Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

2

So, as I read more and more here (and learn more and more), I'm becoming frustrated that things I want to track (in particular PUFAs and Omega 3s and 6s) aren't on nutritional labels.

The Omegas just aren't on there that I can see, and even resources like skipthepie.org seem to be more focused on packaged foods than real foods.

As for the PUFAs, the labels have:

Total Fat and a percentage (say, 10%) As subheadings, there are saturated fats (6%) and transfats (0%) (with percentages). Sometimes I'll see a line for monounsaturated.

So... a) why are PUFAs not on there? b) are PUFAs the difference? In my example 4%?

I've been using MyFitnessPal to track, and it allows for tracking PUFAs, so it's really only an issue when they don't have a particular food and I have to create it in their database. (It doesn't track the Omega 3/6, though, which is irritating.)

thanks in advance!

flag	asked Aug 9 2011 at 0:52 Paleo-ish 591●2●8

Travis Culp · Answer 1 · 2011-08-09 00:58:06Z UTC

4

It might be worthwhile to gradually move away from any and all packaged food and just prepare your food from ingredients that you trust.

That being said, the companies themselves will sometimes post more complete nutritional info on their websites.

If that fails, just avoid the ingredients that are likely to have high n6, such as seed oils, conventional chicken, pork fat etc.

answered Aug 9 2011 at 0:58

Travis Culp♦
39.8k●1●32●134

	Thanks. We're 90+ percent unprocessed, but some things still come in packages. Fage yogurt, for example, and tuna and bacon (would that I could afford only fresh fish). And the "real" (ha!) mayo that I threw out, but still checked the label. Reading the label of those pointed out the gap re the fats and the absence re the omegas. Sorry if I was unclear; I didn't intend to ask about the "what" to eat, but just about the "how" of labeling, and if I was missing some information source. – Paleo-ish Aug 9 2011 at 3:45
	I just use this: nutritiondata.self.com which is a dressed up version of the USDA database. It works for most things, but most of the stuff I search for is a whole food anyway. – Travis Culp♦ Aug 9 2011 at 17:40

mari · Answer 2 · 2011-08-09 01:03:20Z UTC

a) Pufas aren't required to be on there, so they often aren't. They aren't considered to be detrimental to health like saturated and trans fats so they just don't have to be on there if the company doesn't want them to be.

b)Pufas are probably some of the difference, but there's also monounsaturated fat. You can't tell how much of each unless its specifically labeled.

Like Travis said though, avoid the high pufa foods and you should be fine. Don't eat anything with vegetable oil in it (that includes soybean oil, canola oil, safflower oil, corn oil, etc.).

turkeytyme · Answer 3 · 2011-08-09 05:21:31Z UTC

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One of the biggest reason we are so out of balance is that processed foods almost always have soybean oil in them, which is high in omega-6's. Stop eating processed foods and eat good oils in the foods you prepare yourself. Problem solved.

answered Aug 9 2011 at 5:21

turkeytyme
4,123●6●18

I appreciate all the answers about what I should be eating, but I swear that's not the starting point of my question! We don't eat soybean oil, we rarely eat processed, I cook primarily with coconut oil or saved bacon grease, we buy grass fed, organic, etc. I'm just intellectually curious about how the labeling works (and how the fats break down). As it stands, I find the labeling system ridiculous as it clearly doesn't give you enough information. But I also feared that I was wrong, and somehow the information re PUFAs and Omegas were hidden in the label somewhere. – Paleo-ish Aug 9 2011 at 23:03

Hack my labeling ignorance

3 Answers