Should I eat fats?
Fats – my favourite kitchen ingredient…
Fats will increase my cholesterol 
Fats will clog up my arteries
Fats will make my diabetes control worse
Fats will make me pile on weight
Fats are bad for me
These statements are… MYTHS!
Yes, these are all myths.
By placing all fats into the same basket, you are forgetting a key important fact. NOT ALL FATS ARE CREATED EQUALLY!
All fats have the same energy (calorie) content BUT different types fall into different groups. Lets take a close look at fats – should I eat fats?
WHICH SHOULD WE EAT LESS OF?
TRANS AND SATURATED FATS – the ones that will increase your LDL ‘bad’ cholesterol.
Examples are:
- Butter, ghee, lard, dripping, palm oil and copha 
- Fatty meats and fat on meats (salami, sausages, mortadella, fat on meat & skin on chicken)
- Full fat dairy products (milk, cheese, yoghurt)
- Desserts (cream, icecream, pastries, donuts, cakes, biscuits, chocolate)
- Processed savoury snack foods (chips, crackers)
- Deep fried foods and many takeaway meals, such as pies, sausage rolls, hot chips
- Creamy dressings and mayonnaise
- Coconut based products, such as coconut milk, coconut cream, coconut oil
WHICH SHOULD WE EAT MORE OF?
1 – POLYUNSATURATED FATS – both reduce LDL cholesterol AND increase HDL ‘good’ cholesterol.
Examples are:
- Oily fish (salmon, sardines, barramundi, tuna, mackerel, trout, flathead) – these can be tinned or fresh.
- Vegetable based oils such as sunflower/soybean and grapeseed oil
- Unsalted nuts & seeds (walnuts, hazelnuts, brazil nuts, chia seeds, flaxseeds, sunflower seeds)
- Omega 3 enriched eggs
- Tahini (sesame seed paste) – used in foods such as hommus and Mediterranean oven baked fish, or as a spread on toast.
2- MONOUNSATURATED FATS – Reduce LDL cholesterol
Examples are:
- Olive Oil (extra virgin is great for salad dressings and vegies; standard olive oil is handy for cooking)
- Canola and peanut oil
- Avocado
- Unsalted Nuts (almonds, cashews and peanuts)
- Margarine (an olive based or phytosterol enriched brand)
DID YOU KNOW? EGGS used to be blamed for high cholesterol levels. But according to new research, you can safely include 6 whole eggs per week as part of a balanced diet lower in saturated fat without it affecting your cholesterol levels
Cook them any way you like!
