HEALTHY FOOD CHOICES MONOSATURATED FATS

MICHELLE COOPER: Next, we're going to talk about monounsaturated fats. When you hear the word fat, you think about bad. Of course, fats should not compromise more than 30% of the calories from our diet; however, of the fat that we do choose, we should look to choose monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat. Monounsaturated fat can actually lower your levels of LDL or the bad cholesterol while raising the levels of HDL or your good cholesterol. Some good sources of monounsaturated fat come from avocado. Avocado contains some fat and that fat being monounsaturated. Peanuts or peanut oil is another good source of a monounsaturated fat. Olive oil would be another good source to cook with or the fat that you find in olives, the fat that you find in peanuts, the fats that you find in peanut butter. So when limiting your dietary fat intake to 30% of calories or less, make sure that you choose good fats from monounsaturated sources or polyunsaturated sources. The monounsaturated fats being avocados or avocado oil, peanuts, peanut butter or peanut oil, and olives or olive oil.