Fat Facts: Types of Fat Video Transcript

Webcast Transcript

These are also very healthy. The kinds of fats that I usually recommend would be mainly the polyunsaturated, the Omega-3s, fatty fish, flaxseed, and the monounsaturated, olive oil, canola oil, nuts and avocados.

SAMANTHA HELLER: I think the bottom line here is it's so confusing because the names sound familiar and they are very long. I think what we need to know is if you head more toward a plant-based, vegetarian diet, that's where the unsaturated healthy fats are. Just think in terms of that, and you'll be moving in the right direction. One point that I know we both make to our patients a lot is that saturated fat has just as many calories as unsaturated fat. A tablespoon of butter is 100 calories. So is a tablespoon of olive oil. So, even the healthy fats, you don't want to eat too much of.

CHERYL WILLS: Trans fats?

SAMANTHA HELLER: Trans fats. Well, there are trans fats found in nature, but the ones I think we're the most concerned about are the ones that in our great wisdom, we have created. What we did is we took an unsaturated fat and we chemically altered it. Why did we do that? Imagine I can open up a box of cookies. You take out the cookie and it's dripping with oil. It's kind of yucky. What the manufacturers did is processed the oil so it stays solid in the cookie. That processing turns it into a trans fat. Our bodies respond to that trans fat as if it's a saturated fat. So, it's not heart healthy.

CHERYL WILLS: And that can raise cholesterol.

SAMANTHA HELLER: That can raise cholesterol.

CHERYL WILLS: So, it's found in processed food?

SAMANTHA HELLER: Processed foods, mass marketed cookies, cakes, crackers, candy bars.

MARTHA MCKITTRICK, RD, CDE: Another one is stick margarine. An example with that is that you take a relatively healthy vegetable oil like corn oil. They chemically alter it to get it into a stick. Now you have stick margarine. What started out being fairly healthy has now become a trans fatty acid, or a hydrogenated fat. If you're looking at labels, if you see the word "hydrogenated" as maybe one of the first two ingredients, you might want to avoid that product.

CHERYL WILLS: Some guidelines for people who are watching. What's the best type of fat to go for? Which ones should you try to avoid? Just to sort of bring it all together for them.

SAMANTHA HELLER: Bottom line. I think people should avoid saturated fats. Avoid cheese, avoid full fat dairy, which means you can have skim milk, just not whole milk. Avoid cream, avoid butter, cream cheese, meat.

MARTHA MCKITTRICK, RD, CDE: Fatty meats, chicken skin.

SAMANTHA HELLER: Go for vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, beans, soy products, skim milk, non-fat yogurt. Those are all really healthy and good for you. They contain the fats and oils that your body needs.

CHERYL WILLS: Martha, thank you. Samantha, thank you as well. Of course, as our two registered dietitians just suggested, fat does not have to be a dirty word. There are good fats and bad fats. It's up to you to make the right decision.

Thanks for joining our webcast today. I'm Cheryl Wills.

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