Fat is a component in food. Some foods, including most fruits
and vegetables, have almost no fat. Other foods have plenty of
fat. They include nuts, oils, butter, and meats like beef. The
name — fat — may make it sound like something you shouldn't eat.
But fat is an important part of a healthy diet. And little kids,
especially, need a certain amount of fat in their diets so the
brain and nervous system develop correctly. That's why toddlers
need to drink whole milk, which has more fat, and older kids can
drink low-fat or skim milk. Doing the Math How much fat should
you eat? Experts say kids older than 2 should get about 30% of
their daily calories from fat. Here's how that works. Every day,
you eat a certain amount of calories. For instance, some kids
will eat 2,000 calories in a day. If 30% of 2,000 calories comes
from fat, that means that 600 calories will come from fat. You
can look at a food label to learn how many grams of fat are in a
serving of a food. Labels also list the total calories from fat.
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