There is a choice. Two dishes side by side – fried rice and plain rice. The fried rice beckons and with its rich garnishing the temptation is great. That’s what most men, women and children will serve onto their plates and eat with relish.Then there are all those scrumptious pastries, rolls and melting donuts.
Beware, this is how we take in the “hidden fat”, warns Consultant Medical Nutritionist Dr. Renuka Jayatissa of the Medical Research Institute. Although we need a certain amount of fat in our diet, we consume way too much as “hidden fat” which invariably leads to the insidious piling of fat in our bodies, ultimately sending us along a dangerous pathway where looms heart disease, cancer and all those silent killers.
However, fat should not be cut out completely from our diets, the Sunday Times learns as it is essential to create the energy we need to be active. Around 20-30% of the energy should be from fat, stresses Dr. Jayatissa, explaining that it is important for many functions of the body. Cells and organs including the brain cannot function without it. While Vitamins A. D, E and K cannot be absorbed into our bodies without fat, when added to food, fat also helps improve palatability.
Essential fatty acids cannot be made inside our body on their own and have to be from the food we eat, it is understood, and as always too much or too little is not the answer.
The right balance is vital, says this nutritionist.
Our ancestors, without any scientific knowledge instinctively knew the right mix, according to Dr. Jayatissa. “Traditionally we did have a vitamin-rich diet – dark leafy green vegetables were made into mallung with a mix of scraped coconut. The coconut added that vital fat content. In Sri Lanka, coconut is a major fat source fulfilling the requirements of energy we need.”
But regrettably not only the patterns and levels of fat consumption have changed but also our lifestyle. Where once we were very active now we are sedentary, she says.
Pointing out that the broad term “fat” means both “saturated” and “unsaturated”, Dr. Jayatissa says that unsaturated fat can be further grouped as “monounsaturated” and “polyunsaturated”.
Here comes the quagmire we should avoid -- 1/3rd of our total fat intake should be from saturated fats and 2/3rds from unsaturated with even the latter being more from monounsaturated fats. This is the open secret for a “balanced” diet and a healthy way of life, according
to Dr. Jayatissa, for the more saturated fats we eat, the higher the danger of heart disease and cancer. The sentinels against this are unsaturated fats which bring about a protective quality against all these diseases.
The visible fats in our diets are obvious, the Sunday Times learns and come as coconut, coconut milk, oil used for frying, spreads such as butter and margarine and animal fat such as that found in chicken skin. These usually contribute to our bodies’ requirement of fat.
The daily dose of all fats needed for a sedentary man is 13-19 teaspoons and for a sedentary woman 11-16 teaspoons, points out Dr. Jayatissa, explaining that the saturated fat content should be 4-6 teaspoons for a sedentary man and 2½-5 teaspoons for a sedentary woman.
The problem lies with the “hidden” fats that we take, she says, challenging people to make a note of what they eat. We don’t realize that most food items we pop into our mouths contain fat. So with our sedentary lifestyle, these hidden fats make the kilos pile on.
Let’s look at what we are eating and how much hidden fat they contain:
- 1 cup of fried rice – 4-5 teaspoons of fat
- 1 cup of macaroni and cheese – 3 teaspoons
- 1 donut – 3 teaspoons
- 10 French fries – 1 teaspoon
- 1 fried chicken drumstick – 4 teaspoons
- 2 small pieces of fried fish – 3 teaspoons
- 1 fried egg – 1½ teaspoons
- 50gm chocolate bar – 3½ teaspoons
- 6 chicken nuggets – 4 teaspoons
- 1 fish burger with tartar sauce – 4 teaspoons
- 1 cup of full cream milk – 1 1/3 teaspoon
- 2 chicken wings – 2½ - 3 teaspoons
- 1 strip of bacon – ¾ teaspoon
- 1 teaspoon of butter or margarine (a thin spread) – 1 teaspoon
- 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise – 1 teaspoon
- 1 puff pastry – 4 teaspoons
- 1 sausage roll – 2 teaspoons
The shocker should send all of us reeling – for every extra teaspoon of fat, more than the daily requirement, you will gain 1.5 kilos per year and within five years you will be overweight, reveals Dr. Jayatissa.
So, next time there is a choice, eat plain rice instead of fried rice and a boiled egg rather than a fried one……..a simple sacrifice that will save your life. |
E-mail
