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My name's Christine Marquette and I'm a registered dietitian with the Austin Regional Clinic
and I'm going to talk to you about a low fat diet and breast feeding. While breast feeding,
dieting, generally, is not recommended because the mother actually does have higher caloric
requirements, than when she is not breast feeding. Typically, low fat diet, in particular,
is not recommended because, again, the mother does need to have a good energy supply. So,
what is recommended, if this particular mother is trying to loose weight and has a medical
reason for loosing weight, is just to make sure that she is following a balanced diet,
making sure that she still is including some healthy fats, sources, such as, canola oil
for cooking, olive oil for salads, nuts and seeds, peanut butter, or fish, these are all
very healthy sources of fats that can be included. The fats that should be limited would be saturated
and trans fats. The saturated fats are going to be found in the skin of chicken and full
fat dairy products, fat in meat, as well as, fats in other items such as eggs. Again, these
things don't need to be avoided, they just need to be limited and, for meats, they just
need to be removed. Trans fat is the fat that truly needs to be avoided. This particular
fat is not a natural fat and it doesn't have a use in our body that's healthy. It can actually
cause a decrease in our good cholesterol and a increase in our bad cholesterol. So, trans
fat is the only fat that truly needs to be avoided, otherwise, a mother just needs to
follow a moderate fat diet, meaning up to thirty percent of her total daily calories
can come from healthy sources of fat. So, again, a low fat diet is, generally, not recommended
for a mother who is breast feeding.