It’s comforting news that some fats are not in the healthy-eating “sin bin”. What’s important now, however, is to make sure we eat the right types of fats – some of them do need to stay permanently off the field – and the right amounts of them. Replacing “bad” fats with “good” fats leads to much healthier cholesterol levels, and when cholesterol levels are low, there is less chance of atherosclerosis. So how do you tell the difference between the two?

It’s not too difficult, actually. Fats that are described as saturated or trans are the most critical ones to limit (limit to 10% of your total calories). Fats described as monounsaturated or polyunsaturated, on the other hand, are ones you should include as a regular part of your diet. Overall, fat calories should make up no more than 30% of your daily calorie intake.

Most foods that contain fat will have a mixture of types of fat, but one fat will usually predominate. The following table shows the four main fat groups and foods containing mostly that type of fat.

You can also check food labels for fat content. The amounts of both trans fat and saturated fat are required by law to be listed. If you read the label, and keep in mind which sorts of foods are also going to be high in trans fat, you should be able to work out fairly easily whether a food is a “goodie” or a “baddie” in terms of fat content. But don’t forget to watch the other nutritional values as well, especially the calories if you are trying to manage your weight. And, as always, keep portion sizes under control, whether they’re full of good fat or not!