WHO TO CUT DOWN ON SATURATED FAT AND SUGAR IN THE BODY

To stay healthy we need some fat in our diets. What is important is the kind of fat we are eating.
Cut down on saturated fat 11 There are two main types of fat – saturated and unsaturated.
Saturated fat
Having too much saturated fat can increase the amount of cholesterol in the blood, which increases the chance of developing heart disease. Unsaturated fat Having unsaturated fat instead of saturated fat can help lower blood cholesterol.
Try to cut down on food that is high in saturated fat and have foods that are rich in unsaturated fat instead, such as vegetable oils (including sunflower, rapeseed and olive oil), oily fish, avocados, nuts and seeds.
Foods high in saturated fat Try to eat these sorts of foods less often or in small amounts: • meat pies, sausages, meat with visible white fat
• hard cheese
• butter and lard
• pastry
• cakes and biscuits
• cream, soured cream and crème fraîche
• coconut oil, coconut cream and palm oil For a healthy choice, use just a small amount of vegetable oil or a reduced-fat spread instead of butter, lard or ghee. And when you are having meat, try to choose lean cuts and cut off any visible fat How do I know if a food is high in fat?
Look at the label to see how much fat a food contains.
Generally the label will say how many grams (g) of fat there are in 100g of the food.
Fat This is how you can tell if a food is high or low in fat: High is more than 20g fat per 100g Low is 3g fat or less per 100g If the amount of fat per 100g is in between these figures, then that is a medium level of fat.
Saturated fat
Some labels also give a figure for saturated fat, or ‘saturates’. This is how you can tell if a food is high or low in saturates: High is more than 5g saturates per 100g Low is 1.5g saturates or less per 100g If the amount of saturates per 100g is in between these figures, then that is a medium level of saturated fat.
Remember that the amount you eat of a particular food affects how much fat you will get from it. Most people in the UK are eating too much sugar. We should all be trying to eat fewer foods containing added sugars, such as sweets, cakes and biscuits, and drinking fewer sugary soft and fizzy drinks.
Cut down on sugar 13 Having sugary foods and drinks too often can cause tooth decay, especially if you have them between meals.
Many foods that contain added sugars can also be high in calories, so cutting down could help you control your weight. How do I know if a food is high in sugar? Look at the ‘Carbohydrates (of which sugars)’ figure on the label. High is more than 15g sugars per 100g Low is 5g sugars or less per 100g If the amount of sugars per 100g is in between these figures, then that is a medium level of sugars. This figure doesn’t tell you how much of the sugars are added sugars (which are the type we should try to cut down on), rather than sugars that are found naturally in some foods, such as fruit and milk.
But you can spot added sugars by looking at the ingredients list. It always starts with the biggest ingredient first. So if ‘sugar’ is near the top of the list, you know that the food is likely to be high in added sugars. Watch out for other words used to describe added sugars, such as sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose, hydrolysed starch, invert sugar, corn syrup and honey. Remember that the amount you eat of a particular food affects how much sugar you will get from it.