STAY AWAY from Saturated Fats!

SKIP THE BACON!!

Saturated fatty acids are known to raise blood cholesterol, promote heart disease, and are not necessary for your diet.  They can also increase the risk of chronic diseases, some types of cancer, kidney disease, type 2 diabetes, and gallstones.

 
Saturated fats are primarily found in animal products - like beef, beef fat, veal, lamb, pork, lard, poultry fat, butter, cream, milk, cheeses and other dairy products made from whole and 2 percent milk. Additionally, foods from plants that contain saturated fat include coconut, coconut oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil (often called tropical oils), and cocoa butter.  

Saturated Fat 1.5g

Saturated Fat 7g

A good tip: choose margarine over stick butter.   Most margarine is made from vegetable fat and provides no dietary cholesterol. Most importantly, remember to read your labels!!!

The American Heart Association recommends limiting the amount of saturated fats you eat to less than 7 percent of total daily calories.  So, if you need about 2,000 calories a day, no more than 140 of them should come from saturated fats.  That’s about 16 grams of saturated fats a day. 


February is American Heart Month.  Now is a great time to become heart healthy!  Avoiding this type of fat you can reduce your risk for heart disease. Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer in the United States - and ladies heart disease is the number one killer for women - it takes more lives than all forms of cancer combined!

For more information visit the American Heart Association web page:


http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/