Rich desserts, nuts, creamy salad dressings, anything with cheese, peanut butter and high fat snacks such as chips. If you are counting fat grams, this translates to between 50 and 60 if you consume between 1200 to 1500 calories per day. Dietary fat is an essential nutrient needed for energy and healthy skin. Fat is needed to cushion organs, like the heart, and to keep our bodies warm. It carries vitamins A, D, E and K through the body and aides their absorption.
Food labels provide information in the list of ingredients and on the nutrition label.
Look for different kinds of fat in the ingredient list such as coconut oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil, butter, lard and beef tallow. These types of fat are mostly saturated. Saturated fats are usually solid at room temperature. They have been reported to raise blood cholesterol levels, which increase our risk for heart disease. Vegetable oil such as soybean, corn, safflower, canola and sunflower are mostly unsaturated.