How To-101: "How to Limit Your Saturated Fat Intake"

How to Limit Your Saturated Fat Intake

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Saturated fat is an unhealthy fat that is not good for you, even in moderation. It clogs your arteries and is bad for your heart. If you do not want to get Coronary Heart Disease, this article is for you.

Steps

1. Reduce consumption of meat, particularly red meats. Giving up meat just one day a week can help cut saturated fat intake by 15%. This change can not only help combat obesity, but it can also lower your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. [1]
   
2. Switch to nonfat milk. Compare the labels of nonfat with a kind of unhealthy milk - even just 1%! Notice how Nonfat milk has no Saturated fat, less calories, and still protein, phosphorus and calcium - all the things you need to grow.
   
• If you cannot stand the bland taste of nonfat milk, turn it into chocolate milk or have it with a whole grain cereal.
  
3. Go easy on junk food. Ice cream may claim to be "low fat" on the box, but that if quite different from "nonfat". Just don't have any in the first place. If you think "a little won't hurt", ask if it does anything good? Remember, the best tasting snack is knowing you are healthy. A little bit can add up to a lot. One slice of thin crust cheese pizza can be pack 5 grams of saturated fat!
   
• There are nonfat brownies, made from nonfat yogurt and the dry mix, and if cooked in a nonstick pan instead of oils, can be very healthy and satisfying with milk.
  
4. Eat lean meats. Turkey, chicken and fish are the lowest in fat. Beef, pork, and lamb are high in saturated fat. Make sure to take the skin off the chicken and try to avoid having it with a sauce, as that is high in sodium. There are also some meats, like certain hams, that that have all the fat removed. Take off any visible fat pieces.
   
5. Find out the nutritional info for everything you eat. Read the labels if it is packaged. As the community begins to get more health conscience, more and more restaurants are releasing their nutritional info. Check on their website to see if they have it.
   
6. Keep count of the saturated fat you have each day. The daily maximum for someone on a 2,000 calorie diet is 20 grams. Aim to never consume, on special occasions, more than 15 grams. On a daily basis, less than 10 grams would not be a hard goal.

Tips

• Exercise helps flush out any things clogging your arteries. But, it is much better not to get them in the first place.
  
• Having better circulation and a better heart may improve your performance in exercising and endurance, too.

Warnings

• Good fats, such as plain and unsaturated fats, are good for you, and at least 30% of your calories should come from them. Eating fat free foods to avoid saturated fat may deprive you of the good fats.
  
• Refined sugar is not a healthy alternative to saturated fat either - speeds up the cell replication process, making you age faster.
  
• A diet high in saturated or/and trans fats may cause chest pains and heartache when vigorously exercising.

Related wikiHows

• How to Avoid Trans Fats

Sources and Citations

1. ↑ http://www.meatlessmonday.com/about

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