lower fat diet--is it realistic?

weety

I'm so frustrated with trying to get a lower fat diet going!  It seems that even with eating healthy-ish foods, I'm still at a 35-45% fat intake which is definately not low-fat.  I eat a quesadilla with cheese in the morning (50% fat but seems like it would be a wise, nutritious meal!)  then maybe chicken, rice and veggies for lunch (as soon as I add a bit of butter or a spray of olive oil to the veggies, it's suddenly too high in fat)  then for an afternoon snack half a pb&j sandwich (again, seems nutritious but when I did the math, it's 50% of calories from fat) and so on.  I don't eat cookies or other sweets except for occassional Dove Dark Choc squares.  I am so overwhelmed with how much fat is going in to my diet.  I thought my food choices were pretty healthy!  How do I cut down on fat?  It seems almost impossible.  Look at salad.  I can eat 3 cups of green leafy salad, but I usually put olive oil and basalmic vinegar on it.  So my 30 calorie salad now has 150 or so calories with almost 100% of them coming from fat!  How do you ever get down to the recommended 20-30% fat diet?  Now I have myself in a frenzy thinking I caused my breast cancer from all this fat in my diet!  But it is the good fat!  But it's still fat!  Is a diet with 20-30% fat even realistic?  I'm sooo confused!

idaho

There is no proof that fat causes BC.  If they knew what caused cancer.. there would be a cure... Dont' beat yourself up over this... your diet sounds very reasonable and healthy.  Cancer is a crap shoot...  Wishing you peace and health.   Tami

weety

Yeah, I thought I was a pretty healthy eater.  Like I said, I rarely eat sweets or crackers or cookies etc.  I pretty much eat 4 smaller meals (probably 400-500 calories each) with mostly healthy foods.  (I am also very petite and thin naturally and have never had any trouble with my weight.) But when I started calculating the numbers, I was amazed at how much fat was in my diet.  Lots of it is the good kind (olive oil, nuts, etc.) but I never knew how hard it was to get a decent meal in with very little fat.  And then you read about the recommendations to keep your fat levels at 20-30% of daily calories.  HOW????? I am kind of thinking that the only way is to add in more "fillers."  What I mean is the peanut butter has almost 100% of its calories from fat.  If I add 2 pieces of bread (which is only about 10% fat) instead of just one, the ratio of my fat calories would go down tremendously!  So do I need to add extra calories in to my diet just to offset the fat from cheese, eggs and nuts?  That doesn't make much sense either, but I don't know how else to do it.  And then you hear about adding flaxseed oil or other good fats like avocado into your diet, but HOW???

Anonymous

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dlb823

Yes, I know it's realistic because I've done it.  But it does take some re-thinking of the eating habits we considered healthy pre-bc.  The good news is that awareness is at least 1/2 the battle.  Once you're aware of how much fat is in the food you're consuming, you can start to make changes, including finding alternatives.  For example, I used to eat plain whole milk yogurt with dried fruit, nuts, and ground flax for breakfast.  But when I realized it had 10 grams of fat, I switched to non-fat, which has none.  I had to try several brands to find one I liked, but since I eat it several times a week, that's a significant decrease in my fat intake.  I've also found a frozen gluten-free Belgian waffle that's delicious with just some fresh berries added.  And I buy freshly ground peanut butter, available at a local natural foods market, and I pour off most of the separated oil, rather than stirring it back in.  The pb is a bit stiffer, but it's great stuffed in celery, rather than on bread.  And we've totally eliminated red meat in favor of fish and hormone-free chicken.

While it's true that none of us has total control over getting bc or a recurrence, I don't believe it's a total crap shoot either.  I think lowering our fat intake to lower our % of body fat is a very worthwhile goal for most of us due to the fact that excess body fat can contribute to excess estrogen production.  And I'm far from perfect.  I occasionally make hollandaise sauce or have a piece of chocolate or some ice cream.  But I think small changes each day can add up to eating even healthier than we had been and to removing a significant amount of fat from our diets.    Deanna

MaryDee

Try not to get hung up on the percentage of calories that are fat...like the salad example you gave, that gets counter productive.  It's easier to think about how to include good oils instead of bad fats - choosing nuts, avocado, canola and olive oils, fish, etc and using reduced-fat dairy products, small portions of lean meat, whole grain, low-GI cereals, and lots of fruit and veg is far easier than fretting over how much oil is going on your salad. 

Cheese is very energy dense & high in fat so you might think about a different breakfast choice - oatmeal, or a piece of wholemeal toast with a poached egg, or vary your quesadilla recipe so it's essentially stuffed with veggies/beans with only a small sprinkle of grated cheese.  If you can get hold of some british Heinz baked beans, they are also a healthy, low fat & very satisfying choice (apparently the US version is very different, contains a lot of sugar).

If you can, get hold of David Servan-Schrieber's book "Anticancer"...he explores the factors that create the inflammatory response within the body and it's easier to understand how to make better food choices when you have read it.  Richard Beliveau is another good author, he wrote "Foods that fight cancer" and "Cooking with foods that fight cancer".  I apologise if this is a bit OT but this is really good info in these books that will help you to feel positive about food and stay motivated with your food choices.

cp418

This is complete trivia but a few times I've caught the TV show 'Cook yourself Thin'.  Basically a woman will come on the show wanting to loose 'X' pounds and descibes 3 meals she eats for a day. Goal to drop one dress size in 6 weeks after adjusting daily eating menu.  The hosts take those 3 meals and change the ingredients or modify the meal choice.  After the taste test they compare the calories between the meals sometimes chopping total calorie count almost in half.  I don't agree with all their ingredients at times as I try to avoid white sugar.  However, they really emphasize how to add seasonings for flavor and other substitutions. They use lots of vegatbles which I like.  I love EVOO and use it all the time  - - so I am very oriented into using that ingredient.  They bake quite a few items but also stove top - - - most are quick meals for busy people.

