How to track healthy fats

dtomasetti01
dtomasetti01 Posts: 1 Member
in Food and Nutrition
As I understand it, healthy fats are monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats for which MFP does not provide a goal. If Total Fats = Saturated Fats + Trans Fats + Mono + Poly, then it seems to me that my my consumption (and goal) of Mono and Poly should be: Total Fats - Saturated-Trans Fats. When I look at today's diary it says that my Total Fats are 42 grams. Saturated Fats are 6 grams and Trans are 0. That leaves me with 36 grams of Mono and Poly. My issue is that it shows my total consumption of Mono and Poly is only 2 grams. How can that be? Am I being too simplistic about this?

I mostly want to get a grip on how much healthy fats I should be incorporating into my diet.

Replies

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,881 Member
    What you need to know about this database entries, is that they are crowdsourced. This means that food data can be incorrect or incomplete, and it's more likely to be incomplete for micronutrients and types of fats, than for calories or macros.

    One of the reasons is that the people who created the entries only cared about the calories or macros. Another potential reason is that it simply wasn't stated on the nutritional label.
  • Kiyomoo
    Kiyomoo Posts: 354 Member
    Lietchi wrote: »
    What you need to know about this database entries, is that they are crowdsourced. This means that food data can be incorrect or incomplete, and it's more likely to be incomplete for micronutrients and types of fats, than for calories or macros.

    One of the reasons is that the people who created the entries only cared about the calories or macros. Another potential reason is that it simply wasn't stated on the nutritional label.

    This, and also products change their labels all the time. I've had several times where I ordered the exact same item from someplace, but they did some tweaking and now had slightly different calories and macros. So some of the entries in the database are going to be outdated.
  • agarcia2582
    agarcia2582 Posts: 28 Member
    Since I started up again with tracking in December, I have noticed that I frequently hit or exceed my fat allotment while struggling to hit my protein and fiber goals. I mainly get the fat from peanuts, avocados, cheese, salmon, etc. so I know it's at least healthy fat, but I am looking for any suggestions for high protein/fiber low fat snacks. I have multiple food allergies, like soy, apples, melons, tree nuts, etc. which make it difficult for me to find quick snacks. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,262 Member
    edited December 2022
    MFP is going by gov't regulations. The problem with recommending unsaturated fats to certain levels makes it complicated and also doesn't work out well scientifically, so it's just easier to omit any recommendations.

    The FDA recently overturned their law and made natural fruit and vegetables that exceeded the allowable saturated fat content on a per serving basis to now be deemed healthy, but not canned, only whole food. Why, well none of it makes sense anyway but I guess saturated fat in the few examples goes against the basic philosophy that fruit and veg promote heart health. I mean an ultra processed food can be deemed healthy and advertised as healthy while half an avocado will kill you. Funny really and without getting egg on their face (and cholesterol) they decided to change that restriction.
  • paints5555
    paints5555 Posts: 1,233 Member
    edited January 2023
    neanderthin wrote: »
    The FDA recently overturned their law and made natural fruit and vegetables that exceeded the allowable saturated fat content on a per serving basis to now be deemed healthy, but not canned, only whole food.

    @neanderthin The definition of "healthy" that was established in 1994 hasn't changed yet. The comment period for possible revisions to the definition of heathy has been extended to 2/16/2023. No actual changes to the regs have been made and will most likely take a while before anything becomes final. They take forever to make changes like this.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,262 Member
    paints5555 wrote: »
    neanderthin wrote: »
    The FDA recently overturned their law and made natural fruit and vegetables that exceeded the allowable saturated fat content on a per serving basis to now be deemed healthy, but not canned, only whole food.

    @neanderthin The definition of "healthy" that was established in 1994 hasn't changed yet. The comment period for possible revisions to the definition of heathy has been extended to 2/16/2023. No actual changes to the regs have been made and will most likely take a while before anything becomes final. They take forever to make changes like this.

    Thanks for the update. The info I got was from their website but I must have interpreted them as current. cheers.

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