Saturated Fat vs Sugar in Products

veron01

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Morning all.

I am in the process of trying to cut out or cut down on some items that I eat. Take for ex. Mayo / Cheese / Bread and so on.

However, you know when the alternative products are lower saturated fat but the sugar content may be higher, I am wondering which is the worst one for you?

i.e. go with the lower saturated fat version or go with the product with the lower sugar content. Are they both as bad as each other and it's only a matter of picking the less of two evils? I want to make an informed choice when I am picking them up in the supermarket.


Any help appreciated. Thank you.

EileenG

Saturated fat is not bad for you!

It has been given an unfair rap, as it was frequently lumped in with transfats when they were doing studies, so it was getting the blame for problems caused by the transfats, the ones that really will clog your arteries and cause heart problems.

In populations where high levels of sat fats are eaten, but no transfats or refined carbs, there is very low levels of heart disease. Things like eggs and meat and cheese are good for you.

They do contain significant amounts of calories, and if you are trying to lose weight, you have to allow for that, but they are not unhealthy.

They increase testosterone levels in men, bone density in women and keep your immune system happy.

Sugar, however, has a much more limited place in a good diet, and definitely is not a good trade-off for saturated fat.

However, the sort of product where saturated fat could be replaced by sugar is probably not a healthy choice anyway. I assume you are thinking about biscuits, crisps, ready meals? Those are not good food choices.

Try to eat fresh whole foods, then the issue doesn't arise. If that's not possible, for the food that has the shortest list of ingredients and the least processing.

veron01

Thanks EileenG for that great info.

I am good at eating meat and loads of veg.

But you know when it comes to mayo / ketchup / yogurts I was trying to decipher the labels and was not sure which one would be worse.

Just trying to learn more about label reading as TBH most of it goes over my head.

rubadub

In WW they target sat fats and penalise them in the points system. I have said before
600kcal of dessicated coconut is 21.5 WW points
600kcal of white sugar is 8.5 WW points

Over 2.5 times the points but the same calories, this is due to the sat fat content of the coconut. But I reckon the 8.5pts of sugar would make you fatter than 21.5pts of coconut.

If WW was developed today I wonder how they would do their points system. If it was me I would have the opposite logic in my formula, foods high in simple sugars would be penalised, fats would not come into it (thats if I had to have the same basic forumla only looking at calories and grams of "something").

The topic of sat fat came up a while ago with some debate for & against.
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055485493

EileenG

You can make awesome salad dressing with apple cider vinegar and extra virgin olive oil to use instead of mayo.

For yogurts, I'd go for the natural ones, where the ingredients are milk and culture. No added sugar/sweetener, thickeners or other weird ingredients.

El_Dangeroso

Make your own mayo, it's ridiculously easy and ten times tastier! I really think that Hellman's keep this fact a secret so they can keep selling soybean oil mixed with chemicals and sugar as poor excuse for mayonnaise and people think that it's 'real'

1 cup mild and light olive oil
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp powdered mustard
1tbsp white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar or lemon juice

Put the egg yolks and vinegar and mustard powder in the bottom of a stick blender container. Put the stick blender in the mixture but don't turn it on yet.

With the stick blender in the mixture pour the oil on top around it. The oil should sit on top of the eggs.

Turn on the blender and blitz the bottom for about 5-10 seconds, then gently move the blender slowly up incorporating more and more oil as you go, try and go slowly.

Voila, the best mayo you will ever taste and completely natural!

You can also add various things like garlic to make aioli or paprika for egg mayonnaise. It should last for a week if stored correctly in the fridge.