How To Understand Fat

“Fat Free!” “Low cal!” “Sugar-Free!” Lately, these tend to be the popular phrases that catch your eye as you walk the aisles of your local grocery store. They were designed to reel you in and make you think that you are eating healthier by choosing products with similar labels. However, buyer beware! There are far more factors to take into consideration then buying foods that are genetically altered to be low in fat.

A common misunderstanding is that fat is bad for you. Sure, too much fat isn’t healthy for anyone, but fat is actually a necessary nutrient for everybody. Dietitians and nutritionists both agree that the daily recommendation for your fat intake should be about 30%. This means 30% of your calories should come from products with fat! So as you mosey along through the grocery store and try your hardest to avoid fat at all costs, you may end up compensating for the missing fat in your shopping cart by over-indulging in something else. This causes a falter in balance.

Of course, there are good fats and bad fats, but regardless of the type you choose, its a proven fact that your body needs the nutrient overall. Good fats include fats from oils, like olive oil, fats from nuts, seeds, and fruit like avocados. Even peanut butter is considered a healthy fat. The oil and fat content that comes from these products are not hydrogenated or saturated so they are much less likely to work negatively with your body. With this said, it is very important that you stand strong in the supermarket so you don’t fall victim to these marketing ploys.

A big mistake that people make when purchasing “fat free” items is by justifying their intake by the fact that the food is “fat free.” Instead of eating one handful of potato chips, equaling approximately 11 chips that come out to be composed of 190 calories, 11 grams of fat, and 17 grams of carbohydrates, they are eating half the bag. Yes, the bag says one serving of these “fat free” chips has 110 calories, 20 grams of carbohydrates, and 0 grams of fat, but when you eat 5 servings in one sitting, you’re looking at well over at a “snack” that is well over 500 calories, rounding at about 100 grams of carbohydrates, and minimal amounts of protein. This downfall overview isn’t even including the extensive amount of sodium that you’d be ingesting by this eating behavior. You would be over the maxed out of sodium that you should have in one day! Looking at just the calorie content you can eat an entire meal for 500 calories or less! A well-balanced meal at 500 calories would be much more beneficial to your nutritional needs because you would be supplied with your carbohydrates, your proteins, and your fats at a proportional balance.

So instead of buying into all of the hype of low-cal, fat-free products, focus on getting what your body needs instead of putting all of your effort into avoiding the “Total Fat:” portion of the nutrition label.