesterol causes plaque to build up in our
arteries causing blockages and it is these
blockages that can affect our heart health
(heart attacks) and our brains (strokes).
What Food Contains Saturated fat?
• Foods from animal sources (all meat and chicken
products)
• Milk and milk products
• Eggs
• Plant sources (coconut/coconut oil; palm oil;
peanuts/peanut oil, most nuts)
How can I avoid saturated fat?
• Choose lean cuts of meat and ensure you cut off all visible fat
• Do not eat the skin off the chicken
• Grill or bake food, don’t fry or roast in fat
• Swap red meat for fish at least twice a week
• Use low-fat dairy products (such as green-top milk, low-fat yoghurt, cottage cheese,
low fat cheese). Unless you have intolerances to dairy products don’t cut them out of
your diet. They do have many health “goodies” in them such as calcium, protein, and
vitamins B and D. Just select the low-fat products.
• Use olive oil, avocado or rice bran oil for cooking and dressings rather than peanut oil;
palm oil, butter or coconut oil
• Read food labels and avoid products that have more than 3g saturated fat per 100g
(remember the daily allowance of between 16 and 18g saturated fat)
• Swap butter for olive oil or rice bran oil based spreads
• Eat a high fibre diet such as wholegrain bread, legumes, fruit and vegetables. Fibre
helps rid the body of fats
The Good Fats:
The good fats are the
polyunsaturated and the
monounsaturated fats. We
need these fats in similar
amounts (about 18-20g per
day of each type).
Both polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats appear to be equally effective in
reducing low-density lipoprotein (the bad cholesterol) cholesterol levels when substituted
for saturated fats in the diet. Polyunsaturated fat is made up of omega-3 and omega-6
fatty acids. The omega-3 fatty acids help protect the body from inflammation when in
balance with omega-6 intake. They both help with combating heart disease, arthritis and
diabetes. Omega-3 is found in fish oil, flax oil, walnuts, soy beans and deep sea fish such
as salmon, sardines and Chinook. Omega-6 is found in walnuts, pistachios, almonds,
sesame seeds, watermelon seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, cashews, Brazil nuts, pine
nuts, peanuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds and hazelnuts. Monounsaturated fats lower total
cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) while increasing HDL cholesterol
(the good cholesterol). They are found in nuts such as walnuts, almonds and pistachios,
avocado, canola and olive oil.