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You've been warned over and over to cut back on fat or else let yourself in for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity. And it's true: Eating too much saturated fat -- the kind that's found primarily in animal foods -- can wreak havoc on your arteries, trigger cell damage that leads to tumors, and add unhealthy inches to your waistline.

Confusing things even more, a major study from the Women’s Health Initiative made the headlines in 2006 when scientists reported that low-fat diets did not reduce the risk of certain cancers or cardiovascular disease. Close to 50,000 women were followed on average over an eight year period in the WHI study, making it the largest study to date to examine the connection between fats and health. What the headlines did not reveal, however, were some potential flaws in the study design: it did not differentiate between good and bad fats, a majority of participants did not cut their fat intake down to the study’s target level of 20 percent, and the majority of subjects remained overweight. The women were also between the ages of 50 and 79, leading some to question whether or not it was too late for a low-fat diet to affect the participants’ health outcomes. What scientists did confirm about a low-fat diet was that not all fats were bad, and that women who consumed lower levels of fat had a small but statistically significant drop in blood pressure and levels of LDL cholesterol (the “bad” kind).

Unsaturated fat can actually be good for you: The monounsaturated fat in olive oil, for example, has been shown to lower cholesterol, so try dipping your bread in a saucer of extra-virgin instead of smearing on butter. But since olive oil is also high in fat, don't go overboard. The key is to find new ways to lighten up on fats without sacrificing flavor or going hungry.

Trans fats are processed fats found in most store-bought cookies, crackers, fast foods, and stick margarines. A 2002 report from the National Academy of Sciences confirmed that trans fats contribute directly to heart disease and higher levels of artery-clogging LDL cholesterol. The National Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, issued the most strongly worded warning to date: there is no safe level of trans fats in the diet. In 2006, the American Heart Association established new guidelines limiting trans fat to less than 1 percent of the total calories you consume.

The first step is to recognize them. Regulations issued by the Food and Drug Administration that went into effect in 2006 require food companies to include trans fat content on food labels. You can also look for the words "hydrogenated," "partially hydrogenated oils," or "fractionated" on the nutrition label. These terms are dead giveaways for trans fats, since the vast majority come from hydrogenation.

The second step is to eat good fats (canola oil and olive oil) and increase your intake of fruits and vegetables to 5-9 servings a day. Pay special attention to nutrition labels for cookies, crackers, processed foods, and fast foods, and avoid as many as possible that contain partially hydrogenated oils, or trans fats. Substitute a tub of soft margarine made with canola for stick margarine, and try having fresh fruit for dessert more often. You might try making cookies with canola oil rather than buying the store-bought variety, and if you have a yen for crackers, buy crackers made with olive oil (they're delicious, and you can find them in many groceries and Italian delis).

A bagel with cream cheese isn't much better than ham and eggs when it comes to saturated fat. But if cold cereal and skim or 1 percent milk leave you wanting, there are still better alternatives. Mix up a smoothie of low-fat yogurt, fresh berries and bananas, a splash of orange juice, and a few ice cubes, or toast a slice of bakery-fresh whole wheat bread and spread on a new flavor of jam.

For sandwiches, burritos, and pizza, choose either cheese or meat, but not both. Try mustard instead of mayonnaise and salsa instead of sour cream. Use part-skim mozzarella. Slice up an avocado or toss a handful of walnuts or almonds into a vegetable salad. Their heart-healthy monounsaturated fat will fill you up without raising your cholesterol.

Not necessarily. The leanest cuts of meat -- top round, eye of round, round steak, sirloin, flank steak, tip roast, porterhouse, T-bone, and tenderloin -- can have as little saturated fat as chicken and turkey. In fact, those birds are no leaner than any other meat unless you remove the skin and eat only the breast. Try thinking of meat as a side dish rather than the main meal. Keep each serving under 3 ounces, a portion the size of a deck of cards. To cook lean meats without drying them out, marinate them first, then stir-fry, broil, or grill them.

Federal health experts now recommend nine a day (4 ½ cups). It's not as hard as it might seem: half a glass of juice counts as one serving, for example, as does a medium-sized apple. Try adding three servings per meal (for breakfast, say, you might add frozen blueberries and a banana to your cereal and drink half a glass of orange juice), snack on an apple or carrots between meals, add a salad at lunch and supper, and you'll be up to nine servings a day in no time. Try to eat at least three colors of fruits and vegetables a day -- especially dark-green leafy vegetables and orange citrus fruits -- and you'll consume an astonishing array of vitamins and cancer-fighting phytochemicals (plant chemicals).

Vegetables can be delicious without much help from fat if you buy them as fresh as possible and don't overcook them. Try using peanut oil to stir-fry green beans and summer squash, adding a few drops of sesame oil to steamed broccoli or bok choy, or brushing a little olive oil on bell peppers and eggplant before you throw them on the grill or under the broiler. Saute spinach in a little broth and splash with balsamic vinegar. Toss coarsely chopped carrots, potatoes, yams, and parsnips with olive oil and sea salt and roast them for half an hour. Spoon a small dollop of chili or curry paste into a tomato-based veggie stew or experiment with fresh herbs like basil, tarragon, rosemary, and dill.

Yes. The American Heart Association recommends eating fish at least two times a week, especially fatty fish such as mackerel, lake trout, herring, sardines, albacore tuna, and salmon. In addition to being high in protein and lower in saturated fats than red meat, these types of fish are high in omega-3 fatty acids, which can help protect you from heart disease and may alleviate depression.

A word of caution, however: Nearly all fish and shellfish contain traces of mercury, and some research indicates that some farmed salmon may contain unhealthy levels of certain toxins. To be on the safe side, read our article on Safe Ways to Prepare Fish.

References

Last updated October 20, 2008
Copyright © 1998 Consumer Health Interactive

• Reduce your intake of trans fats by avoiding fast food and store-bought baked goods such as doughnuts, cookies, and crackers. • Also, remember to check nutrition labels -- the words "hydrogenated," "partially hydrogenated oils," or "fractionated" are code words for "trans fats." • Limit the saturated "bad" fat in your diet by keeping your meat servings under 3 ounces, about the size of a deck of cards. Choose chicken and leaner cuts of red meat, such as top round, sirloin, and flank steak. • Besides cooking with "healthy fats" such as olive oil and canola oil, enjoy other heart-friendly fats found in fish like wild salmon.Instead of butter or stick margarine, use a tub of soft margarine made with canola. • Have five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Try to eat at least three different colorful foods daily, especially dark green leafy vegetables and citrus fruits.

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