Saturated Fats

Saturated fats are found in many different types of food. Saturated fats are the "solid" fats in your diet that are usually seen with the human eye. Some other foods that contain saturated fats include the following : high-fat cheeses, butter, ice cream and whole-fat milk. Most meats unfortunately contain a lot of saturated fat but getting a leaner meat will help. There are some simple guidelines to follow to lower a person's saturated fat intake.

• Trimming visible fats from the meat before cooking
• Remove any skin from chicken or other meat before cooking, extra skin has a lot of saturated fat
• Try to drink low-fat milk such as 1% or skim. This is a very simple guideline that will help tremendously over time.
• All dairy products have a lot of fat, therefore buying lower fat products, such as, low fat cheese or fat free cream cheese will knick the saturated fat for a person
• I am not saying to never eat sweets again, because I could never do that! However, I try to buy low-fat ice cream or 1/2 the fat ice cream to help lower fat intake
• Butter is loaded with saturated fats, therefore, getting "I can't believe it's not butter" butter is great to spray on pasta, butter your grilled cheese, heat a pan or put on a bagel
• If you have any questions just simply ask the store employees. If a person just takes the time to read the food labels and compare the difference, there will be a big difference in his/her diet as well

• Finally, at snack time, a person does not have to feel guilty for snacking. Always ask yourself, " am I really hungry"? It is important because eating a light snack such as pudding or low fat yogurt will decrease your weight dramatically. If one simply eats potato chips as his or her snack the saturated fat is being put into the body. 

I have tried a lot of weight loss programs, such as, weight watchers, nutrisystem, and simply watching my intake of food. I found the best method is support and keeping a food journal.

It is SO important to keep track of what you are eating because as weight watchers always said, "you are what you eat". Yeah, I lost weight on all of those programs but it was just temporary. I have just simply watched my eating habits and exercised regularly. Some other tips I can give for better weight loss include:

1. Exercise between 4-5 times a week.
2. Keep a food journal 
3. Measure yourself at the beginning and every two weeks
4. Drink a glass of water before dinner, so one does not eat as much
5. When a person is out to eat always eat HALF of the portion
6. Drink lots of water and cut out excess soda and sugar drinks
7. Have notes everywhere of inspiration to keep you going :)

I feel that these guidelines have helped me succeed and I always continue to use them. So, just read the nutrition labels, cut back with low-fat or fat-free dairy products. Snack lightly eating low-fat pretzels or yogurt. There is my nutrition advice in a nutshell for saturated fats and the knowledge that I have accumulated over time!


http://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/everyone/basics/fat/saturatedfat.html