Now that you have some background information on fats, lets talk about how we can incorporate them into our daily diets. We should work to substitute unhealthy fats like trans and saturated with healthy fats like monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats. When making substitutions in your diet it's important to remember “low-fat,” “reduced fat,” or “fat-free” processed foods are not
necessarily the healthiest. Food
manufacturers take out fat so they can call the product "low fat", but often replace it with carbohydrates
from sugar, refined grains, or starch. It is also not automatically healthier to follow a
low-fat diet. People who follow these diets usually stop eating the good fats that along with the bad. Low-fat diets are also often
higher in refined carbohydrates and starches (white rice,
white bread, potatoes, and sugary drinks). Our bodies digest these refined
carbohydrates and starches very quickly, causing blood sugar and insulin
levels to spike and then dip, which in turn leads to hunger,
overeating, and weight gain. Over time, eating lots of refined carbohydrates can
raise the risk of heart disease and diabetes just as much eating too much saturated fat. So again READ YOUR FOOD LABELS!!! Choose a healthy diet that incorporates proteins, healthy fats, and whole grains!
Here are some healthy snack substitutes according to the American Heart Association:
| Instead of . . . | Enjoy … |
| Fried tortilla chips | Baked tortilla chips (reduced sodium version) |
| Regular potato or corn chips | Pretzels or low-fat potato chips (reduced sodium version) |
| High-fat cookies and crackers | Fat-free
or low-fat cookies, crackers (such as graham crackers, rice cakes, fig
and other fruit bars, ginger snaps and molasses cookies) |
| Regular baked goods | Baked
goods, such as cookies, cakes and pies, and pie crusts made with
unsaturated oil or soft margarines, egg whites or egg substitutes, and
fat-free milk |
| Devil’s food cake | Angel food cake |
| Ice cream bars | Frozen fruit bars |
| Pudding made with whole milk | Pudding made with fat-free or low-fat milk |
| Ice cream | Sherbet, ice milk or frozen, fat-free or low-fat yogurt |
Doughnut
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/ | Bagel or
toast
|
Hi Mary
ReplyDeleteVery informative post on substituting right kind of fat in diet. I like your Instead of… Enjoy… information. Most of the time we know what not to eat but don’t know what to substitute it with. Also many times we get tempted to those low fat and reduced fat items but forget to read the labels on other ingredients used. This post of your is really informative and helpful.