2. Nutrition Facts - The Omegas

Omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids seem to be all over the media these days. Some days we hear that they are super good for us and the next they say they are not quite sure. Well, omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids are a type of polyunsaturated fat and are very important because our bodies need them but cannot make them. Thus, we need to get them from our diet.

Omega 3 fatty acids serve the important function of decreasing blood clotting and blood pressure. On the other hand, omega 6 fatty acids play the exact opposite role: increase blood clotting and blood pressure. This makes omega 6 fatty acids look bad, but they are still very important. Imagine you get a simple paper cut, if your blood is not capable of clotting, you would most likely bleed to death. We obvously don't want that to happen. Thus, blood clotting is very important and omega 6 fatty acids make it happen. However, you don’t want your blood to clot too easily either since we know that clots are what cause heart attacks. You want a nice balance of omega 3 fatty acids and omega 6 fatty acids. Thus, it is recommended that you have a 4 to 10g of omega 6 fatty acids for every gram of omega 3 fatty acids. There are also set recommendations that reflect this recommended ratio: the optimal intake of omega 3 is 1.1g for women and 1.6g for men (this translates to about 2 to 3 servings of fish per week). As for omega 6 fatty acids, the optimal intake is set at 4 to 10 grams a day. Remember that the ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 is still very important.

Omega 3 fatty acids have been widely advertised in the media lately – especially in the form of fish oil. DHA (a type of omega 3) has also made the news due to the critical role it plays in the development of the nervous system and maturation of visual acuity. As you can see, omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids are very important so why don’t we have a bit more than what is recommended to enjoy even more of their benefits? I used to think that as long as you followed the recommended ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 fatty acids, it was ok to have more than the recommended grams. In fact, I thought: "the more, the better since these omega fatty acids seem to be almost miraculous in preventing heart disease". However, this changed when I came across these warnings:

1. Omega-3 fatty acids should be used cautiously by people who bruise easily, have a bleeding disorder, or take blood-thinning medications because excessive amounts of omega-3 fatty acids may lead to bleeding
2. Three grams of omega-3 fatty acids per day (equivalent to 3 servings of fish per day) increase the risk for hemorrhagic stroke

So, don’t get carried away with those omega 3 fatty acids. As they say: everything’s good in moderation. After all, you don’t need a lot of omega 3 or 6 to get the benefits.

A last piece of info I found quite interesting is that they are testing the possibility of treating depression with omega 3 fatty acids. This idea emerged after it was reported that “seriously depressed patients had lower omega-3 blood levels compared with healthy controls and mildly depressed patients”. But the data is still controversial, though. I guess, we will just have to wait and see what happens.

Low Fat Cooking

I was looking through the comments you have been leaving in some of my previous post and came across this very interesting one concerning fat-free broths. So, I thought that it might be a good idea to address the subject in a bit more detail. As a matter of fact, I want to share with you all a few other tricks to help you lower the fat content of your meals. Fat is a very important macronutrient in our diets, but it does contain a lot of calories. Just so you know, one gram of fat has 9 calories! Compared to carbohydrates and proteins that only have around 4 calories per gram, fat has relatively a lot of calories. This is why, when losing weight, we want to limit our fat intake quite a bit since we are only allowed so many calories a day. A way of reducing fat intake is to cook with less fat, of course. Here are some tricks you can use in the kitchen:

1. Use low-fat sour cream or yogurt instead of regular sour cream
2. Chose cheeses that are lower in fat or fat-free. Use low-fat cream cheese instead of mascarpone (You’d be surprised at just how many calories mascarpone has)
3. Use evaporated milk instead of cream and choose milk that is lower in fat (skim or 1%)
4. Choose lower fat or leaner cuts of meat
5. Food may be steamed in a steam basket or inside a foil or parchment package avoiding the need for added fat to prevent sticking
6. Sauteeing can be done in a non-stick saucepan with a bit of oil or using broth instead
7. Baking, broiling and grilling do not require additional fat
8. Allow for fat to drip away from food
9. Fat can be removed from broths by refrigerating them and then removing the gelatinized fat on top. You can also use a gravy strainer (see picture) to get the broth at the bottom without getting the fat at the top and, consequently, getting a low-fat broth. If you want a fat-free broth, make sure to remove all the fat on top as well as the tiny chunks that may accumulate at the bottom. 
10. When baking, butter can be replaced by 65% of its volume as fruit puree. For example, if the recipe is calling for 100 grams of butter, you could use 65 grams of applesauce to replace those 100 grams of butter. However, try to keep some of the butter as part of the recipe so that your baked good does not end up too soggy. 
11. Non-stick utensils will remove the need to add fat to prevent sticking
12. Use spray-on oils when possible
13. When having eggs, have one whole egg and one egg white instead of two whole eggs
14. If you use oil in cooking, measure it. When you measure it, you are more aware of how much oil you’re actually using and this makes you unconsciously use less.

You can reduce the fat content of you meals by a great deal just by following these recommendations. Hope you find them helpful. And, keep those comments coming. I truly enjoy reading them.