Fat Facts Can Make You Lean

Author: Jody Cross

America is fat and getting fatter every year. What can we, as consumers, do to reverse the trend? Learn to make more informed, better decisions about the foods we eat. So often we find ourselves low on energy and pushed for time at the end of a busy workday. It's no wonder that the endless array of delectable meals available from the frozen food section of the local supermarket solves our dinner crises all too often. The problem is many of these meals are loaded with fat.

Nutritionists generally agree that no more than 30% of our daily calories should come from fat. But how many calories is that? First you'll need to know your ideal weight. For women, a simple formula to figure this with is 100 pounds for 5 feet, adding or subtracting 5 pounds for every inch above (or below) 5 feet. Next you'll want to know how many calories a day to eat to maintain that weight. Here's how: Multiply your ideal weight by a number between 11 and 18 taken from the chart below.

Women's Calorie to Weight Ratio

• 11 - Sedentary, doesn't exercise
• 13 - Exercises regularly two to three times a week
• 15 - Exercises regularly four to five times a week
• 18 - Exercises regularly six or more times a week

This is the total number of calories needed a day to maintain your ideal weight. Here's an example:

A woman is 5 foot, 5 inches tall. Her ideal weight is 125 pounds (100 pounds for 5 feet and an additional 25 pounds for the 5 inches she is over 5 feet). Her recommended daily calorie allowance to maintain this ideal weight is 125 X 11, since she gets little exercise, thus 1,375 calories a day. Because it's recommended that no more than 30% of these calories come from fat, in this example 413 calories a day would ideally come from fat.

Let's go shopping. It's simple enough to make good choices you say, because the total calories per serving and also the number of calories that come from fat are listed on the back of each product. Unfortunately, what the back of the box does not tell you is what percentage of those total calories actually come from fat. By learning how to calculate the percentage of fat in a product, we can make healthier choices.

Here's an example: Suppose you decide to have hot dogs for dinner. They are fast and easy. A Ball Park Beef Frank has only 180 calories. That doesn't sound bad. But did you realize that 83% of those calories come from fat? What about a 7 ounce Swanson Beef Pot Pie at 390 calories? Fifty one percent of its 390 calories come from fat. Choices with fewer calories from fat could be; for example, a cup of Pasta Prima Spinach & Mozzarella Ravioli with only 200 total calories and only 22% of those calories coming from fat.

Another low fat choice could be a Milton's Beef Tri-Tip Sandwich at 310 total calories and only 26% of those calories coming from fat. Good choices and combinations are as endless as your grocer's frozen food section once you learn how to compute calories from fat.

The percentage of fat in any frozen food can be figured using the information on the back of the package. The list on the package will contain Total Calories and Calories from Fat. To find the percentage of fat divide the calories from fat by the total calories. For example, take the Corn Dog's 90 calories from fat and divide it by the dog's total calories of 220. The number you come up with - reading from the decimal point - is .4090. Absolutely use a calculator. Now move the decimal point two places to the right - so it's between the first 0 and the 9. That gives you 40.9 which equals 40% or 41% if you want to round up. That is the percentage of fat in the product. Armed with your calculator and your new skills you can make healthier choices for you and your family while shopping.