How much fat is too much for healthy eating?

If you want to increase your chance of staying healthy, reduce fat in your diet. There is small doubt that many Australians eat too much fat. Still, fat is not all bad. Dietary fat carries vitamins A, D, E and K and supplies energy as well as fatty acids essential to proper nutrition.

Often fat improves the taste of food. It helps to produce the comfortable feeling of fullness after meals, which delays the return of hunger and discourages overeating. So we all need fat in our diets: many of us just get too much.

What can you do to reduce dietary fat, and why is this important? And how much fat is too much?

Your dietary fat should not exceed 60g of fat. In fact, the body’s need for fat can be met by as little as 15-25g of the substance each day.

How much are you getting? An average Australian consumes daily 80-90g of fat. This is worrying because high-fat diets lead to weight gain and increased risks of illness.

Excess weight is unhealthy. As your weight increases; so do your risks. Although eating too much of any food can cause a weight gain, it is easier to gain weight by eating foods high in fat.

Sugar

Sugar contains energy (in the form of calories), but that’s all. Very sweet foods don’t give you any vitamins, minerals, fibre, fat or protein. So, although sweets, cakes, cola drinks and chocolate are delicious, they are not very healthy – they cause obesity and they’re also bad for your teeth. If you’d like to reduce the amount of sugar in your diet, here are some tips to help you.

• Eat more fruit (it contains all the sugar your body needs) and fewer cakes, biscuits and chocolate.

• Reduce (or preferably cut out completely) the sugar you take in tea/coffee.

• Choose breakfast cereals which are less “sugary”.

Salt

On average we eat about 10 grammes of salt per day. Twenty-five per cent of this consists of the salt we add to food ourselves. Twenty-five per cent occurs naturally in our diet. Fifty per cent is added to products by food manufacturers.

How much salt do we actually need? The answer is one gramme per day. Too much salt causes high blood pressure, which increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Here are some ways to reduce the amount of salt in your diet:

• When you buy tinned vegetables, look for ones with “No added salt” on the label.

• Eat fewer crisps, salted peanuts, etc.

• Don’t add salt to food (a) while you are cooking it, (b) at the table.

• Add lemon juice, herbs or spices instead.

General Advice

1. Eat less salt, sugar and saturated fat.

2. Eat more raw fruit and vegetables, wholemeal bread and other foods rich in fiber.

3. Check the “Contents” labels on packets and tins to see what they actually contain.

4. If you want to lose weight, do it gradually. People who lose weight quickly usually put it back on quickly, too.

5. Eat regularly – your body needs a steady flow of energy.

6. Drink five or six glasses of water per day.

7. Get plenty of variety in your diet.

8. Enjoy your food!