The average American diet contains 40 to 60 percent fat, which is far too much. There are many health consequences of too much dietary fat. Being overweight puts an additional strain on the heart and makes it harder for the heart to pump blood through the body. Animal fats contain cholesterol, a waxy chemical that is deposited in the arteries and may eventually clog them. This condition, called arteriosclerosis, is the main cause of death from heart disease.
One tablespoonful of polyunsaturated oil daily meets your nutritional needs. This provides all the essential fatty acid necessary to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins you require. Suzanne was consuming many times this amount. Fat is the most concentrated source of calories. Each gram of fat contains 2.4 times more calories than does a gram of protein or carbohydrate.
Each strip of bacon in Suzanne's breakfast had 48 calories, about 40 of them fat. Each link of sausage had nearly 250 calories, over 200 in the form of fat. A breakfast of meat, scrambled eggs, hash browns fried in butter, toast with butter and jam, orange juice, and the occasional sweet roll contains over 1,200 calories, more than half of them fat. In the first hours of the day, Suzanne consumed 75 percent of the calories needed to maintain her ideal body weight of 120 pounds, and half of those calories were fat.Ê A high percentage of the fat you eat is not readily apparent in such foods as processed meats, some cheeses, regular yogurt, nuts commercially prepared cakes and cookies, and even such fruits as avocado, coconut, and olives, which are more than 75 percent fat.
Fast foods are also very high in fat. A Kentucky Fried Chicken snack box, for example, contains over 400 calories, half of them fat. An Egg McMuffin (352 calories), a Filet-O-Fish (415 calories), or a Quarter Pounder with cheese (518 calories) from McDonald's all derive more than half their calories from fat. Try the hidden-fat test: put some cookies or a packaged muffin or a cupcake on a paper napkin for 20 minutes and see the ring of grease that forms.
Eric's favorite fast-food meal was two Big Macs, an order of fries, a large Coke, and a piece of cherry pie for dessert-nearly 1,600 calories, more than 700 of them as fat. A typical fast-food restaurant meal is also very high in sodium, or salt.
Eating a heavy, fat-laden meal before class can leave you drowsy during the lecture, and not because of boredom. Fat is harder to digest and therefore stays in the digestive tract longer, causing the body to divert the blood supply from the brain and making you sleepy. Suzanne drank black coffee with her heavy breakfast to help stay alert through her tough chemistry class. That class may have been tougher for her because of the preceding meal. Generally, it's not a good idea to eat a heavy meal right before an exam or an exercise session. Rely on complex carbohydrates to give you sustained energy during the day.