Fat and the mystery behind the types

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Jimaudit
Jimaudit Posts: 275
in Food and Nutrition
Ok, someone please help me understand this.

My dietician told me to monitor my trans fat only as my choices will naturally carry lower overall fat measurements as I avoid trans fat.

I view a lot of diaries and have never seen anyone tracking trans fat.

So what gives? Why total fat vs Trans Fat? I know fat is good for the body, but in reasonable quantities.

BTW: I have only consumed 3 grams of trans fat in like 8 weeks so I think I am doing well overall.

Any smarties want to help a brotha out?

Replies

  • avir8
    avir8 Posts: 671 Member
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    Trans fat does not occur naturally in foods, it is artificial and therefore the body has a very hard time breaking it up and so it stays in your body longer eventually leading to insulin resistance. This has to do with the chemical structure and properties of the molecules you eat.
    Total fat is important to track becuase it is a macronutrient involved in many things among some of which include vitamin absorption, energy, and insulin sensitivity (if its "healthy" fats such as mono/poly UN-saturated fatty acids), and many other cellular components. So you do need to eat a proportion of fat in your diet (everything in moderation).
    Your dietician knows that by simply staying away from trans fat, you have no choice but to eat more natural foods, while making your life easy without having to count every type of fat and carb you put into your mouth.

    ETA Maybe some people track total fat because they want to try low fat diets, so it doesn't matter to them what type of fat as lang as it's under their "goal"
  • SPBROOKS68
    SPBROOKS68 Posts: 561 Member
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    Most foods these days say "0 Trans Fat" on them.
  • Spokez70
    Spokez70 Posts: 548 Member
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    Most foods these days say "0 Trans Fat" on them.

    I believe they can actually legally say that as long as the Trans Fat content is less than a half a gram per serving. So especially if the 'serving' is particularly small (6 chips, etc.) you could still be getting more trans fat than you might think.
  • Jimaudit
    Jimaudit Posts: 275
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    Trans fat does not occur naturally in foods, it is artificial and therefore the body has a very hard time breaking it up and so it stays in your body longer eventually leading to insulin resistance. This has to do with the chemical structure and properties of the molecules you eat.
    Total fat is important to track becuase it is a macronutrient involved in many things among some of which include vitamin absorption, energy, and insulin sensitivity (if its "healthy" fats such as mono/poly UN-saturated fatty acids), and many other cellular components. So you do need to eat a proportion of fat in your diet (everything in moderation).
    Your dietician knows that by simply staying away from trans fat, you have no choice but to eat more natural foods, while making your life easy without having to count every type of fat and carb you put into your mouth.

    ETA Maybe some people track total fat because they want to try low fat diets, so it doesn't matter to them what type of fat as lang as it's under their "goal"

    Thats my understanding as well so nice to have another ascending opinion. Total fat does not matter to me as you said, because I eat almost all of my food low fat and 0 trans fat. Folks have to be careful when following a low fat diet though, as they could eat lots of packaged foods that have artificial sweetners.....they are the devil and a diet killer! I use truvia and love the taste...and only use 2 packets a day on average.

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