The new changes in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans are quite surprising, to say the least, especially regarding the amount of fat that we should take in on a daily base.
It seems that, according to government recommendations, there is no upper limit for the fat people should consume and high cholesterol is no longer a “nutrient of concern”. This means that certain foods containing high quantities of good fats can be eaten without remorse.
The low-fat diet has become a no-no long time ago and it was about time the general public got the official green light to adopt a healthy and balanced one.
Two decades ago, the general motto was low fat/no fat and anyone who wanted to lose weight would eliminate nuts, salmon, whole milk, cheese and natural yoghurt and egg yolk from their diet.
The craze is still reflected in the meals our children benefit from in the school cafeteria, where they cannot get whole milk but they can get skimmed milk with added sugars.
However, there have been studies proving that these diets are unhealthy in the long run.
According to a paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, fats are much better than the refined carbohydrates that are now part of the well-known low-fat diets.
Sugary products are extremely harmful to our bodies and may cause severe damage to our heart and brain, leading to various types of cancer, diabetes, strokes, heart disease and obesity.
Thus, it has been established that sugar is the number one enemy and not fat. The idea was that a person should not limit the quantity of good fat he or she consumes, because this can have very good benefits on the person’s health.
Therefore, the initial recommendation – that a person should not consume more than 35 percent calories coming from fat everyday is now history.
“Placing limits on total fat intake has no basis in science and leads to all sorts of wrong industry and consumer decisions. Modern evidence clearly shows that eating more foods rich in healthful fats like nuts, vegetable oils, and fish have protective effects, particularly for cardiovascular disease,” said one of the authors of the newly published article, Dariush Mozaffarian.
He also mentions that other foods that are rich in fat, such as milk and cheese, are neutral, while foods rich in carbohydrates such as potato chips and low-fat dressing are the worst alternatives to a healthy diet.
Image Source: thebeautybean
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