Why is the topic of fat so confusing? DL's editor-in-chief and registered dietitian, Jessie Shafer, helps us break down the fat conversation.
Why is the topic of fat so confusing? DL's editor-in-chief and registered dietitian, Jessie Shafer, helps us break down the fat conversation.
As a registered dietitian-nutritionist, I often get asked about fat. What are the best types of fats to eat? What fats should I avoid? Should I drink and eat nonfat or whole milk and yogurt? Should I use butter or oil or margarine or WHAT?
And, as a journalist, I often cringe when it comes to articles that cite nutrition advice about fat. Why? Because I spot a lot of big, fat, bad reporting.
The fat issue is busting at the seams with complication. And fat—as a matter of dietary intake—is different for everyone. Fat requirements differ, too. As such, most advice about nutrition should be tailored to individuals based on lifestyle, access, preferences, family history, conditions and more.
Yet I still see journalists, publicists and nutritionists (those with real nutrition training, those with zero nutrition education, and those with nothing more than an Instagram account and an idea of what has “worked” for them) freely passing out prescriptive-style nutrition advice about fat (and more) as if it’s a one-size-fits-all model.
Let’s dissect the current conversation about fat.
The latest word on the street
If you’ve been listening—or if you’re at all confused—it’s probably because you’ve heard something like this:
“For years, experts told us that eating fat is bad for our health. Who remembers the low-fat era of the American '80s and '90s? We stuffed our grocery carts with Snackwell’s cookies and cakes, light yogurt, fat-free pudding snacks, cartons of egg whites and margarine. Well, as it turns out, eating fat-free wasn’t all that good for our health. With more fat-free products than ever, Americans just got fatter. We’re still experiencing cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes at epidemic rates.”
Sound familiar? It should. Sound convincing? Perhaps. Do you spot the bad reporting?
I hope so.
My issue with the above conversation is not the bit about the prevalence of low-fat products in those decades. They absolutely proliferated. For the first time ever, you could buy reduced-fat Oreos. You probably had no less than 10 options in fat-free yogurts. Some people even started making dips and sauces with fat-free mayo and nonfat sour cream and spreading reduced-fat peanut butter on their toast (even though it was higher in sugar, salt and carbohydrates than the regular ol’ PB). Lower-in-fat chicken breasts were the protein du jour (still are for many) and cheese, poor cheese, was even made to be fat-free (usually resulting in a higher-sodium product). You might even remember snacking on fat-free rice cakes.
But the problem with the above conversation is this: Even though low-fat products were around and more available than ever, there is no actual proof that Americans were eating less fat in the '80s or '90s. In fact, we’ve never had a problem with under-consumption of fat (the average total fat intake for American men and women in 2014 was right around 33% of total calorie intake and hasn’t budged from there in years, according to the CDC/NCHS National Health Interview Survey).
Additionally, due to the make up of a lot of those new low-fat products, there is anecdotal evidence that even if someone was eating less fat (I emphasize someone so as not to speak of the American public in sweeping generalizations), that same someone was now taking in more carbohydrates, sugar, salt and fillers, simply because that is how low-fat processed foods were—and are—being manufactured, in order to maintain an acceptable taste. In the end, those products may have contained 2, 5 or even 10 less grams of fat per serving than the regular product, but most had just a marginal difference in calories.
Know your fats
What else is wrong with the current cultural conversation?
It’s the way we talk about fat. We have a history of lumping all types of fat together in a pile.
Marion Nestle, chair of New York University’s Department of Nutrition, says this about the low-fat mantra (note: fat in general) in an interview with PBS: “In the late 1980s, there were two major reports that came out, identifying dietary fat as the single most important change that needed to be made in order to improve diet and health. The idea was to reduce saturated fat, but the assumption was that it was too complicated to explain all that, and that if people just reduced their fat content, the fat content of their diet, they would be improving it.”
Gradually, over the last 30 years, public health groups such as the American Heart Association have revised their messaging, moving away from recommending a lower fat intake in general and toward a focus on the types of fats in our foods and diet as a whole. Due to this, most people now know that the majority of the fat in nuts, seeds and avocados (for example) is of the “better-for-you” type and that the majority of the fat in red meat, butter and ice cream is of the “worse-for-you” type.
