Fats Defined
The entire line of Healthy Life bread products are low in fat, containing between .5 gram – 1 gram per serving. Low fat is defined as less than 3 grams of fat per 50 grams of bread. In our Healthy Life Breads, Lewis Bakeries takes the fat out and leaves the taste and nutrition in.
The American Heart Association suggests eating monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats and limiting saturated and trans fats. Saturated fats should only be seven percent of you total daily calories while trans fats should be less than one percent of all calories consumed daily.
Benefits of Fat:
- Some fats such as unsaturated fats are beneficial to our health. Unsaturated fats contain essential fatty acids, which are substances necessary for growth, not produced by the body itself.
- Most of the fats you eat should be polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats, which are liquid at room temperature and do not appear to raise blood cholesterol levels.
- Healthy Life breads are made with either soybean oil, a polyunsaturated fat, or canola oil, a monounsaturated fat.
- Fat is one of the sources of fuel for the body and aids in the absorption of many vitamins, such as Vitamins A, D, E and K. These vitamins can only be absorbed if there is fat in a person’s diet.
What Are Trans Fats?
- Basically, trans fat is made when manufacturers add hydrogen to vegetable oil - a process called hydrogenation - which increases the shelf life of foods containing these fats. Research shows that trans fats may clog arteries and cause obesity after long periods of consumption.
- Trans fats can not only raise total cholesterol levels, they can also deplete good cholesterol (HDL), which helps protect against heart disease.
- "Numerous studies have found that trans fats raise our risk of heart disease," said Mary Beth Sodus, a registered dietitian at the University of Maryland Medical Center. "They can also contribute to an increase in total cholesterol levels and a drop in the healthy HDL cholesterol. These man-made fats are much worse for you than any other natural fat, even the saturated fats found in butter and beef."
- The stiffer and harder fats are, the more they can clog up arteries. “Artificial trans fats do the same thing in our bodies that bacon grease does to kitchen sinks. Over time, they can ‘clog the pipes’ that feed the heart and brain, which can lead to heart attack or stroke risk.” University of Maryland Medical Center
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Healthy Life products have never contained trans fats. Lewis Bakeries, always an innovator in the baking industry, made the decision in 1986 to eliminate any hydrogenated oils in our baked goods—five years before Healthy Life bread was created. |
What Are Saturated Fats?
Saturated fats are those which are solid at room temperature, such as butter or shortening. Healthy Life bread products contain no saturated fats.
Fat in Your Diet:
- Total fat intake should range between 20-35% of the calories consumed, or approximately 65-80 grams per day, according to the USDA Dietary Guidelines.
- The Guidelines recommend consuming less than 10 percent of calories from saturated fat, less than 300 mg/day of cholesterol and keeping trans fat consumption as low as possible.
- Saturated fats and hydrogenated fats should be consumed in very limited amounts in our daily diets since both trans fats and saturated fats have been shown to contribute to heart disease by raising levels of “bad” cholesterol.
All Healthy Life products fit perfectly into a healthy diet since they are very low in fat and contain no trans fats or saturated fats.
For Your Reference - FDA Fat claims defined:
| Fat Free | less than 0.5 grams of fat per 50 grams of bread |
| Low Fat | 3 grams or less fat per 50 grams of bread |
| Reduced Fat | 25% less fat than average similar food |
| Saturated Fat Free | less than .05 grams saturated fat per 50 grams of bread |
| Low Saturated Fat | 1 gram or less of saturated fat & no more than 15% of calories from saturated fat per 50 grams of bread |
| Reduced Saturated Fat | at least 25% less saturated fat than average similar food |
See Nutrition Facts and Ingredients pages on each variety for additional detail.
