Want to know how much fat is really in your food? Find out by following these simple, fat-finder suggestions.
Food
labels are very useful because if you have the patience (and reading
glasses) to scrutinize them, you can tell how much fat you are eating
per serving. Checking serving sizes is important, of course.
Otherwise you can make the common mistake of eating an entire packaged
chocolate chip cookie in the happy belief that it contains only two
grams of fat and only after it is consumed realize that the cookie was
meant to serve seven.
Restaurant foods are a different matter. I
was reminded of this when I purchased a bran muffin at a coffee shop,
put it in a brown paper bag to take with me and discovered later that
the entire bag was saturated with fat leaking from the 'healthy
muffin.' I should have realized it was high in fat; my one nibble (the
rest went to the pigeons) was much better tasting than the rather dry,
low-fat bran muffins I make.
How does one tell whether foods that do not look as if they contain much fat are actually fat-filled?
Here are some simple rules that might help:
Assume
that cream soups contain cream, salad dressings are almost all oil,
mousses and soufflés are full of eggs, butter, cheese or chocolate, and
sauces are highly flavored mayonnaise, oils, butter, pan drippings or
melted cheese. These are the obvious culprits. Less obvious sources of
fat are baked goods that do not look fattening such as my muffin,
croissants, brioche, scones or biscuits. Even less obvious is fat added
to foods prepared ahead of time by restaurants. Mashed, boiled, roasted
or steamed potatoes, sauced pasta, rice and cooked vegetables are kept
looking and tasting fresh by saturating them with butter or oil, or
both. This is especially true of foods served at catered affairs when
last minute preparations are out of the question. Remember, if it
tastes too good to be non-fattening, it probably isn't.
Judith
Wurtman PhD is a Research Scientist at MIT, the founder and director of
Harvard University's TRIAD Weight Management Center and a co-founder of
Back Bay Scientific. Dr. Wurtman received her Ph.D. in cell biology
from MIT, took additional training as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow in
nutrition/obesity. She is currently co-director of ADARA Weight
Management Services. http://www.adaracenter.com
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