Fats consist of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, like carbohydrates do, but they Contain more carbon and hydrogen, both of which are excellent fuels. This is why fats are such high-energy sources. One gram of carbohydrate or protein gives about 17 kilojoules. But one gram of fat gives about 38kilojoules, more Than twice as much. This explains why fats cane a problem in trying to keep a Healthy body weight. The problem is worsened by the facts that many foods taste Good when cooked in fat and many flavors are soluble in fat. So fates often Used during food processing, including the preparation of convenience and Take-away foods. The fats in food are mainly in a form called triglycerides.

There is strong evidence linking a high fat intake with high blood cholesterol And triglyceride levels, which in turn increases the risk of at hero-sclerosis and coronary heart disease. On the one hand, fat is a normal part of our bodies, providing insulation against cold and physical knocks and being an efficient way to store surplus Energy for future use. It can taste good and prevent hunger, since it takes Time to digest. On the other hand, having too much fat in our bodies, which is? Easily achieved by eating too much fat in our food, is convincingly associated with a large number of health risks. Meanwhile, establishing sensible eating as a part of your lifestyle is an essential foundation for sustained weight loss. Cholesterol is a substance you have almost certainly heard offend possibly Worried about’. It is often not really understood by most people and it is still the subject of on-going research afar as health is concerned. On the One hand, cholesterol is normally a part of the wall (or membrane) around each of our body cells and in the protective covering on nerve cells. It is also used to make some hormones (including sex hormones) and bile acids which are used to? Digest fats. You would be in trouble without any cholesterol.

Your liver makes about one gram of it each day and, on a typical Australian diet, you would eat About another 0.6 grams of it each day. After the age of six months, your body Is able to make all the cholesterol it needs. Your body can try to cut back its Cholesterol production if your diet includes a lot of cholesterol, but only to A limited extent. On the other hand, although the exact role of high cholesterol in heart and Blood vessel disease is still debated by experts, it seems reasonably clear That it is associated with increased health risks. For example, a ten-year Research study by the US National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute on some4, 000 Men found that reducing your cholesterol level by 25per cent reduces your risk Of a heart attack by 50 per cent. To meet criticisms of previous research on this question, this study was designed to rule out the possibility that the Health gains were due to other factors, such as differences in blood pres-sure, Smoking, drinking or exercise. To try to settle some of the controversy about cholesterol and health, in 1984 The US National Institutes of Health assembled a panel of fourteen experts, Chosen for their solid professional standing but apparent lack of prejudice on This issue, to review the available evidence. The panel concluded there is a direct link between high cholesterol levels and premature death from heart Disease. They also decided that the average cholesterol levels amongst Americans were too high, and that recommended levels should be set lower than they were previously. In sum, they told the whole American population they should be eating less fat and reducing their blood cholesterol levels, rather Than just focusing on the minority with obviously high levels. This general advice has recently been criticized as possibly being based on too narrow as ample of people and for over-emphasizing the importance of cholesterol levels Compared with other lifestyle factors such as the need to exercise. Part of the confusion is that there are two kinds of cholesterol, ‘good’ and ‘Bad’. ‘Bad’ cholesterol is called low density lipoprotein (LDL).

It is the Cholesterol that tends to stick to the walls of your arteries, contributing to Disease. ‘Good’ cholesterol is high density lipoprotein (HDL) which seems to remove excess cholesterol from your blood. The proportions of these two may be as important to your health as your total cholesterol level. We don’t expect to settle an issue still being argued by experts and still being researched but, on the basis of present knowledge, it seems a good idea to keep your Blood cholesterol down to the recommended level, while increasing the proportion Of HDL to LDL. It is worth noting that are liable way of boosting the ‘good’ Portion of your cholesterols regular exercise. Dr Paul Nestle, the Deputy Director of the Baker Institute admonish University, has claimed that Australian average cholesterol levels tend to be 5 per cent higher than those in the USA.A CSIRO report in 1988 said that 70 Per cent of Victorians were still eating too much fat. Although women were more likely than men to use non-fat cooking methods and to eat low- Fat foods, these efforts were being cancelled out by their eating more cream, Salad dressings, full-fat cheeses, cakes, biscuits, chocolate and snacks. The Researchers found that 37 to 38 percent of the daily energy intake of Victorians was fat, compared with our recommended goal of 30 per cent. The main Sources of fat in Victorians’ diets were dairy foods. There is no reason to expect the situation would be any better in any other state. Healthy eating guideline: Reduce your intake of fats. Fats include the visible fat on meats and the less obvious fats in butter, Margarine, edible oils and processed foods.

