Eating Healthfully Through Better Fat
Written: Mar 18 '06 (Updated Apr 25 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Small, inexpensive, quick, read
Cons: One editorial error can confuse
The Bottom Line: This book will help you eat fats and feel good about yourself while doing it. The advice could save your life.
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| gamblin_man's Full Review: Sheila Buff - The Good Fat, Bad Fat Counter |
I remember, at around the age of six or seven, the US began its rapid transition form a diet high in animal fats to one high in vegetable fats. There were a couple of reasons for this. One was that, back then, vegetable fats were cheaper. Another was the public’s discovery that saturated fats were bad for you.
I became aware of this because my job became taking a clear plastic package filled with a gooey white substance and having a piece of orange-looking stuff in it and kneading it until the entire package metamorphosed to yellow. This was an early form of margarine, the vegetable replacement for butter. Another thing that occurred about then is that the can of lard in the kitchen was replaced with a can of vegetable shortening. Being curious, I asked about the changes and the answers were as in the first paragraph.
The problem with most vegetable oils is that they are liquid at room temperature rather then the semi-solid of animal fats. Animal fats naturally have hydrogen in their long organic chains. Vegetable oils, by and large, don’t. To make the vegetable oils harder (oils are just fats by another name to make them sound less fat), hydrogen was artificially added to “partially hydrogenate” them. This is now, and was then, called a trans fat.
That this science was bad science back after World War II is well documented today. The Food and Drug Administration now requires the amount of trans fat in a food to be listed as part of their labeling. Foods free of trans fats are now being prominently labeled. But how do you know which foods have good fats in them and which have bad fats?
The Good Fats Bad Fats Counter
This is the book I use when I want to know. There are others on the market that have some of the information but none as inexpensive as this 122 page guide. It lists a lot of foods, many by brand name and it also talks a lot about which fats are good for you and which are bad. It tells you why and what they do for you or to you.
The fat counter itself only takes up about one-fourth of the book. The other three-fourths are text, lists, and charts that give you, in capsule form, everything you always wanted to know about the different kinds of fat. It is written for the average consumer of fats, not for the technical proficient in nutrition. The language is straightforward with little technical jargon. The flow is a quick read and brings the reader logically from what and why to how. The chapter list of this part follows:
Fats and Fatophobia
The Bad fats
The Killer fat
Trimming the Fat, Cutting the Cholesterol
Taking Out the Trans Fats
Fats and the Food Label
The Good fats
Eating the Good Fats
A few notes is all I will add to this list. The killer fat is trans fat. The FDA agrees. Bad fats are usually solids. Good fats are usually liquid. Good fats come from vegetables, nuts, fish, and seafood mostly. Bad fats come from animals mostly. There are a few exceptions.
The Fat Counter
The last portion of this book contains two extensive charts. The first is a chart of hundreds of foods, some listed by brand, and their fat content. It lists total calories, total grams of fat, grams of saturated fit, grams of mono-unsaturated fat, grams of poly-unsaturated fat, and milligrams of cholesterol. If you don’t know beforehand, this list will let you eat fat the way your body intended. The foods are listed in a logical order. One goof in my printing of the book is that the column for poly-unsaturated fats is labeled FUFA instead of PUFA. No harm done once you understand teh editorial problem. There is no listing in this chart for trans fats.
The second chart is all the listings for foods containing trans fats and the amount. This is the list you should take with you to the grocery store. Write verboten on it and leave the items in this list on the grocery shelf.
Conclusion
This is an easy and inexpensive book that can get the reader on the path to better health through better control of fats in the diet. Although it is not the only book on this topic I have, I recommend it as a one-stop learning experience.
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My Review References
The South Beach Diet
South Beach Diet
The South Beach Diet Good Fats, Good Carbs Guide
The South Beach Diet Quick And Easy Cookbook
Carbohydrates
Good Carbs, Bad Carbs
The New Glucose Revolution
Fats
Good Fat vs. Bad Fat
Recommended:
Yes
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gamblin_man
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