While she's training, tennis phenom Serena Williams refuses to eat red meat -- opting to use ground turkey in her taco treats. "I can't live without ground turkey," she's declared. Seems Serena knows to avoid excess inflammatory, artery-clogging saturated fats. But is she -- and are you -- aware of saturated fat that shows up in unexpected places?
n A large blueberry muffin (you think the berries make it virtuous) contains as much sat fat as a serving of meat lasagna!
n That three-quarter cup of yogurt you enjoy? Five grams of saturated fat. The same amount of plain, nonfat Greek yogurt? Zero grams.
n A cup of instant noodles can pack more saturated fat than a medium-size order of French fries. Ramen noodles have 7 grams of saturated fat per serving; McDonalds small French fries? Only 1.5 grams of saturated fat.
n Hidden tropical oils like coconut and palm are in energy bars, baked goods, breads, margarine, pizza dough and, yes, Impossible Burgers (8 grams of saturated fat in 4 ounces!). Palm oil has 7 grams of saturated fat in a tablespoon. Coconut oil has 12 grams and is about 90% saturated fat, which is a higher percentage than butter (64%), beef fat (40%) or lard (also 40%).
Now, you can't and don't want to avoid all saturated fat: You get 6 grams in a 7-ounce serving of heart-healthy, omega-3-rich salmon. And there are 2.2 grams in 4 ounces of ground turkey.
For nonvegetarians, that's the healthy way to get the 13 grams or less a day that's recommended by the American Heart Association.
(c)2021 Michael Roizen, M.D.
and Mehmet Oz, M.D.
King Features Syndicate