Carolyn Humphries - 7-Day Low Fat/Low Salt Diet Plan

Fat not only makes other foods more palatable, it is also an essential part of a healthy, balanced diet. It provides warmth and energy and ensures our immune system and muscles work properly. It also keeps our skin soft and supple. We need a certain amount to allow our bodies to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K and to provide essential fatty acids.

The problem is, most people eat too much. Fat occurs naturally in many foods such as milk, cheese, meat, fish and eggs, so we dont need to add more by spreading butter thickly on bread, dabbing it all over cooked vegetables before we eat them or pouring lashings of cream on our desserts.

And if youve been specifically told to stick to a low-fat diet, you will have to rethink not only what you eat but also how you cook it in order to minimise the amount of added fat.

Are all fats the same?

When you think of fat you probably think only of the white stuff round meat and slabs of butter, margarine and lard (shortening). But vegetable oils such as corn, olive or sunflower oil are also fats, as are fish oils such as cod liver oil. They can, however, be divided into three main groups:

Saturated fats are mostly animal fats which are solid at room temperature. They are found in largest quantities in meat, dairy products and many margarines. Most plant products are low in saturated fats; the exceptions are palm oil and coconut oil which solidify at room temperature and are high in saturated fat. Doctors nowadays advise that everyone, even the healthiest among us, should cut down our intake of saturated fats as they can raise your blood cholesterol level and so increase the risk of coronary heart disease.

Polyunsaturated fats are mainly found in vegetable products, particularly oils like corn and sunflower oil and in polyunsaturated margarines. The polyunsaturates in these products are often referred to as omega 6 fatty acids. They can help lower your blood cholesterol level but only if eaten in moderation. There is now evidence to show that, if they are eaten in excess, free radical reactions take place which change them into harmful substances called lipid peroxides which can cause coronary heart disease. Oily fish such as tuna and mackerel are high in a second type of polyunsaturates often known as omega 3 fatty acids These are thought to help protect against heart disease so try to eat one or two portions a week.

Monounsaturated fats are found in largest quantities in olive oil, avocados and rapeseed oil. They are not thought to have any effect on blood cholesterol levels. In Mediterranean countries where they have a high consumption of olive oil, there is a relatively low incidence of coronary heart disease. But there is a high incidence of obesity in later life, so the message is to consume only small quantities.

Which fats should you choose?

All fats contain the same number of calories and so are equally fattening, but, as I have said, doctors advise that we all avoid having too much saturated fat. Controversy still rages over the virtues of polyunsaturated versus monounsaturated fats. Polyunsaturated fats can have a positively beneficial effect in helping to lower blood cholesterol levels which have been raised by a diet high in saturated fats but, in my opinion, a balanced combination of both is a good idea and if you are striving towards a low-fat diet, I recommend that you use a reduced-fat spread based on either sunflower oil, which is high in polyunsaturates, or olive oil, which is high in monounsaturates. But whichever you choose, you should only have a small amount of it.

Choosing a reduced-fat spread

When you look at the chiller cabinets in the supermarket, you will see there is a whole range to choose from but before you buy, here are a few words of caution:

• Some low-fat spreads which contain less fat overall than conventional margarines are still high in saturated fats. Look at the labels to see how much saturated, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat they contain.