How important is eating fat?

Options
2»

Replies

  • Knightrobs
    Knightrobs Posts: 33 Member
    Options
    Some day the "fat is bad" lies will be gone... some day.
  • fteale
    fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
    Options
    How do you manage to eat negligible fat? Most foods seem to have a ton of it, unless you eat only raw vegetables. I am a vegetarian, and don't eat junk food, semi skimmed milk, fat free yoghurt etc, and yet my diet still manages to be 30-40% fat by calories (so about 10-12% fat in volume terms).

    Anyway, I think fat is important. Vitamins are fat soluble, so you won't be getting them if you have literally no fat in your diet. You also need omega oils for brain function.
    I would consider my food lineup to be pretty good. I have been eating the same foods pretty much since February when I started this thing. Dropped 100 pounds, more or less, and my overall health is fantastic. The doctor loves the blood work and I have stopped virtually all meds. No issues with health, brain functions, skin, hair, etc.

    To answer your question, I eat loads of veggies, both as salads and as stir fry. My primary meats are lean chicken and lean ground turkey. My "indulgence" is pretzels. Fiber cereal with skim milk. Fruit daily (apple, orange, banana - usually not all 3). No prepared foods, nothing in a box or a can (except tuna). Never anything fried, never any fast food and I never eat out. Nothing with sauces or gravies. Recently introduced PBJ sandwiches. Hardly any dairy except my skim milk with my cereal. Never sodas or anything like that. Only water and unsweetened tea. I actually eat pretty well, lots of food and I really enjoy what I eat. I never feel denied in any way.

    Feel free to take a look at my diary, but I would go back to before Nov 1, since I have been on vacation or traveling most of the month and my logging in November has been hit and miss. Prior to that I have been extrememely accurate for about 9 months.

    I would suggest that if you eat any meat, especially tuna, and stir fry your vegetables, you are getting plenty of fat. I eat similarly to you (no prepackaged, prepared or processed food, only drink tea and water etc), but without the meat, and as I said I am at about 30% cals from fat. Even bread, if it's whole grain has a fair bit, and PB (which I don't eat) has loads.
  • kkellam1
    kkellam1 Posts: 182 Member
    Options
    [/quote]

    I would suggest that if you eat any meat, especially tuna, and stir fry your vegetables, you are getting plenty of fat. I eat similarly to you (no prepackaged, prepared or processed food, only drink tea and water etc), but without the meat, and as I said I am at about 30% cals from fat. Even bread, if it's whole grain has a fair bit, and PB (which I don't eat) has loads.
    [/quote]

    So I went back and looked through October and while I am getting some, I range from about 30-60 a day, which tends to be about 1/3 to 1/2 of what MFP recommends for me. Maybe I am focusing on it too much, but I just can't help wondering if I should concentrate on raising that some.

    It's tough for me because most of the suggested foods I really don't care for. I love a wide variety of foods, but by coincidence the popular suggestions (nuts, fish, avacadoes, etc.) are ones that I just don't care for. I guess I will keep trying to increase the ones that I do like (tuna-yes I know it's a fish!, PB, etc). I have recently made a concerted effort to use olive oil when I cook stir. For so many months I just used the nonstick pans and didn't use anything or maybe just a quick spray of Pam.

    I really hate overthinking this stuff, but I have done a really great job of adjusting my diet and eliminating the things that needed to be eliminated. I feel like I am at the point where I can start fine tuning it at the macro level, but that's an area that I really have limited knowledge. Reading the input from y'all and from other sources is one thing, putting it into practice is where I am having a hard time.
  • kkellam1
    kkellam1 Posts: 182 Member
    Options
    Hey I noticed we live in the same town.... :)

    I live near the vegetable stand off Lee-Davis. Most everything in my world is within a couple mile radius of there - work on Mech Tpk, gym at Bell Creek, kid's school just up the street. It's a good thing I like Mechanicsville because I rarely leave... :)
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    Options
    Saturated fat is not as bad as once thought. You could add in red meat, whole eggs, higher fat dairy.
  • Yanicka1
    Yanicka1 Posts: 4,564 Member
    Options
    Saturated fat is not as bad as once thought. You could add in red meat, whole eggs, higher fat dairy.

    What she said!!!
  • twinmom01
    twinmom01 Posts: 854 Member
    Options
    Hey I noticed we live in the same town.... :)

    I live near the vegetable stand off Lee-Davis. Most everything in my world is within a couple mile radius of there - work on Mech Tpk, gym at Bell Creek, kid's school just up the street. It's a good thing I like Mechanicsville because I rarely leave... :)

    I'm right down the road :)
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    Options
    It's tough for me because most of the suggested foods I really don't care for. I love a wide variety of foods, but by coincidence the popular suggestions (nuts, fish, avacadoes, etc.) are ones that I just don't care for.

    Two different nuts are going to taste completely different. Have you tried every kind of nut? I don't care for most nuts, but I LOVE almonds. I eat cinnamon and brown sugar almonds almost daily. I've tried pistachios and walnuts and I don't care for them, though I could eat walnuts if I needed to. I really hate pistachios. All three taste completely different from each other.

    Adding the oils to foods each day, as I suggested yesterday, is another way to get them in. Although, I think 30-60 grams a day is probably OK. MFP has weird standards for macros. It only suggests 14 grams of fiber for me per day, which is WAY too low.

Categories