Trying to allocate "fat" appropriately

[Marciaise]

Hi,

 

As I build my meal I am curious as to how I should consider my "fat" piece.  For example, for breakfast I made a 2 egg omlette with spinach and cooked it in a little olive oil then had tomatoes and avocado.  Did I double up on my "fat" by cooking in the oil and having avocado? 

 

Does the oil I cook in count as my "fat"?

 

Thank you!

[Tom Denham]

Cooking oil doesn't really count as fat because it is not much to begin with and you might not eat all of it anyway. 

 

Whole eggs actually include good fat in the yolks, so you don't have to add fat when eating whole eggs. I sometimes add mashed avocado because I like the taste of eggs and avocado. What you did is not excessive. You "done" good.

[ShannonM816]

Most of the oil you cook in won't count. If you look at the pan when you're done cooking, you'll see that some of the fat remains, so you don't actually eat it. Some foods soak up more of the cooking fat than others, so it will vary some, but I wouldn't worry about it too much. The template calls for one or two portions of fat at each meal. If your meal keeps you from being hungry for four to five hours, you used the right amount.

Now let's talk eggs. When they are your only protein source in a meal, you need to eat as many whole eggs as you can hold in your hand without dropping them. For most people, that's three or four. So you probably want to add one to your meal next time, or add some other protein, like sausage or whatever meat you have left over.

[leahcarn]

A good clue for me is how long it takes before I am hungry again.

 

Fat is responsible for satiation post 2 hours after eating, so if you aren't hungry until your next meal you're on track, if you are hungry ages before your next meal you need more fat (or more food in general), and if you aren't hungry for your next meal you may have overdone it

[Wanda705]

Good advice!

[RandiKraus]

Ok...now I'm a bit confused.  When asked a similar question, Melissa answered (sorry I can't remember where this was from but I wrote it down) that if you were cooking eggs in butter with 1 tbsp (1 thumb worth), then eat 1/2 an avocado.  But, if you were eating hard boiled eggs, then eat a whole avocado.  So, essentially the cooking fat does count.  Sounds like while Melissa may not have detailed it, maybe knowing that whole eggs have some fat combined with not consuming all the cooking oil is why she presented the amounts the way she did??

[Susanrenee]

I can certainly taste the cooking fat in the stuff I eat, so I count it as part of my fat allocation. There's never much left in my pan!!

[Physibeth]

Much of it depends on what you are cooking and how. When I fry eggs I use a lot of cooking fat but most of it stays in the pan unless I purposefully pour it off on my plate. When I scramble eggs they soak up the fat more but I also use less. Same with veggies. Remember that the fat portions are minimums. You adjust to how you are feeling and what satiates you. Personally I usually have 4 eggs scrambled into sauteed kale with about 1/2-1 Tbs of cooking fat most mornings and this keeps me satisfied until lunch or post workout meal (whichever comes first on that given day). Your mileage may vary.

[ladyshanny]

Melissa answered (sorry I can't remember where this was from but I wrote it down) that if you were cooking eggs in butter with 1 tbsp (1 thumb worth)......

 

Are you sure she mentioned butter?  Butter would not be whole30 compliant so just in case you read wrong or she wrote wrong, butter must be clarified into ghee before use on Whole30...or just use some other type of fat.  

[Bluebonnets]

OK I have a similar question.  For breakfast, if I have 3 eggs and 1 c. spinach sautéed in ghee with 2 slices of bacon, is that the right amount of fat?

 

On W30, the bacon counts as fat, not protein, correct?

[Physibeth]

OK I have a similar question.  For breakfast, if I have 3 eggs and 1 c. spinach sautéed in ghee with 2 slices of bacon, is that the right amount of fat?

 

On W30, the bacon counts as fat, not protein, correct?

 

That is probably plenty of fat yes. Depending on your hand size you may want to add another egg but you may not need to and you may want to add additional vegetables, but the fat is probably just about right.