• They make certain vitamins available for use in the body
•  They reduce essential organs
•  They make up part of all body cells
•  And they help to maintain body temperature.

Features Regarding Fats and oils:

Fat is a nutrient that is an important source of calories. You will be amazed to know how it works to immune you from certain chronic diseases. Let’s have a look how?

• One gram of fat supplies 9 calories - more than twice the amount we get from carbohydrates or protein.
• Fat also is needed to carry and store essential fat-soluble vitamins, like vitamins A and D. When we eat a lot of high fat foods, we get a lot of calories.

Risk factor:

• With too many calories, we may gain weight. Eating too much fats and oils may also increase the risk of getting diseases like cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure or stroke.

Recommendations:

• Health experts recommend that we should get no more than 30% of our calories from fats and oils to reduce our risk of getting these diseases.
• A lot of fat is hidden in foods that we eat as snacks, pastries or prepared meals. We can reduce the amount of fat we eat by cutting down on the fats that we add in cooking or spread on foods. We can eat skim milk and low fat cheeses instead of whole milk and cheese. We can also use less margarine, fats and oils.

This group includes:

• Vegetable oils; canola oil, sunflower oil.
• Margarine, lard, shortening.
• Other food sources: avocados, olive oils, flaxseed oils, fish oil, evening primrose oil.

How much of the fats and oils are desirable:

Why fats and oils are vital for you?

Alist of fat and oil food group’s importance:

• Contain essential fatty acids which are essential for the proper working of various organs and cells in the body.
• Have high levels of vitamin A, which is essential for healthy mucous membranes, improves the immune system and provides protection against infection bacteria and viruses.
• Fats are required as part of the calorie content of foods eaten each day.
• One type of fat, phospholipids is vital for use in the cell membranes.
• Plant cholesterol, called phytosterols, is necessary for many vital processes in the body.
• Some cholesterol, an animal fat, is actually necessary for making vitamin D and bile acid.

Recommendation:

Dietary fats and oils should consist of no more than 30% of the total daily calorie intake, which makes about 50g- 60g of for a sedentary person on 1800 calories per day.

Fun facts:

There are healthy list of fats and oils facts to choose from that are good for you. These include oils like olive, sunflower, and safflower. Further research from the American Dietetic Association shows that fish like salmon, herring, and albacore tuna provide omega-3 fatty acids that can lower cholesterol levels, and protect your heart.

Sugars and Sweets:

Preface:

Sugar is a type of carbohydrate. It is the smallest form of carbohydrates that our bodies use for energy. Like starch, sugar provides 4 calories for every gram. Some sugars are found naturally in foods like most fruits (berries, oranges, and apples) and their juices. There are sugars in milk. When we eat these foods we are getting the calories from sugar along with many important vitamins and minerals.

Important features:

• Many of the sugars that we eat are mostly calories. They contain few or no other nutrients. Some of these sugars we add at home. They include table sugar, brown sugar, raw sugar, honey, syrup, jams and jellies.
• Some sugars are added when foods are manufactured. You may see names like dextrose, fructose, maltose, and lactose on food labels. They are all types of sugars. They make foods taste sweet.
• We also get a lot of added sugar from soft drinks and other sweetened beverages, candies, and sweet bakery products.

Risk Factor:

• Eating a lot of sugary foods can cause tooth decay. If we eat sweet foods, it's best to eat them as part of a meal. It's also important that sugary foods don't replace foods like fruits and vegetables at snacks and meals.

Recommendations:

• When we shop we can look at food labels and see how many different sugars have been added to a cereal or baked product. If fresh or frozen fruits are too expensive, we can try canned fruits that are packed in juice instead of heavy syrup. The syrup can be drained from canned fruits too, so we don't get the extra sugar.

Use Sparingly

• Go easy on fats and oils and sugars added to foods in cooking or at the table--butter, margarine, gravy, salad dressing, sugar, and jelly.
• Choose fewer foods that are high in sugars--candy, sweet desserts, and soft drinks.

The most effective way to moderate the amount of fat and added sugars in your diet is to cut down on "extras" (foods in this group). Also choose lower fat and lower sugar foods from the other five food groups often