Question: How Much Fat Should We Eat?
The government's new dietary guidelines, published in January 2005, have clear recommendations about how much fat and what kind of fats we should consume.
Answer: The fundamental message of the government's dietary guidelines is to cut calories and increase physical activity. It also recommends eating a lot more whole grains, fruit and vegetables.
Here are the specifics relating to fat:
- Total fat intake should be between 20 and 35 percent of total calories.
- Less than 10 percent of calories should come from saturated fats, such as those found in animal products (meat and full-fat dairy).The American Heart Association recommends we consume less than 7 percent of calories from saturated fat.
- Most fat should come from monounsaturated or polyunsaturated sources (for instance, fish, nuts, canola and olive oils and spreads.
- We should keep consumption of trans fats as low as possible (anything that says hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated on the label). The American Heart Association recommends a trans-fat intake of less than 1 percent.
- We should consume less than 300mg of cholesterol a day
- Meat, poultry and dairy selections should be lean, low fat or fat free.
- We should consume no more than 6 teaspoons of oils a day (cooking oils, and those in salad dressings and mayonnaise).
