The Pilot News

Sat fat -- it’s hiding in foods you think are healthy

- BY MICHAEL ROIZEN, M.D., AND MEHMET OZ, M.D.

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.

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