You can achieve this goal in a Number of ways.

*Eat less high fat meat such as beef, pork and lamb. Replace them with lower Fat meat such as fish. *Grill or dry roast meat and fish, rather than frying or roasting in fat or Oil, and rather than stewing. Fish can also be poached, steamed or microwave.

*Trim the fat off meat before cooking. Preferably remove the skin and its Attached fat from poultry. *Use less butter and margarine. Put your spread straight onto the toast Instead, or use low fat substitutes like cottage or ricotta cheese.

*Replace whole milk (full cream or homogenized) with skim milk. Cows’ milk is a High fat food designed for baby cows. Humans are the only species that regularly consumes milk, in its various forms, after infancy. It has recently been suggested that women should drink milk for its calcium content, to prevent unnecessary loss of bone with increasing age. You can get all the calcium you need from skim milk. In choosing your skim Milk, do read the labels. Our local supplier sells a so-called ‘high-protein, Low-fat’ milk. In comparison with their own plain skim milk, it offers only 18 percent more proteins but ten times as much fat and 46 per cent more Kilojoules. Flavored milk is loaded with refined sugar, not to mention artificial colors and flavors. Make your own with some pureed fresh fruit for Flavoring. From corn, soy, or sunflower seeds, chooses one that has not been hydrogenated (Look for the term ‘cold-pressed’ on the label). Margarines vary a lot in how much hydrogenation they have suffered but the Manufacturers don’t tell you this on their labels. Until they give us the Information we need to make uninformed choice, use moderately on margerine. At least some of the time, a little butter may be better (but cottage or ricotta cheese would be better still). Good news for us seafood lovers!

First, the fear that some seafoods were high in cholesterol and so should be eaten sparingly, turns out not to be true (they Contain a different kind of sterol).

Second, cold-water fish contain Unsaturated oiling their flesh (presumably it stops them from freezing solid in icy waters) and this oil has been found to reduce the stickiness of blood Cells. This oil was discovered by researchers trying to understand why Eskimos, Who ate a high fat diet, did not have high incidence of heart disease. They found that the Eskimos also ate a lot of fish containing this oil and some of the fat they ate from marine mammals like seals and whales also contained unsaturated fats.

Some people have jumped at this news with the Suggestion that we should all guzzle huge amounts of cod-liver oil. Quite Apart from the risk of dangerously over-dosing on Vitamin A, this suggestion is Tasteless and boring. A more interesting way of making the health gains offered by this discovery is to eat some cold-water fish, like mackerel, cod or tuna regularly. Note that the unsaturated oil is in the fish, not the oil that is put into cans by fish processors. Go for fresh fisher fish packed in water. The other common concern about cholesterol is eggs. It is true that egg yolks contain a lot of cholesterol but research on the effects of eating them has produced contradictory results. Eggs are potentially a good food source, easily prepared in variety of ways, easily digested and the cheapest form of animal Protein.

Medical researchers in Adelaide reported in1988 that eating egg yolks Increased blood cholesterol levels only in people who are already susceptible to high cholesterol levels. Normal people who ate two eggs a day showed newly- Gable increases in blood cholesterol. If you have a serious cholesterol Problem, you should probably avoid eggs. If you aren’t sure, see your doctor (a Cholesterol level check is a good idea, anyway). If you don’t have a problem with cholesterol, eating eggs isn’t going to give you one. He eating guideline: Eat a moderate number of Eggs, cooked at low temperatures or raw. Eggs immoderation (like everything Else) can be a tasty, low cost part of your healthy eating plan. You can reduce any risk to your health further by not over-cooking them. High temperature cooking, like frying and hard-boiling, changes the cholesterol into cholesterol oxides. These seem to be more of a problem than the original Cholesterol. So soft boil or lightly scramble or poach them. Or have an egg Flip (using skim milk flavored with fresh fruit, of course). Consumer Association tests have found no significant difference between ‘free range’ and other eggs. They were critical of the delays in getting eggs to the consumer and the widespread use of artificial coloring to make yolks more yellow. Unless you can keep your own chooks or buy from someone who does the practical answer is again more pressure on the politicians for a more efficient and honest egg industry.