Fat Chance

Fat in your meals provides calories (or energy) and essential vitamins, such vitamins A, D, E and K.  In addition to carrying flavor and giving foods taste appeal, fat also gives foods texture in forms of smooth and creamy or crispy.  The apprehension about eating fatty foods in not only the number of calories they contain (9 calories per fat gram) but also, depending on the type of fat, their potential for increasing the risk for disease.  A meal plan high in saturated fat, for example, increases blood cholesterol levels and, therefore, increases the risk of heart disease.

The dilemma with consuming high-fat foods is that fat doesn’t immediately satisfy hunger the way that sugary carbohydrates do.  Needless to say, eating too many fat calories before realizing that you’ve had enough is easy to do.  (Think about how easy it was to each an entire bag of potato chips and still feel hungry.)  Bringing this awareness to your future nutrition choices will make the abundance of fat consumption a task of the past.  General guidelines recommend that 20-35% of your daily consumption comes from fat- healthier forms that is!