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 Balancing Calories And Optimizing
Fat: An Evolution In Thinking
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With two out of three of us officially overweight, it's not surprising that calorie
reduction has become something of a national pastime. But dietary care must be exercised.
For example, without adequate knowledge of the different types of fats and the role
they play in ensuring good health, we may cut out potentially healthful foods and
increase our risk of heart disease. For decades, the conventional wisdom has been
that low-fat diets are necessary for weight reduction and a lower risk of coronary
heart disease1. But that's starting to change, as studies have not been
able to confirm that low-fat diets alone can accomplish weight loss2
or sustain it for the long term3,4.
According to the 2005 USDA Dietary Guidelines report, we tend to favor foods that
are energy-rich, but nutrient-poor5. We need to select foods more wisely
to lower calories while still achieving the recommendation for polyunsaturated and
monounsaturated fats.
Going Beyond Olive Oil
For some time, the Mediterranean diet — known for being rich in olive oil
and high in monounsaturated fats — has been regarded as a nutritious and desirable
way to eat. But it's not just olive oil that deserves the nutritious oils and fats
spotlight. Canola, peanut, sunflower, and soybean oils also contain fats essential
to maintaining a nutritious diet. Many of these oils are in products that were once
considered less that healthy. Hellmann's®/Best Foods® mayonnaise products are a
great example. Made from oils like soybean and canola, Hellmann's®/Best Foods® products
can be part of a nutritious, balanced diet. Hellmann's®/Best Foods® Real Mayonnaise,
Canola Real Mayonnaise and Light Mayonnaise contain no trans fats per serving, contain
Omega 6 fatty acids, and are an excellent source of Omega 3 fatty acids.
Hellmann's®/Best Foods® Mayonnaise (known as Best Foods® West of the Rockies) is
made from three real and simple ingredients: eggs, vinegar and vegetable oil (soybean
and canola).
The chart below provides the nutritional information for Hellmann's®/Best Foods®
Real Mayonnaise, Hellmann's®/Best Foods® Canola Real Mayonnaise, and Hellmann's®/Best
Foods® Light Mayonnaise.
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1
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Connor WE, Connor SL: Should a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet be recommended for
everyone? The case for a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet. N Engl J Med 337:562-563;
discussion 566-567, 1997.
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2
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Sacks F: Dietary fat and coronary heart disease. J Cardiovasc Risk 1:3-8, 1994.
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3
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Kasim SE, Martino S, Kim PN, Khilani S, Boomer A, Depper J, Reading BA, Heilbrun
LK: Dietary and anthropometric determinants of plasma lipoproteins during a long-term
low-fat diet in healthy women. Am J Clin Nutr 57:146-153, 1993.
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4
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Foster GD, Wyatt HR, Hill JO, McGuckin BG, Mohammed BS, Szapary PO, Rader DJ, Edman
JS, Klein S: A randomized trial of a low-carbohydrate diet for obesity. N engl J
Med 348:2082-2090, 2003.
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5
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Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. US Dietary Guidelines for Americans, Published
in 2005; USA.
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