Fats in Foods Quiz

One gram of fat has 9 calories. One gram of carbohydrate has 4 calories. One gram of protein has 4 calories. One gram of alcohol has 7 calories. A gram is a unit of weight. One gram is about the same weight as a standard paperclip.

An average double-meat hamburger can have 31 grams of fat. Five grams of fat equals 1 teaspoon of fat. That means the double-meat hamburger has 6 teaspoons of fat. This is a little less than half of a healthy daily fat allowance for many people. But that doesn’t mean you can never eat food like this. Eating in moderation means you can have a burger like this once in a while.

Limit how much fat you eat to 20% to 35% of your daily calories.

A typical hot dog has 13 grams of fat and 144 calories.

All cooking oils and shortenings are 100% fat. They have 13 to 14 grams of fat in 1 tablespoon. Lard has more saturated fat. Saturated fat is found in meats and dairy products. It may be more harmful to your heart. Vegetable oils are mostly monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. These fats are less harmful.

Surprisingly, switching to turkey will shave only 2.5 grams of fat. That’s because the real culprits in sandwiches are not lean meats but the cheese and regular mayo. Swap in tomato and lettuce for cheese. Use no-fat mayo or mustard. With these changes, you can lower the roast beef sandwich fat total to 7.5 grams.

One avocado has 30 grams of fat. More than half of the fat is monounsaturated fat. But the total includes 4.5 grams of saturated fat. This is still more saturated fat than 2 slices of Canadian bacon, a lean meat. Eight ounces of buttermilk has only 2 grams of fat.

If you step on the scale daily, you may notice a 2-pound increase. But that’s likely from short-term factors such as water retention. You would have to eat 7,000 calories—that’s about 23 cheeseburgers—on top of your daily calories to put on 2 pounds of fat.

Natural trans fats are made in the stomach or gut of some animals. A small amount of this type of trans fat may be found in milk and meats. Artificial trans fats (or trans fatty acids) are made when hydrogen is added to liquid vegetable oils. This makes them more solid. This type of fat is found in many processed foods.

Trans fat has also been linked with higher risk for type 2 diabetes.