Only eating 10% of calories as fat

65special

I was checking out my daily food intake and am ok on levels of Carbs, Proteins and Fiber but the Fat level seems to be around the 10% level. Will this cause a problem if I continue like this for say, 6 months?

My LDL Cholesterol level is too high anyway at 153 and HDL is low at 38, am 53 years old with BMI of just under 35 at present

Also the Iron intake is just under half, would an iron + B vitamins supplement be okay or what foods will increase my iron levels?

Thanks

chris1816

Couple things here, fact check me with a nutritionist because I am not keen to say I'm an expert on cholesteral.

However, there are fats that can help lower your cholesteral as a whole. So you don't want to cut them out as much as you are.

Look for fats in smart places where you will also get a good nutritional bang for your buck.

Almonds (nuts, almond milk, almond butter etc)
Salmon
Tuna
Cod
Avocado
Flax seed
Chia Seed

Also stick to healthy grains like barley, cracked wheat, quinoa etc

As for the iron intake...are you a woman? If not I would not even worry about supplementing iron unless you have a diagnosed deficiency; men are typically not and eating a balanced diet will net you the iron you need. This website is REALLY bad about tracking things like iron, copper, manganese, zinc intake etc because most folks just don't enter them when they upload the recipe.

One good thing you can do to make sure you are good on b-vitamins and metals is eat calf liver once a week. Like all organs it is high in cholesteral but against an otherwised balanced diet will make little to no impact, especially if you are eating those items with good fats.

Calf liver however is good, protein dense, lean as hell, but packed with nutrition (you will literally feel GOOD after eating it). Nonetheless, run it by your Doctor (or a few, preferably) to see what they think in relation to your cholesterol.

I'm a big meat eater (grew up in Argentina, steak and various other meats all day, every day), but incidentally eat borderline vegetarian as I ate healthier choices, and it all can taste very good if you are willing to experiment with cooking.

yarwell

There are essential fats and fat soluble vitamins that you may go short of.

Presumably you're eating a lot of carbohydrates and reasonable protein ? There are no essential carbohydrates ;-)

65special

thanks chris1816 for your reply,

From what I can see in my food diary, the fats are coming from the milk I add to tea and porridge oats, chicken breast fillet (no skin), and sometimes nibble on some oat fiber crackers if feeling hungry. I also take a Triple Omega 3-6-9 120mg supplement and with my porridge oats I add a teaspoon of Flaxseed Oil, I forgot to add these to my fat intake. I am not rally trying to cut out the fats, it is just that I only eat lean poultry, I like beef but where I live now the beef is too tough so don't bother with it.

I will try Almonds and Avocado and look up on chia seed, fish I am not keen on here either but back home I ate mackerel and cod. Should be going back home next year. I will start eating the calf liver again, not had that since I was a teenager but liked it so will use the again.

Thanks again

65special

Hi yarwell,

My protein seems to come mainly from chicken breast fillet and the 200ml of milk I use with my tea, also a little protein from all bran, 1 jacket potato daily and 1 mini-packet of oat fiber crackers.

Carbs wise I have cut out my wheat bread (just eat a handful of dry all-bran instead), I have the 1 potato, porridge oats, crackers and an apple or two.

I know some advise to do away with the potato but it is one a day and I cannot eat veggies/salad. Got to have something we like!

Thanks