Fat 411

Get the Fat 411: Knowing Your Fats: American Heart Association - heart.org.

Saturated fat is what causes high cholesterol. Not only that, but if you've got IBS, these fats are a bitch to digest! STEP AWAY FROM THE "BAD FAT"!!! See my Delicate Guts page.

The bad guys: saturated fats - foods from animals like beef (& beef fat), lamb, pork, veal, poultry fat, eggs, butter, cream, milk, cheeses, and other dairy products made from whole and 2% milk and oils like coconut & palm. Trans fats - partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, commercial baked goods like crackers, cookies & cakes, fried foods, shortening & margarine.

The bottom line: Limit your fat intake!! If you're going to have fat in your diet, and we all need some, make it the "good" kinds, a.k.a. polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats & omega-3s, found in: cold-water fish like salmon, trout, herring; nuts like almonds & walnuts; seeds, olives, avocados, & oils from plants like soybean, safflower, canola, olive, peanut, flaxseed, & sunflower.

Note: All fats are triggers for IBS so be careful! For me, the "bad fats" are much more difficult to digest - more like impossible - but I have to be careful with "good fats" like nuts and oils especially. I'm usually ok with fish. I don't cook anything in oil. If I cook anything in a pan on top of the stove, it's with canola oil spray, never full-on oil. If I'm roasting vegetables in the oven, I use an olive oil mister so there's just a mist of oil coating instead of having the vegetables sit in an oil bath. View my Delicate Guts page.
(photo credit unknown: Elphaba & Glinda, Wicked the musical)