Good and Bad Fats:
Everyone is encouraged to cut down on the amount of fat in their diets. This is because fatty foods contain a lot of calories, which can cause us to become overweight.
Try to cut down on saturated fat in particular and replace it with monounsaturated fat.
Eating too much saturated fat is related to heart disease.
The different types of fat (saturated, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated) have different effects on cholesterol levels:
1. Saturated fats raise your cholesterol level.
2. Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats actually help to lower cholesterol.
Monounsaturated fats are the best type of fats to use as they are more stable in the body.
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Types of Fats :
- Saturated fats Usually found in fatty meat, full fat dairy products, butter and lard.
- Transunsaturated fats These are formed during the hardening of vegetable oils, eg hard margarines and foods containing hydrogenated vegetable oils like pies, pastries, biscuits and cakes.
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Monounsaturated fats Found in olive oil and rapeseed oil products. There is also a wide range of margarine and low fat spreads based on monounsaturated fats.
- Polyunsaturated fats Include sunflower, corn oil and soya oil, some margarine and low fat spreads, and oily fish such as mackerel, pilchards or sardines.
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Tips to reduce your saturated fat intake:
1. Choose low fat dairy food such as skimmed or semi skimmed milk, low fat yoghurt, cheese, ice cream and custard.
2. Choose lean meat / mince and skinless chicken / poultry and trim all visible fat before cooking.
3. Use low fat cooking methods such as grilling, barbequing, stir-frying, dry roasting or poaching.
4. Skim the fat off the top of cooled casseroles, stews and curries.
5. Cook with monounsaturated oils and spreads like olive, rapeseed and ground nut oils.
6. Choose tomato based sauces rather than creamy sauces, avoid creamy style soups.
7. Choose Oily fish such as salmon, sardines, mackerel, pilchards, trout and herring (tinned, fresh or frozen) are higher in fat than white fish but they contain a special type of polyunsaturated fat known as ‘omega 3’ fat. This type of fat has been shown to help protect against heart attacks. It also helps to lower a type of fat in your blood known as triglycerides. Try to eat oily fish twice a week. Tinned fish is easy to store and great for a quick meal. Choose varieties tinned in tomato sauce or in water or brine that can be drained off – fish tinned in oil or mayonnaise can contain twice as much fat and calories.
Diabetes UK does not recommend that people with diabetes should take fish oil supplements as there is inconclusive evidence available to support their use in diabetes care. High doses have also been found to affect your overall blood glucose control. It is always better to obtain the nutrients we need from food rather than taking supplements in tablet or capsule form. Talk through any specific issues with your own doctor.