Revamped dietary guidelines on fat
The just-released eighth edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015-2020 includes these points about fat: an encouragement for people to opt toward fat-free or low-fat dairy; an encouragement for people to choose oils from plants and foods that are natural sources of oils, such as nuts, seeds, seafood, olives and avocados; and an encouragement for people to limit foods that are high in saturated and trans fat, such as butter, whole milk, and meats that aren’t labeled as lean. Some would say that, still, these guidelines don’t emphasize enough the importance of eating healthful fats, such as oils from plants and foods that naturally contain plant oils.
In a recent Time article, Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, Dean of the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition and Science Policy, and his colleagues were cited saying that “eating too little vegetable oils contributes to more heart-related deaths than eating saturated fats. In fact, only 3.6% of global heart deaths can be attributed to eating too much saturated fat, while just over 10% of heart deaths can be traced to eating too little plant oils.” Still, keep in mind that it would be incredibly hard to attribute a death to saturated fat intake (or any food intake) as it requires accurate data of dietary intake. And, who, can I ask, accurately and completely tracks their full dietary intake for any meaningful length of time? [Side note: I actually did do this by photographing and blogging about my entire food intake for one full year, but this was an extreme case that I have not heard matched in any way. And I can tell you from experience that it was the most grueling and stubborn thing I’ve ever done in my life.]
So, are you still just as confused about fat as ever? Do you wonder what you should eat?
In terms of fat intake, I can tell you what I eat (because I’m an open book when it comes to food). But I’m hesitant to, only because I refer back to paragraph three above: Fat requirements differ. And, as such, most advice about nutrition should differ and be tailored to individuals based on lifestyle, access, preferences, family history, conditions and more.
So I offer this to you with the caveat that you must examine your own life before you make any choices about changing your fat intake.
Getting transparent: My dietary fat habits
I drink mostly nonfat milk, but also some 1% and 2% milk. When it comes to chocolate milk (when my hubby begs for it) and egg nog (during the holidays), those are splurges and I always go full fat. I eat a lot of fish, more than most in my closest circle of friends; I’ll often (once a week) pick up 4- to 6-ounces of sushi-grade salmon for dinner on my way home from work. I sometimes use 2% milkfat Cheddar cheese and part-skim mozzarella cheese (in a casserole, for example), but I’ll always buy full-fat cheese for a cheese plate and top salads and pasta with full-fat feta and Parmesan (because they taste good). I snack on all types of nuts and I buy lean cuts of meat.
When my husband and I splurge on the occasional red-meat dinner, I always opt for the lean(erish) filet mignon. When it comes to fatty meats, such as bacon or pork sausage, as examples, I’ve never really craved those foods. Which is not to say that I never eat them. I eat them at an average of probably once a month, and only if the bacon is super crispy. As for yogurt, I try them all, but more often, I choose full-fat versions (I eat an average of two small cartons of yogurt a week). I mostly cook with olive oil or avocado oil, and less occasionally with coconut oil, but I do have those recipes where a tablespoon of butter is the only way to make them as good as I expect. If I toast a bagel or English muffin for breakfast, I top it with butter. If I make air-popped popcorn, I top it with a moderate (not insignificant yet not drowning) amount of melted butter. And I can’t escape the grocery store without adding two to three avocados to my cart that make their way into many meals each week. Ice cream is a summer treat. Dark chocolate? I eat a few squares every week.
The takeaway: Know thyself
So, am I following the recommendations of the dietary guidelines? Mostly yes. Do I view them as a prescription on my personal fat intake? I do not. Note the instances above where butter is important to me or where a full-fat version of dairy is my top choice. Now, couple that with the fact that I know myself far better than anyone who writes guidelines ever will. I know how often I work out, I know my family history, I know what I can afford and what will get eaten in my home, and I, more than anyone, know what I like.
In conclusion, I would say this about fat: Let’s all stop being confused. By now we know which sources of fat are the more healthful choices (nuts, seeds, plant oils, olives, avocados, fish). Secondly, embrace your individuality. If spreading butter or full-fat nut butter on a slice of toast or cracker is what makes you happy, then by all means, spread on. And finally, when it comes to guidelines, don’t view them as dogma. Note the use of the words, such as emphasize and limit, and don’t replace them in your head with words like always or never.
What's your attitude toward fat in your diet?