Example - if your goal is to weigh 140# than you would want to control your daily calorie intake to 1400 calories.  It seems doable with these cooking tips.  But again, the goal of the show is to loose weight and so view from your objective for healthy eating as well.  note - they have a cookbook too which is inexpensive on EBAY.

weety

Thanks to all who have contributed to this post.  I am still overwhelmed, but your answers are helping a bit.  I still don't see how one can ever fit even one high-fat food (even a good one such as avocado) without going way over the fat percentages for the day.  It also makes me extremely disheartened to think that if I am having trouble getting down to 30% with effort, my numbers must have been in the 50-60% before.  YOWIE! 

I thought I was such a healthy eater because I ate nuts and avocado and added olive oil to many meals instead of other more unhealthy oils, lots of fresh foods and whole grains.  I didn't realize how terrible the fat content was until I started calculating it out.  But that is what makes me so frustrated.  If I'm already going over the recommended amount of fat with just the food itself, how can I ever add in the good fats that are supposed to be so good for you?  For example the meditteranean diet tells you to add in one good fat (I think they call them MUFAs) to every meal.  I'm assuming this must be a higher fat diet then, because they add avocado to omelots, olive oil to salads, nuts to cereal, granola to yogurt, peanut butter on anything, pesto on noodles, etc, etc, etc.  All of that seems like really healthy food, but there is no way it can be low in fat.  Most of those items are over 70% fat.  Does it not count since it's the "GOOD" fat?

As you can tell, I'm still quite confused. SIGH. . .

I don't want to lose weight.  I just want to eat healthy and keep this disease from coming back.

apple

good suggestions

first of all I'd eliminate the quesadilla totally and eat fruit and cereal for breakfast.  I'd then choose lean proteins, chicken breast, tuna, turkey, lean pork and beef.  Increase beans, nuts (i know they are high fat, but you do need some fats).. I'd also keep the olive oil on the salads.. just reduce the amount a bit. 

i often eat natural peanut butter and tomato sandwiches for breakfast.  (I too, pour off the fat).

I too recommend reading David Servan-Schrieber's book "Anticancer - a way of Life(?) book.

by the time you eat all the things that fight cancer, you don't have room for anything else.

I would totally avoid sausage, bacon, butter, mayo hamburgers (unless cooked super well done) and fatty pork.  I trim off all visible fat when I cook.   When I have eggs I discard 1 of 2 egg yolks.

CharlestonGirl

A healthy diet can be easy to do, although harder when you eat out. Healthy fats are extremely important - the key is controlled amounts. Food combinations are important also. Look at the drannwellness.com website and read the cliff notes to her book. It outlines 10 steps for a healthy eating plan. Dr. Ann Kulze is a nationally known doc. You are supposed to eat nuts daily, but just 1 to 1.5 oz. She gives you 10 steps and guidelines. One of the steps is to eat 1 to 1.5 nuts per day; another is cut out sodas totally and so on.

Your breakfast choice is not good. Tortillas are generally made with white flour and trans-fats or other bad fats. Cheese is a high fat item, depending on the type cheese. An example of a good breakfast would be a 2-egg (omega3 egg) omelet stuffed with as much veggies like brocolli or spinach, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes as you can stand. Spice it up. If you must have cheese on the omelet put a tiny bit of feta cheese in there. That day, for a morning snack eat an ounce of nuts and some berries or dried apricots. For lunch have a big salad with minimal olive oil and lots of balsamic or lemon juice. Add tons of veggies and 3 oz of grilled chicken breast. For an afternoon snack eat a gob of carrot sticks and hummus. For dinner, maybe grilled salmon and all the brocolli you can stand (steamed with spices and a tiny sprinkle of cheese. Roasted veggies are great. Low-glycemic index foods are also key to keeping your blood sugars at an even keel. This will control cravings for sweets.

Another breakfast - 3 dollops of 0% Greek style yogurt mixed with lots of cinnamon and 1 oz nuts. Top with berries, any kind and 1/4 cup granola or 1/2 cup kashi high-protein cereal. For snacks pair a protein with a fruit or veggie like carrots.

Minimize rice and other white foods like potatoes. 1/2 cup cooked whole grain pasta, if topped with lots of tomatoes, veggies and basil and 3 oz of good protein will totally fill you up at dinnertime. Try adding white beans to a pasta meal. The website I mentioned is helpful and her book is easy to read and very helpful also. I lost 40 lbs in 5 months and I previously ate the Mediterranean diet, in general. Check this website and tell me what you think. She has lots of recipes there, also, to give you ideas of what her family eats.

I hate diets and have never believed in Atkins, South Beach or any of those things. This plan helped me figure out all the things I like to eat and how to combine them for a healthy diet. Since my cancer was ER+/PR+ lower body fat is an important treatment for me. Dark chocolate is on her eating plan, just not a ton of it. So is red wine.

So there ya go - good luck!!! Try it out, it really does work.