Fats

Similar to protein, many diabetics do not have to count fats. Others do, because fats can also convert to sugar if needed, or overconsumption may interfere with weight maintenance or loss goals.

Fats have received more attention in the health arena than sugar has, and yet sugar is responsible for more problems than fat. In fact, sugar aggravates all of the problems for which fat has been held responsible. We now have a confusing array of conflicting information where fat is concerned. As with most things, people choose to believe what they want to hear, or what they hear so many times they dare not disbelieve.

Fats come from two basic sources: Animal, and vegetable. There are a wide number of sub-categories within that, nearly all of which completely fail to actually define what is healthy and what is not. We have found that the best rule is to fall back on what is logical, and what applies to all foods:

1. Fresh and natural is better. Virgin or extra virgin oils may really be different enough to justify the cost. Oils that have been around a long time are generally ones that are simple to extract, and they tend to be much more natural.

2. Staple food oils are healthier than oils from otherwise inedible or rarely eaten items. I'll take olive over canola any day, and coconut over palm kernel for the same reason. Look at foods that provide dietary staples somewhere in the world, and in general, those oils are more healthy, because they were INTENDED to be consumed regularly. Oils which are laboriously extracted from grains, seeds, and vegetables, which are more complicated to extract, or which are extracted from things which are not eaten in any other form, may generally be classed as the least healthy. Butter beats margarine (butter actually contains several amino acids which many diabetics are low on), and natural beats unnatural.

Fats help to slow down absorption of carbohydrates, so adding fat to a meal can help to level off blood sugar spikes, and to prevent rapid lows after eating. It actually takes very little to do this though, and usually a meal will have enough without having to deliberately add any.

Now, oils are not meant to be consumed wholesale! ANYTHING if overused is unhealthy, and this is strongly true of fats. Butter DOES have healthy components. But if you overuse it, it becomes unhealthy. Coconut oil has some WONDERFUL elements. But if you put it on everything and add gobs to everything, it will have its drawbacks. Olive oil can help with heart health, and with weight loss if used properly, but if misused, will do the opposite.

Fats should be chosen wisely - based on how they interact with YOUR body - and then used sparingly. Ok, sometimes I just LOVE a fried burrito, or chicken strips, or fish nuggets. So I get out the deep fryer, melt some coconut oil, roll up my homemade whole wheat tortilla, or roll my fish or chicken in whole wheat batter and flour, and then fry a few pieces to enjoy. Coconut oil makes them SO crispy, I can thoroughly enjoy the dish without guilt. But I don't eat it every day. It is a treat, which I make as healthy as possible. And sometimes I just really want to have a baked potato with butter and sour cream - lots of both! And I do. But I don't do it every day, and in general, I reserve the butter for flavoring and use it sparingly.

I don't fry a lot of foods, I reduce the fat in most of my recipes (and I do a lot more baking and custom cooking than most people), I fry things in a non-stick skillet so it takes no fat, or very little, and I use the things I love where they will really matter.

Prudence and choice are important in how you use fats. Because used right, they will enhance your diet, and make it easier to control your blood sugars. Used wrong, they'll stall you in a stage of poor control, and declining health.

Written by Laura Wheeler, Owner of Firelight Business Enterprises, Inc.