yet another newbie - New Member Introductions - Individuals

Moderated by: Peter

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Joined:	7 June 2009
Location:	Glos, United Kingdom
Posts:	5

morning one and all

my name is jean and im just testing the waters.it may take me a little while to find my way around the site but i will be back.

the 2 questions i would like to ask is how do you work out the fat% of the food you are eating?

how much fat% are you allowed at each meal.

any info would be gratefully reicieved.

thanks for taking the time to read this,good health to you all.

Nir
Senior Administrator

Joined:	17 January 2006
Location:	Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
Posts:	5741

The Low Fat Diet

The Three Macronutrients

Calories in Protein, Fat and Carbohydrates

Macronutrient Ratios

Obviously I'm recommending you read the tutorial, but the simple answer is:

(percentage of calories from fat) = (total grams of fat) x 900 / (total calories)

Are you actually following a particular low-fat diet already and your question is about it?

I tend to eat according to the Eat To Live guidelines so fat intake tends to be less than 10% of calories, unless I'm eating more nuts and seeds in which case I can end up with a much higher figure (say 30%)

spottitchsam
New Member

Joined:	7 June 2009
Location:	Glos, United Kingdom
Posts:	5

nir thanks for your reply."the low fat diet"is that a diet book with the same title.im sorry but still confused about the % of fat in each item of food.

:confused:

jean

Nir
Senior Administrator

Joined:	17 January 2006
Location:	Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
Posts:	5741

semi-skimmed milk can be a good example:

100g of milk contains 2g of fat. So by weight it looks like it is 2.0% fat.
But hold on, 100g of milk have 49 calories.

Looking at a 100g sample of milk in more detail:

Total calories from fat = 2 x 9 = 18 (because each gram of fat is 9 calories)
Total calories in sample is 49
So proportion of calories coming from fat = 18/49 = 0.367
To express as a percentage multiply by 100. 0.367 x 100 = 36.7%

So 36.7% of the calories in semi-skimmed milk are from fat - it is not a low-fat option!

To use my formula from above (total grams of fat) x 900 / (total calories) we just "plug in" the numbers and get the result in one step:

2 x 900 / 49 = 36.7

Any clearer?

ps don't be afraid of green vegetables like broccoli, they might surprise you with their fat content but that's not the foods you need to avoid on a low fat diet. Basically if you stick with plant choices like vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole-grains you can hardly go wrong.

spottitchsam
New Member

Joined:	7 June 2009
Location:	Glos, United Kingdom
Posts:	5

nir

sorry completely confused now :confused:

but thanks for trying