Healthy Fat: What is it and How to Get it

Maybe you’ve heard about healthy fats. Like me, you were probably skeptical. I imagine myself standing in the grocery store, utterly confused by which foods were deceptively good for me and which would linger on my hips for the rest of my adult life.

According to Dr. Melina Jampolis, Physician Nutrition Specialist,”fat is essential for the absorption of the very important fat soluble vitamins including vitamins D, A, K and E that help protect your vision, keep your immune system functioning properly, and maintain bone health.” It also used to create hormones, line membrane of cells, and protect the nerves. Dr. Jampolis suggests that if you are trying to control your weight, you should try to measure out healthy fat servings.

Nuts, avocados, olive oil – these are all healthy fats that can be incorporated into your meals.

Dr. Jampolis even has a formula to help you calculate the number of fat grams you would need to eat to total 25 percent of your total calories:

2. Divide this number by 9

3. This equals your minimum total daily fat grams.

4. According to the dietary exchanges, a serving of fat contains 5 grams of fat so you can divide this number by 5 to calculate your daily servings of fat

For example, if you were eating 1200 calories per day: 1200 x .25 = 300 calories/9 = 33 g/5 = 6.5 servings of fat per day. Note that more than likely you get fat elsewhere in your diet (meat, cheese, packaged foods, dairy that is not fat free), so you should adjust your daily fat exchanges downward to account for the fat in other foods that you eat.