I know poly and mono are good, to an extent, and definitely rquired, but what about saturated? I pissed my nanny off (haha) because I put a note in my daughter's food bag that said, essentially, stop feeding her cookies & gold fish (junk food of which her kids get all their calories from; literally 100% of their diet is high-carb high-fat processed nutrient-free sh*t). I gave her an awesome lunch but the fat content was lower than it should be but I'm not sure that making up for that with saturated fat is the answer.

Has anybody got ideas on good fat to give her? We give her avocado sometimes and she gets fat from whole milk and cheese and things but I'm open to suggestions. Apparently peanut butter should be avoided for the first couple of years of life, though otherwise it's great.

The current trend, like all of the fun trends (low-carb, low-fat, etc) is to label all saturated fats as evil.

Scientifically speaking, there is no basis for this. Just like the so-called "healthy fats," saturated fats are not one-size-fits-all. The fat from coconut milk has a different molecular structure than the fat from a hunk of sirloin, and they impact the body in different ways.

The interpretation of certain studies also has led to some hysteria. For example, "People with high cholesterol have more saturated fats in their diet" might lend one to believe saturated fats are bad. But it may simply be "People with high cholesterol tend to eat more processed fats" or "People with high cholesterol eat more foods with trans fatty acid content."

Certain studies of tropical saturated fats actually indicate it may play a role in lowering cholesterol. Saturated fats are involved with hormone productions, they're not considered essential because they can be manufactured from carbohydrates but there is no reason to believe that if you are maintaining weight, growing (as is the case with children), or losing fat, that saturated fats are dangerous. By definition, if you are maintaining, losing, or growing at a healthy rate, you are using the calories you consume. The issues with saturated fat tend to come from eating them in excess (i.e. gaining weight) because then the body has to either store them or turn them into cholesterol, etc.

As for fats to include, if you tolerate dairy then all natural cheese sticks and full fat yogurt are some options. Chips that are baked instead of fried. Avocado is great, coconut products, and nut butters. The issue in the early years is that you don't really know what her allergies are. Once she passes through that period, almond butter, peanut butter, and other nuts and nut butters should be fine.

Jeremy
I know poly and mono are good, to an extent, and definitely rquired, but what about saturated? I pissed my nanny off (haha) because I put a note in my daughter's food bag that said, essentially, stop feeding her cookies & gold fish (junk food of which her kids get all their calories from; literally 100% of their diet is high-carb high-fat processed nutrient-free sh*t). I gave her an awesome lunch but the fat content was lower than it should be but I'm not sure that making up for that with saturated fat is the answer.

Has anybody got ideas on good fat to give her? We give her avocado sometimes and she gets fat from whole milk and cheese and things but I'm open to suggestions. Apparently peanut butter should be avoided for the first couple of years of life, though otherwise it's great.

Going by just about every study I've read, total saturated fat in the diet is statistically linked with risk of some diseases, especially coronary heart disease. The exact reasons are not univerally agreed though.

High consumption of most staurated fatty acids seems to be associated with worse LDL cholesterol levels.

However, stearic acid seems to have a weaker association with LDL cholesterol levels, or may even be neutral in this regard.

But this doesn't prove that stearic acid does not cause an increased risk of disease, since the exact causal connection(s) between saturated fats and disease hasn't been fully agreed. Therefore, according to some researchers, it is possible that stearic acid might still increase the risk of disease even though it might not be associated with higher LDL levels.

The other side of the coin is that you need some fat in your diet, and since different kinds of fats don't tend to occur in complete isolation in food sources, a varied diet that provides enough fat, including helpful unsaturated fats, is almost certainly going to also contain some saturated fat. Trying to eliminate saturated fat is therefore probably not going to be a good strategy.

For children, I have no clue about the benefits/negatives of saturated fat. I am pretty sure though for adults at least that saturated fat is needed for testosterone production. I was limiting my sat fat for some time and I was told it was hurting my gains because of the testosterone reason.

I am pretty sure though for adults at least that saturated fat is needed for testosterone production. I was limiting my sat fat for some time and I was told it was hurting my gains because of the testosterone reason.

I don't know how much research has been done, but supposedly monounsaturated fats also work for this purpose.

As a useful side-effect, increasing the proportion of calories that comes from monounsaturated fat also apparently reduces the risk of heart disease.

So maybe olive oil should be our favourite supplement!

The current trend, like all of the fun trends (low-carb, low-fat, etc) is to label all saturated fats as evil.

Scientifically speaking, there is no basis for this. Just like the so-called "healthy fats," saturated fats are not one-size-fits-all. The fat from coconut milk has a different molecular structure than the fat from a hunk of sirloin, and they impact the body in different ways.

The interpretation of certain studies also has led to some hysteria. For example, "People with high cholesterol have more saturated fats in their diet" might lend one to believe saturated fats are bad. But it may simply be "People with high cholesterol tend to eat more processed fats" or "People with high cholesterol eat more foods with trans fatty acid content."

Certain studies of tropical saturated fats actually indicate it may play a role in lowering cholesterol. Saturated fats are involved with hormone productions, they're not considered essential because they can be manufactured from carbohydrates but there is no reason to believe that if you are maintaining weight, growing (as is the case with children), or losing fat, that saturated fats are dangerous. By definition, if you are maintaining, losing, or growing at a healthy rate, you are using the calories you consume. The issues with saturated fat tend to come from eating them in excess (i.e. gaining weight) because then the body has to either store them or turn them into cholesterol, etc.

As for fats to include, if you tolerate dairy then all natural cheese sticks and full fat yogurt are some options. Chips that are baked instead of fried. Avocado is great, coconut products, and nut butters. The issue in the early years is that you don't really know what her allergies are. Once she passes through that period, almond butter, peanut butter, and other nuts and nut butters should be fine.

Jeremy

Do you have any resources about the different kinds of saturated fats, what foods they are found in, and the current research on how they affect us?

Do you have any resources about the different kinds of saturated fats, what foods they are found in, and the current research on how they affect us?

Beyond than the information posted on this board by more experienced and knowledgable people like Jeremy and several others, and the articles generally available on the Net, I don't have access to anything special.

However, you may fidn www.nutritiondata.com helpful, because it gives a typical breakdown of the specific fats in each food. Not just saturated vs. monounsaturated vs. polyunsaturated, but also the specific fatty acids. Also if you click on the links for a specific kind of fat, yoy get another section that lists many foods, ranked in order of how much of that specific fat they contain.

Websites like http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?DB=pubmed can be very helfpul, especially once you get used to the way the information is presented. One thing you'll learn to do is avoid getting excited by the first experiment you read about, because you can be sure that the next one you read about will contradict it. It's not to say that they aren't valid; it's just that scientific questions are often not settled by just a few studies - it can take time for understanding to gather weight.

Do you have any resources about the different kinds of saturated fats, what foods they are found in, and the current research on how they affect us?


This is a collection of the best fat articles I've come across.

Know Your Fats (http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/index.html)