| What do we know about fat in our diet? Well if I | | | | food labels, often on products that did not even |
| said you should not eat it, would that be correct? | | | | contain it. Most health practitioners preached the |
| Well actually, yes and no. Yes we should not eat an | | | | virtues of very low fat diets. |
| abundance of fat, but no we should not eliminate it. | | | | The result was many folks completely cut it out of |
| But in reality, it is no wonder we equate fat with bad. | | | | their diets, this was not a good thing for any of us, |
| For the last half century we have been told that fat | | | | yours truly included. |
| is bad for us. But now we are reminded, almost for | | | | Here is the real story; we store about eighty per |
| the first time, about the real content of it in our food | | | | cent of the fat we consume, most of it we do not |
| and health. Countries where the diets are rich in | | | | need. This extra fat is burned off as reserve energy |
| saturated fat are prone to heart attacks. Countries | | | | when we stay active. If we are not active, the extra |
| where the diet consists of less meat and less dairy | | | | fat we consume will become that which we fear. But |
| foods generally have fewer heart attacks. Now we | | | | twenty per cent of the fat in our body is just not |
| know eating foods with saturated fat will raise the | | | | stored. Our body puts that right to work. Fat in our |
| cholesterol in our blood, causing this cholesterol to | | | | diet allows our body to absorb the vitamins we refer |
| build up in the arteries and block blood flow to the | | | | to as soluble. So let's just make this broad |
| heart. | | | | statement, we need some of it in our body!! |
| Can you recall the old USDA food guidelines equating | | | | It also helps produce chemicals that control blood |
| it with sweets? They warned us to eat sweets and | | | | pressure and prevent blood clots. |
| fats sparingly. Those of us old enough will remember | | | | So I think buy now you would agree that I have |
| that fat free recipes were the rage, Cookbooks with | | | | made my point, we need fat in our body. |
| fat free recipes were everywhere. I got on several | | | | So stay active and eat healthy and live a long happy |
| of these diets, and I always gained the weight back | | | | life. |
| that I had lost. "Nonfat" and "fat" were stamped on | | | | |