How much can we eat?
Saturated fat, just like Cholesterol has been given a pretty bad name. When most people think of Saturated Fat they think of butter, bacon and most commonly, HEART ATTACKS. We’re going to go into bat for Saturated fat (seeing as no-one else will) and explain why solely focussing on a single nutrient instead of the meal can be harmful to you and set you back a couple of steps in your journey of health and nutrition.
In the 80’s and 90’s there was a “low fat” craze that saw people running to their refrigerator to throw anything that contained fat into the bin. This would’ve been replaced by “fat free” dressings and baked goods with the understanding that this would be somewhat healthier.
As a nation, we didn’t get any healthier, slimmer or even fitter, we didn’t even lower our overall total fat intake! What we did do however was lower the percentage of energy that we receive from our fat stores!
Due to solely focussing on the nutrient and not the meal as a whole, people were eating more highly processed foods, more sugar and salt to replace the lack of fat and due to the fact that fat releases satiety hormones, the lack of it meant people were left feeling hungry and consequently eating more food in general!
So is Saturated fat evil? No, but it’s not something that you should be focussing on when you head into the kitchen for a snack or a meal. Simply focus on eating high quality, tasty foods mindfully and enjoy meal time!
Justin Beard Pn1