Things I love Thursday #9 Fat

"But fats are bad!" I hear you cry.  Well guys sorry to break it to you but cutting out all fatty foods is not the way to go when you are trying to lose weight.  Your body needs fats but the good kind.  Fatty foods are a rich source of energy.  They are vital when working out and exercising to lose weight. I have made the mistake in the past of buying low fat everything.  Your body needs good fats to survive and keep you going.  If you don't have good fats in your diet you are more likely to snack on foods high in sugar.  This is because your body is lacking in energy and sugary foods like chocolate give your body a quick boost. 


The recommended amount of fats for women is 70g and for men 95g.  This may seem like a lot but when eating the wrong kinds of fats this can go quickly.  During the day to keep me going I sometimes have some dry roasted unsalted nuts (average amount 40g).  These contain 17% of my daily fat intake.  Some people try and avoid foods like nuts, yogurt, avocados, humus etc. as they think that fats will give them body fat.  This is often when people begin to crave or eat foods that contain a higher amount of fat.  This will make it easier for you to go over your recommended daily allowance.  A croissant with butter and cheese that might satisfy your cravings but this is a massive 99.5% of your daily fat intake. 


You can quite quickly check the percentage of fat in packaged foods as these are displayed on the label.  Products with less than 3g of fat per 100g are colour coded green on the label.  This is good but you need to make sure you still meet your daily allowance.  Green foods are a good option to snack on to keep you going.  Products with between 3 and 17.5g of fat per 100g are colour coded amber on the label.  Amber foods are good for helping up your daily fat intake if you are running low.  Products with more than 17.5g of fat per 100g are colour coded red on the label.  These are products that you should try to avoid.  Have a look at the below table for some quick switch foods!

Swap	For
Whole milk, cream and full fat cheese	Lower fat dairy products like skimmed, semi-skimmed or 1% fat milk and reduced fat cheese
Fatty cuts of meat	Lean cuts with no visible fat
Roasted and fried foods	Grilled, steamed or baked foods
Butter, lard, ghee, coconut and palm oils	Oils rich in unsaturated fatty acids such as olive, rapeseed or sunflower oils and spreads made with these
Cakes, biscuits and pastries	A handful of unsalted nuts

Facts and figures taken from https://www.nutrition.org.uk Last reviewed December 2013. Revised February 2016. Next review due December 2016

Keeping an eye on your fat intake can be hard but its worth it.  If you want more advice or a meal plan please feel free to contact me here!  Hope you all enjoyed this weeks things I love Thursday!