The way of the future for good healthy living is to eat less fat, but more fibre and more variety in your food. You should be trying to eat 30 or more different food types in any one week. Eating a low fat diet is the modern mainstay advice for elevated cholesterol, diabetes and obesity. This handout tackles all three.

Cholesterol Control  No one should have a cholesterol level exceeding 5.0 and indeed in 2005 we now know it is desirable to have a total cholesterol level of less than 4.0 and this is achievable for most people. The reasons causing your elevation and the need to do something positive about it has already been discussed with you. The aim of this material is to point you quickly and easily in the right direction as far as your dietary intake of fats / oils / and Cholesterol. Please be aware that even no cholesterol margarine can be turned into cholesterol within your body’s cholesterol factory. This includes the components of new "safe" margarines. So eat food from column 1 safely and with column 2 be wise and not too much. Column 3 contains too much fat. Once you are established repeat cholesterol after 6 weeks will give a very good estimate of how you are going. This will need to be followed up with repeat checks each 3 months for at least a few occasions. Increase your exercise, it will reduce your cholesterol.

Diabetes Thorough explanation is very technical. Suffice it to say that the impairment of glucose tolerance in the diabetic favours their metabolism towards using fat as an energy source rather than carbohydrates and the latter get churned through to fats far more easily than the normal person. To turn the tide around the diabetic needs to stop fat intake to encourage his body's metabolism to handle carbohydrates (complex sugars) properly. So eat food from column 1 safely and with column 2 be wise and not too much. Column 3 contains poison for the diabetic. Also you should not eat refined sugar at all, in all its forms. Increase your exercise it will help you metabolise sugar better.

Obesity It is very simple really - your weight depends on what you eat (how much) and how active you are (what you burn up). If you are serious about reducing obesity, and the need for this has been explained to you, then you need to eat less and be more active. For most people this will mean formal exercise. Now as far as food intake is concerned the ratio of calories provided by 1 gm of carbohydrate/protein/fat are respectively 1, 2 and 9. Simple again - you go on a diet and just by not eating fat you can eat well from the other 2 groups and not be hungry because you can eat more volume. So cut out column 3 and see how you go. If you are not losing weight to your liking cut out foods down to 10 and then later you can still go down to 5 but this last step would be rarely needed. Increase your exercise.

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The following is a table of the fat content of average servings of almost all common foods. The actual quantity eaten is not so important, the real problem is whether that food substance contains a moderate or an indecent quantity of fat. Notice the major emphasis on seafood - contrary to past held popular belief. Fish has alpha omega 3 oils and this is particularly good for you. Of all the oils OLIVE OIL is the spectacular exception in that your body can only turn this into good cholesterol and thus it is quite acceptable to use. Foods marked with an * contain a high amount of antioxidants

What the numbers mean

Add up the numbers relating to the foods you have eaten in a day and rate them for normal average servings of that food (like at a cafe - not what you would do at home). If your total is 40 for a day then you have consumed 30% of your days calories as fat (approximately). For many years a maximum of 40% was recommended and some institutions and heart foundations were aligned with this model until only recent years but now accept 30%. We recommend between 10 and 15% and have been doing so since 1988, having found that recommending 30% most times resulted in a best cholesterol scenario of 5.5 in those who were elevated.  We see less cardiovascular disease at this lower 10% level and cholesterols into the 4's. Slowly the profession sees and accepts changes of this nature. We are not alone at this recommended level

As a recap remember this - you eat one hamburger. You have done it. That is just about all the fat you should eat in a day and now you have to select from zeros. This is the meaning of "these foods are poison".