# How much fat?



## blissful (Dec 3, 2011)

We use, butter, olive oil and canola oil for about 98% of our diets.

Butter went on sale for $1.99/lb (not that great of a price) and we put it in the freezer to be used when we need it.

For all oils/fats, what is a healthy amount to use per person over the course of a year?
Let's say the average person is:

150 lbs and they do an average amount of activities (work, exercise, cleaning, sedentary tasks, sleeping).
43 years old.

What is the calorie intake for that average person, and, what is the percentage of oils/fats that are a healthy (good for you) amount for that calorie intake? 

I'm absolutely certain we have the intelligence and technology to make a good estimation of oil/fat usage for an average person for a year! TIA


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## GLC (Dec 3, 2011)

Well, sorry. It really can't be a question solely of how much fat. The standard answer is 30%-35% of total calories, figuring 9 calories per gram of fat. "Moderate" physical activity can increase caloric need over "normal" activity by fifty percent, an increase of 13 calories per pound to 18 calories per pound. So right there is a range of about 4 to 6 daily fat calories per pound, IF you happen to be "average."  But the characteristics of different fats might be a factor, and individual metabolism, too. And it seems to make a difference if the "fatty" meals come one after the other or separated by lower fat meals. About all you can say for sure is that fat is necessary. And the rest of your diet has a significant effect on the same things you think about with regard to fat intake. 

Folks will believe all sorts of things and will jump from one recommendation to the next or adopt some extreme views and, worse, will try to apply the latest published medical study. (A mistake. The only goal of any study is to suggest the next study. Truly definitive practical answers are very rare.) The one sure thing in the way of reliable advise is to use fat in moderation and incorporate monosaturated fats for their Omega-3 fatty acids. (But even there, the question of different effects from different Omega-3 forms is very much an open question.) If it's used thoughtfully and in moderation, absent a metabolic defect, it's not likely to be a problem, or at least a problem that you can confidently do anything about. 

I happen to believe that an important aspect of achieving and maintaining moderation is to eat very well. If your foods not good, it's not satisfying. And that means butter will always have a place. Adopt some fairly obvious principles and integrate them to the point of not having to worry about what you eat. Life's too long for your food to be a source of anxiety.


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## blissful (Dec 8, 2011)

Anxiety? Annoying people are a source of anxiety, I suppose, if you let discouraging, jumping to conclusions, irrational reasonings bother you. I don't.

Let's see.
3 average people not trying to gain or lose weight, maintenance calories 2200 per day. Say, 43 years old, 165 lbs, doing exercise 3 times per week.
25% of their calories are from fat.
That's 62 grams per person per day.
186 grams/day
6.56 oz/day
Multiply that times 7 days, 4.3 weeks/mo, 12 months per year.
2370 oz/year.
148.1 lbs/year
Given--99% of our diets for fat are not JUST olive oil, canola oil and butter.
Major fat sources: Meats, poultry, fish, pizza, nuts, dairy especially cheese.
Olive oil, three gallons = 23.1 lbs
Butter, 40 lbs
Canola oil, 2 gallons = 15.4 lbs

Is 40 lbs of butter in the freezer bought on sale, too much butter to last the year? Nope, problem solved.

Still doesn't 78 lbs of oils and butter sound like a lot of fat for 3 people? Anyone care to check my math?


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## GLC (Dec 8, 2011)

Sounds like a lot, but 78 pounds (1248 oz) / 365 days = 3.14 ounces or about 1 ounce by weight each. Olive oil is pretty close to ounce for ounce, fluid to weight, so a hair more then 1 fluid ounce. And it doesn't all go into our mouths. There's a lot of loss in cooking and running down our chins.  Very little of my gallon of peanut oil for deep frying will be eaten. Doesn't leave me feeling like 78 pounds is too much oil for oil's sake daily. Something like 250 calories, if we swallowed it all. Since we don't take it all in most days, it would suggest we don't have a lot of worries about reasonable use of pure fats for fat sake and that it's the fats embedded in other food that matters. 

A good study shows, for instance, that deep fried breaded food under home frying conditions, takes up about 6% of the uncooked food weight in oil. So, my 4 ounces of breaded shrimp takes up .24 ounces of oil, or about 60 fat calories. With the approximate 2 grams of fat in those shrimp, I'll take that deal.   

Just takes a lot of stuff to keep a person stuffed. I suspect we'd be shocked if we could somehow look at a years worth of food at one time. I couldn't find where anyone tried to stack it up and photograph a year's worth. Just the series of photos of one week's worth around he world.


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## blissful (Dec 9, 2011)

78 lbs of fat sounds like a lot, but that's just oils and butter.
148 lbs of fat for a household of 3--that's the equivalent weight of a whole person and it's only 25% of the calories. That's amazing isn't it?

Add 2 pizzas per week = 104 pizzas per year
3 people, 1 oz cheese per day = 67 lbs of cheese/year (that sounds high but I swear they eat more than that on average)
Meats, Nuts, poultry, fish, other dairy, I can't estimate that.

Imagine carrying grocerys or bringing in produce, carrying it all.
And imagine the other 75% of the calories needed in grains/breads, vegetables, fruit, proteins and not even counting beverages (which are heavy), which are a majority of a person's diet. And those foods pack less calories per pound, so they will amount to many more pounds to fill the rest of the 75% of a person's yearly food needs.

The World Health Organization says in 2000 on average in a year in the world, the supply of vegetables consumed per person is 101 kg = 222 lbs. For a family of 3, that's 666 lbs.

I can see that a family of three could easily buy a 'ton' of food in a year. Kind of amazing to me. Even though we only deal with food on a small scale, daily, or weekly, or monthly, it sure adds up in the long run.


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