Читать книгу The Ultimate PCOS Handbook: Lose weight, boost fertility, clear skin and restore self-esteem - Theresa Cheung - Страница 84

To limit your intake of saturated fats, choose low-fat dairy products, spreads, white meat and fish and lean cuts of red meat.

Transfatty acids are harder to avoid than saturated fats because they’re hidden in margarines, processed foods and snack foods such as biscuits, cakes and crisps. If you’re upping your intake of whole foods and fibre and cutting down on sugar and refined carbohydrates, you may already have cut down on the transfats. Instead of margarine it might be better to go for a small amount of spreadable butter.

Increase your intake of Omega 6 and Omega 3. You’re less likely to be deficient in Omega 6 because it’s more common in Western diets and found in foods such as leafy green vegetables and soy, olive, sunflower and sesame oils. Omega 3s are less common and found in the oils of cold-water fish (such as mackerel, salmon, herring and sardines) as well as in hemp seeds, flaxseeds, soy oil, nuts and seeds.

Aim to eat oily fish at least twice a week, but not more than four times a week. If you don’t eat fish you can eat sea vegetables (sea weeds) and up your intake of hemp seeds and flaxseeds. Flaxseeds and hemp seeds are a great source of Omega 3. You might like to try a daily dose of 3 teaspoons of cold-pressed flaxseed oil or 3 tablespoons of ground flaxseed. You can also use hemp and flaxseeds in salad dressings and smoothies or sprinkled on cereals.

Use only cold-pressed vegetable oils. Of the readily available vegetable oils, only three contain both Omega 3 and Omega 6: flaxseed, hempseed and soy oil, so aim to use these. Other oils such as olive and sunflower do contain Omega 6, but not enough Omega 3.

Nuts such as walnuts, almonds, pecans, brazils and cashews, and seeds such as pumpkin, sunflower, hemp and sesame are good sources of EFAs, so try to eat a handful every day, perhaps as a snack between meals or sprinkled on your salads, soups or cereals. You can also use them in baking.

Finally, avoiding processed and refined foods is a great way to ensure you get more EFAs in your diet, as highly processed foods block the absorption of EFAs.