Saturated fats are called “saturated” because of their chemical structure. All fats are made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen molecules. Saturated fats are saturated with hydrogen atoms. They have the largest number of hydrogen atoms possible and have no double bonds in their chemical structure
Unsaturated fats are usually liquid at room temperature. They differ from saturated fats in that their chemical structure contains one or more double bonds.
The fats we find in food are a mixture of both saturated and unsaturated fats. In general, saturated fats are the main component of fats that are solid at room temperature, while unsaturated fats are found in fats or oils that are liquid at room temperature. While no food contains only saturated or unsaturated fats, some foods such as fatty meats, butter, and coconut oil are high in saturated fats. So when we talk about reducing saturated fat, we really mean eating less of these foods and replacing them with foods that are higher in unsaturated fat, such as many vegetable oils, fish, and nuts.
Foods that are high in saturated fat include:
- Animal meats, including beef, poultry, and pork
- Certain vegetable oils, such as palm kernel oil or coconut oil
- Dairy products, including cheese, butter, milk, cream, sour cream, and cream cheese
- Processed meats, including bologna, sausages, hot dogs, and bacon
- Prepackaged snacks and desserts, including crackers, chips, cookies, and cakes
As such, it is important to be especially careful when choosing these foods.
Here are some helpful tips to help you reduce your saturated fat intake:
- Choose lean cuts of meat and trim off any visible fat; skinless poultry.
- Boil, grill or roast meat instead of frying.
- Limit high-fat foods such as cakes, pastries and ice cream.
- Choose vegetable oils and margarines rich in unsaturated fats, such as sunflower, canola and olive oil, rather than oils high in saturated fats such as butter, lard and coconut oil.
- Replace meats high in saturated fats (especially from ruminants such as beef and lamb) with foods high in unsaturated fats such as fish, nuts and seeds.
