Saturated fat is the main dietary cause of high blood cholesterol. Saturated fat is found mostly in foods from animals and some plants. Foods from animals include beef, beef fat, veal, lamb, pork, lard, poultry fat, butter, cream, milk, cheeses and other dairy products made from whole and 2 percent milk. All of these foods also contain dietary cholesterol. Foods from plants that contain saturated fat include coconut, coconut oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil (often called tropical oils), and cocoa butter. - American Heart.org
I suppose that, even though we don’t always show it, we do know that saturated fats are bad for our hearts. Do you ever wonder what it would take for us to finally “get it,” and to “get it” to the point of giving our daily diet a complete overhaul?
I’m afraid I already know the answer – it would take a doctor’s serious, concerned expression as he/she told us that we have high blood pressure, heart disease, or something else incredibly fun and exciting. THEN the light bulb would go off and we’d say, “Wow. I need to start eating right. My life is more important that any burger, steak, fries…whatever.”
How about it, let’s start making changes before it gets to that point. Then, maybe we’ll never have to hear the words come out of our doctor’s mouth in the first place.
As if heart health wasn’t enough, here’s a fact that might just push you into action: Those who eat more saturated fat double their risk of Alzheimer’s Disease. DOUBLE. So, if you currently have a 40 percent chance of getting Alzheimer’s Disease, if you keep consuming a lot of saturated fats, you can shoot your percentage of getting Alzheimer’s Disease all the way up to 80 percent!
Time for action? Time for action.
Make a concentrated effort to remove as much saturated fat from your diet as possible.
- Read labels.
- A grilled chicken breast without skin contains a third less saturated fat than with skin, so ditch the skin – it’s kind of nasty anyway.
- Look for healthier butter and margarine spreads – and go as lightly as possible. I love butter more than anyone in the world loves butter, but even I have found that you can use less without missing it. I don’t even butter my popcorn anymore. Also, cornbread and biscuits are just as delicious with fruit preserves. Especially blackberry!
- Grill, bake, steam, boil or poach foods rather than frying them. Grilled or steamed fish, with the right seasonings, is even better than fried and grilled chicken beats fried chicken any day of the week. (As a matter of fact, I’d give anything right this minute for some of my husband’s marinated grilled chicken and pineapple slices.)
- We can mess up a perfectly healthy salad by throwing fatty dressings on top. I like to experiment with different flavors rather than allowing the dressing to steal the show. The next time you make a salad, try tossing in a little fresh cilantro, as much diced jalapeno as you can tolerate, and some green onion. When you put it onto your plate, simply spritz it with a little fresh lime and lemon juice. It doesn’t take much, but it’s wonderfully fresh and delicious.
- It may seem drastic (especially to those of you who see Hamburglar when you look into the mirror!), but cut way back on the number of hamburgers you eat. Experiment with healthier alternatives (Subway, Penn Station, Quiznos) and healthier choices (grilled chicken,grilled fish, salads, etc.) Pick a day of the month as your “Burger Day,” if you have to and treat yourself to a burger only on that day.
- It’s worth mentioning again, so I’m going to mention it again – read the labels when shopping and choose the healthier foods. Every little bit count because every little bit adds up.
When you start to feel weak, reciting the following will strengthen your resolve: Those who eat more saturated fat double their risk of Alzheimer’s.
Make each moment healthy!
~ Joi
DID YOU KNOW?
Learn more about Penguins!
- Penguins mate for life.
- Penguins can walk faster than humans. Well, actually it’s more of a waddle…
- Penguins are very social birds and live together in colonies called rookeries.
- Penguins communicate with one another through body language.
- Penguins pick up stones and store them in their crop. This helps them to float when they are in water.
- When a mother penguin loses a chick, she steals another mother’s chick!
- There are 17 species of penguins with the Emperor and Adelie penguins being the largest
QUOTE
Happiness is not created by what happens to us, but by our attitudes toward each happening. – Walter Heily
The following article, by James LaValle, may prove depressing to those of us with countless sweet teeth. We already know we need to cut back on sugar for our physical health. Now, it appears that our mental health would benefit from the same thing.
