Sat fat -- it’s hiding in foods you think are healthy
While she’s training, tennis phenom Serena Williams refuses to eat red meat -- opting to use ground turkey in her taco treats. “I can’t live without ground turkey,” she’s declared. Seems Serena knows to avoid excess inflammatory, artery-clogging saturated fats. But is she -- and are you -- aware of saturated fat that shows up in unexpected places?
-- A large blueberry muffin (you think the berries make it virtuous) contains as much sat fat as a serving of meat lasagna!
-- That three-quarter cup of yogurt you enjoy? Five grams of saturated fat. The same amount of plain, nonfat Greek yogurt? Zero grams.
-- A cup of instant noodles can pack more saturated fat than a medium-size order of French fries. Ramen noodles have 7 grams of saturated fat per serving; Mcdonalds small French fries? Only 1.5 grams of saturated fat.
-- Hidden tropical oils like coconut and palm are in energy bars, baked goods, breads, margarine, pizza dough and, yes,
Impossible Burgers (8 grams of saturated fat in 4 ounces!). Palm oil has 7 grams of saturated fat in a tablespoon. Coconut oil has 12 grams and is about 90% saturated fat, which is a higher percentage than butter (64%), beef fat (40%) or lard (also 40%).
Now, you can’t and don’t want to avoid all saturated fat: You get 6 grams in a 7-ounce serving of hearthealthy, omega-3-rich salmon. And there are 2.2 grams in 4 ounces of ground turkey. For nonvegetarians, that’s the healthy way to get the 13 grams or less a day that’s recommended by the American Heart Association.