Saturated fat

One of the aims of The Biggest Loser Club program is to help you improve your health by decreasing the amount of fat in your diet. The goal is to reduce your intake of saturated fat to no more than 10% of your daily calorie allowance. This won’t happen overnight – it may take many weeks to get your intake down to a healthy level, and that’s perfectly normal.

The average man should eat no more than 30g of saturated fat a day, while the average woman should not exceed 20g daily. However, most people in the UK currently eat 20% more saturated fat than the recommended maximum.

What is saturated fat?

Saturated fat is usually solid at room temperature and tends to come from animal foods. Eating too much can raise harmful LDL-cholesterol that can clog your arteries and raise blood pressure, which could lead to heart disease and stroke.

Too much saturated fat can also increase the risk of certain cancers including those of the bowel, prostate and breast. Your body can make its own saturated fat when it needs to so there is no harm in cutting down on this type of fat.

Click to enlarge photos

Dairy products

Meat and poultry

Fried foods

Desserts and pastries

Solid fats

Sources of saturated fat

You’ll find saturated fat in a variety of foods including:

• Dairy produce such as whole milk, cream, cheese, butter and ice cream.
• Meat and poultry – the white fat that you can see on red meats and underneath the skin of poultry is saturated fat.
• Chocolate, cakes and biscuits – sad, but true! The saturated fat in these foods comes either from dairy produce (milk, cream, butter) or certain vegetable fats.
• Desserts and pastries including pies, sausage rolls, croissants and danishes.
• Coconut and palm oil which are used by restaurants and takeaway outlets to deep-fry foods.
• Fried foods including chips, tempura, battered fish, spring rolls, curry puffs and similar foods.
• Snack foods such as crisps and savoury biscuits.
• Coconut and coconut milk or cream.
• Solid fats such as copha, ghee or hard margarine.

Tips to lower saturated fat intake

• Trim all visible fat from meat, poultry and deli cuts, such as ham, bacon and prosciutto.
• Choose the leanest cuts of meat and mince you can find – fatty meats may seem cheaper, but not by the time you’ve thrown the fat away.
• Go for low-fat dairy products. Swapping from regular yoghurt to diet yoghurt can reduce your saturated fat intake by 4g a serving.
• Instead of cakes, biscuits and savoury snacks, switch to fresh and dried fruits, seeds and nuts (remember to check the calories in each of your snacks in the diary, though).
• Avoid deep-fried foods and limit takeaway foods, such as pizza and hamburgers.
• Say no to chips – they’re loaded with saturated fat and typically more than double the calorie content of a meal.
• Avoid pies, pastries and creamy pasta dishes.
• Switch to mono-unsaturated fats, such as olive oil or rapeseed oil for cooking or salad dressings.
• Use reduced-fat spreads instead of butter.
• Poach, steam, grill, stir-fry or bake instead of frying foods.
• Eat more fish and legumes.

How to tell if packaged food is low in saturated fat

If you’re not sure whether certain packaged foods are good choices from a saturated fat perspective, check the nutrition information on the food label. If the product is:

• Low saturated fat it has 1.5g or less of saturated fat per 100g
• High saturated fat it has 5g or more of saturated fat per 100g

Also look out for the traffic light labelling on the front of pack. This provides nutritional information at a glance.

• Red = high saturated fat
• Amber = medium saturated fat
• Green = low saturated fat