24/01/2008 (Mexia Daily News) - With so much information about how to eat for healthy living, it is hard to know where to begin. Beginning by cutting out some of the fats in your diet is a step in the right direction, but simply cutting down on total fat isn’t the whole picture. We actually need to pay attention to the type of fats we are eating.

Unhealthy levels of lipids (fats) in our diets can put us at risk for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and other severe and/or chronic illnesses. According to the Harvard School of Public Health Nutrition Source, the total amount of fat in the diet, whether high or low, isn’t really the issue when it comes to disease risk. In fact, they report on the results of the Women’s Health Initiative Dietary Modification Trial B a large and long clinical trial, which showed that eating a low-fat diet for 8 years did not prevent heart disease, breast cancer, or colon cancer, and it didn’t do much for weight loss, either. The Harvard School of Public Health Nutrition Source reported that “the biggest influence on blood cholesterol level is the mix of fats in the diet.”

So, what are the bad and good fats? The bad fats are those that increase our risk for disease. These fats are the saturated fats and trans fats (also called trans fatty acids). The good fats are the unsaturated fats, called monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat.

Trans fat comes from adding hydrogen to vegetable oil through a process called hydrogenation. This process makes the fat more solid and less likely to spoil. Thus, trans fats can improve the shelf life of processed foods. Trans fat is a common ingredient found in commercially baked goods - such as crackers, cookies, and cakes - and in fried foods, such as doughnuts and French fries. Shortenings and some margarines also are high in trans fat. To see if a product contains trans fat, look for the words partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (another name for trans fat) or for the ingredient “shortening.”

Saturated fat is most often found in animal products, such as red meat, poultry, butter, and whole milk. Other foods high in saturated fat include the tropical oils: coconut oil, palm kernel oil, and palm oil.

Foods high in monounsaturated fat include olive oil, peanut oil, and canola oil. Avocados, olives, and most nuts also have high amounts of monounsaturated fat.

Foods high in polyunsaturated fats include vegetable oils, such as corn oil, cottonseed oil, safflower oil, soybean oil, and sunflower oil. Omega-3 fatty acids (including salmon, mackerel, herring, lake trout, sardines, albacore tuna, flaxseeds, flax oil, and walnuts) are also polyunsaturated fats. Small amounts of omega-3 fatty acids are also found in soybean and canola oils. In September 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced qualified health claims for omega-3 fatty acids saying that “.scientific evidence indicates that these fatty acids may be beneficial in reducing CHD [coronary heart disease].”

So, take a look at Nutrition Facts labels the next time you’re at the store, and see what kinds of fats you’re eating. A healthy diet includes some fat, but in moderation. Even unsaturated “good” fats have a lot of calories, so you still need to limit them. In a 2,000 calorie per day diet, a person should only be eating 30 percent of calories from total fat - 7 percent (or less) should come from saturated sources, and only 1 percent (or less) should be trans fat. That’s about 16 grams of saturated fat and about 2 grams of trans fat per day - the rest (about 49 grams) should come from good sources of fat. The idea is to replace the bad fats with good fats B not simply add good fats to the diet.