We have all heard that it is best to eat a low fat diet, but what does that mean. One avocado contains 27 grams of fat! That as much fat as is in 9 ounces of fudge! Does that mean we should not eat avocados? That they belong in the same category as fried snack foods and candy?

There is more to the story on fats then just simply counting fat grams. The difference between the fudge and the avocado is that the fudge has 18.9 grams of saturated fat out of a total fat content of 27 grams and the avocado has only 3 grams of saturated fat and 14 grams of monounsaturated fat out of a total fat content of 27 grams.

While all fats have 9 calories per gram, they vary in how much cholesterol they stimulate your body to produce. It is this ratio of monounsaturated fats to saturated fats that probably causes heart disease. People from Mediterranean countries eat a diet high in fat but have a much lower risk of heart disease than the average American. This is because while their diets are high in fats they are also rich in monounsaturated fats like olive oil.

There are four kinds of fats.

• Saturated fats - bad fats. This fat increases your body's production of cholesterol and has been implicated as a risk factor for heart disease and stroke.
• Trans fatty acids and hydrogenated fats - very bad fats. Hydrogenated fats are man-made fats that used to keep liquid oils from separating from foods at room temperature and to make liquid oils solid at room temperature. They include things like commercial peanut butters and margarine. Trans fatty acids are created when oils are heated (for cooking only peanut oil and olive oil will not turn into trans fatty acids). Trans fatty acids and hydrogenated oils also stimulate your body to produce cholesterol.
• Monounsaturated fats - good fats. Monounsaturated fats carry fatty deposits in the blood stream to the liver for storage. These fats actually lower your blood cholesterol levels.
• Polyunsaturated fats - in between fats. Have some aspects of good fats and some aspects of bad fats.

From the above list you can clearly see how the 14grams of monounsaturated fats makes the avocado a healthy choice while the almost 19grams of saturated fats makes the fudge an unhealthy choice, not to mention the fact that the avocado is full of vitamins and minerals of which there are almost none in the fudge.

The American Heart Association recommends that Americans get

• No more than 30% of daily calories comes from fat
• 8-10% of daily calories from saturated fats
• up to 10% of daily calories from polyunsaturated fats
• up to 15% of daily calories from monounsaturated fats
• 55-60% of daily calories from complex carbohydrates

Some ways you can lower you fat intake:

• Sauté vegetables in water, soup stock or wine rather than oil.
• Use non-stick cookware. Paint oil on to a non-stick pan with a pastry brush.
• You will use much less oil and the food will still sauté great.
• Use low fat versions of favorite foods.
• Grill foods instead of frying.
• Use 2 egg whites to replace 1 whole egg.
• Use a smaller amount of sharp cheese to replace a larger amount of mild cheese.
• Use ground turkey instead of ground beef.
• Use yogurt instead of sour cream and yogurt cheese instead of cream cheese
• Replace mayonnaise in cakes with applesauce.

To lower salt and fat intake further do not use bouillon cubes or commercially prepared soup stocks. Follow this simple plan.

Keep a plastic storage container in your fridge. Save all of your vegetable scraps in there - celery tops, onion skins, tomato scraps, lettuce steams, broccoli stalks, carrot peelings etc. Do not use eggplant though, it will make the stock bitter. Once a week or so put all of the vegetable scraps into a pot and fill with water. Boil them for two or three hours. Cool and strain. Now you have several cups of soup stock. Keep it in the fridge or freezer.

Sue Long has been a vegetarian for more than 10 years. Her interest in nutrition started when she was in nursing school.