Hi--

I'm curious... I read a lot about saturated fat preventing people from losing weight. For instance, I don't eat red meat. I eat poultry & fish, etc.

One thing I like to buy for breakfast is Shelton's organic turkey sausage patties that have 4 grams of saturated fat per patty (I tend to put 2 of the patties in an egg white omelet since they're quite small after I thaw them out in the microwave for a little bit).

I don't eat any other saturated fat in my diet at all, except for plain avocado and olive oil (by serving size in my calorie king book or back of the nutritional label, etc).

I follow a diet close to the Mediterranean Diet and I'm a bit confused about foods that are considered "good fats" but have small amounts of saturated fats per serving (examples above: avocados, olive oil, etc).

They all have small amounts of saturated fat in them.

Q1: how is it that some healthy fats with saturated fat (i.e. olive oil & avocado) are considered fine to keep losing weight but turkey sausage patties (it's not red meat, but it's still a form of meat) supposedly would prevent me from losing weight if eaten on a daily/weekly basis?

Q2: How much saturated fats (really, grams of saturated fat) can one eat on a daily/weekly basis that come from foods like olive oil, avocado, turkey sausage patties, etc? (In general and for weight loss?)

thanks!

~ tea

I can only answer from the personal/anecdotal evidence of my own experience and those around me:

1. As a vegan, I eat plenty of EVOO, nuts, and avocado every week, with absolutely no affect on weight loss. I eat EVOO daily and avocado probably upwards of 4 times a week. I have had no problems losing weight.

2. My mother does Atkins and eats a good amount of bacon, red meats, and cheese every week and has no problem losing weight either.

It might help you to understand what the difference between a saturated fat and an unsaturated fat is. Fats are "lipids", chemically speaking - a hydrocarbon. When a lipid has many of its carbon bonds filled with hydroden, it is said to be "saturated". When a lipid has many C=C double bonds, then there can be fewer C-H bonds - hence "unsaturated". Saturated fats are more solid at room temperature like the white fat of bacon. Unsaturated lipids are usually liquid at room temperature like you find in olive oil. Too many saturated fats can lead to health problems like thrombosis and heart disease in many people. It is probably a healthy idea to limit the amount of saturated fats in our diets.

As far at dieting is concerned, there are equal amounts of calories in all lipids, saturated and unsaturated. Lipids have twice the available calories as proteins or carbohydrates. You can quickly reach your daily caloric requirement if you consume too may fats or oils. However, we need some lipid our diets to be healthy. It is a good idea to make the lipids we consume the healthy kind by eating salmon, olive oil, and the triglyceride lowering monosaturated oils found in nuts.

Q1: Like Samantha and Tyler were saying, there is good fat and bad fat. Your turkey sausage is a highly processed food and might have bad fat in it, but in small amounts. Something like an avocado is a natural fat. Even olive oil, which can be overly processed as well, is considered good fat as it comes from a fruit.You're talking about the differences between: saturated fats, monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats.

Q2: To me this is hard to really answer as everyone is different. Certainly a blood test would give you these answers. For me, I need good fat, badly as my levels were flagged as dangerously low, but my bad fat was great. For me I need things like avocados, nuts, olive oil for my body to increase the cholesterol level. I want the good levels increased, not the bad. I can eat fat every single day and I should to fuel my body, but I need to eat the good fats and not the bad ones. There is a difference between eating an avocado on a daily basis and say eating fries or cheese.

I noticed that I can eat things like chick peas, nuts, avocados, and olive oil on a daily basis and still loose weight. When I stall is when I start having the bad fats and carbs.

I don't think I'm answering either of your questions, but I would like to defend our hoofed farm animals.


In the book, "Eat This, Not That", it says that turkey products, like turkey bacon, (I would assume sausage too) is worse for you than regular bacon. To make it taste like pork, the manufactures add loads of salt. So while having the same calories as the pork products they contain much more sodium. IDK, I avoid all salty products to keep my water retention down. As far as red meat...Nebraska = corn fed beef + freezer full = Lori Bell eating beef 2-3 times a week = 172 pounds lost while doing so. Red meat has gotten a bad rap probably because of steak houses that serve 2 pound Porterhouse steaks with an inch wide rim of fat and a pat of butter on top. Lean beef is good for you in moderation. It has loads of iron and b vitamins, protein, calcium and potassium. With only around 55 calories an ounce it is very filling for not many calories. A nice sirloin with all visible fat removed grilled to perfection with a small baked potato and a salad is one of my favorite meals and I eat it at least once a week. I love cows!

I do mostly poultry and fish, every so often once a week lean beef for the spaghetti in place of turkey beef (that stuff can be so rubbery). The last couple of weeks on Fridays, my husband and I have sent the kids away for "date night" and we had steak and small potatoes with squash. It was only about 160 calories per 4oz serving and I didn't see any ill effects on my weight loss.

And Lori, has anyone ever told you that you look like Joanna Gleason? Editing to add that you do look younger than her, though. The resemblance is amazing! I've never seen before photos of you, but I can say that the after is beautiful.

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm381982720/nm0322306

Tea, I eat what some might consider a Mediterranean style diet, full of nuts (seriously, a ridiculous amount of nuts), olive oil, avocado, salmon and mackerel, along with a good amount of lean animal protein (and all the beans/grains/fruits/veggies that come with this way of eating). It has never stalled my weight loss in any way. There is a great deal of evidence that consuming a lot of saturated animal fat contributes to heart disease (though you'll sometimes see some folks around here deny that), but if you're eating a balanced diet you really have no reason to worry.

I was a vegetarian before changing my life in 2004 and avoided red meat, and I weighed 200 lbs. I started adding more meat to my diet to get more protein and I lost 70+ lbs. I don't think eating meat hindered my progress in any way.

I'm always curious how many studies invoking saturated fat separate vegan fats from animal fats. And pastured / wild meats from feedlot meats.