Healthy Eating: Fats, and Greases, and Oils, Oh My!

When I was a kid growing up in the 1950s it was quite common for our family to have scrambled eggs in the morning along with bacon.  As the old advertisement goes, Nobody Don't Like Bacon (or was it Sara Lee?).  In those days you just cooked up a slab of bacon and then used the bacon grease to cook the eggs in!  As I think of it now, it's a miracle that I didn't have heart disease at seven years old.  Anyway, we survived, mostly because we didn't know the effects of fat and grease on our ability to grow up and survive a long time.

Today, in a nation increasingly oriented towards healthy living, so much is different.  Back sixty years ago, with the way we ate, 30 was the new 60.  Now we have the information, product choices, and general emphasis on healthy eating to make healthy choices and turn that dynamic around. 

Americans have always loved to use butter, oils, and fats in their cooking.  Why not?, they add flavor to the food and it just tastes better.  In these health conscious days, however, we seek ways to keep the flavor but cut the negative effects of fat. 

When I left the hospital after heart bypass surgery, I knew that some things were going to have to change.  I had to embrace more healthy eating if I wanted to be around for a while.  One of the suggestions the nurses made was to use a substitute for margarine and butter.  There are a number of great choices on the market these days, however, the one I used, and use to this day, is Olivio. (Olivioproducts.com)  It's a margarine-like spread made from Mediterranean Olive Oil with great taste and it performs just like other products.  Olive oil, however, has polyunsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), which are touted to be "good fats" and heart healthy.  A study by the Mayo Clinic showed that MUFAs may lower total cholesterol, help in the normalization of blood clotting, and be a benefit to blood sugar control as well as to insulin levels.

In 2013 the new dynamic in healthy living may be that 60 is the new 30.  If true, it would be in great part due to the healthier lifestyles that so many people are embracing which includes healthier eating.   I still love a good English muffin in the morning.  Now I can have my muffin and know that I am doing something good for my heart.  If you have products you have used that are heart healthy that you want to let me know about, drop a comment.  Our hearts will thank you.