The Truth about Fat and Weight Loss
A lot of people who are trying to lose weight and get fit think that fat is a bad word. When it comes to dieting most of us think that fat should be off limits. The assumption is that if you eat fat, you will be fat. Obviously we know that there is a link between saturated fat and heart disease and the synthetically engineered trans fats are even worse.
According to Jennifer McLagan, author of Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient “We need to rethink our relationship with fat. After decaded of low-fat propaganda, most of what we think we know about fat just isn’t true.”
- All animal fats are saturated. Wrong!
- Eating fat makes us fat. Wrong!
- A low fat diet is good for us. Wrong!
The truth is that some fat is absolutely necessary to be healthy. If you have ever known someone who shunned all fat in their diets, their hair was probably limp and their skin most certainly didn’t have that specially glow. The, key, of course, is the right kinds of fat.
Focus your diet on fish, seeds sunflower oil, avocados, olives, peanuts and canola. This isn’t as complex as you might think. Start by cooking quinoa which has some healthy fat in it. Make a salad with diced avocado and top it with your favorite balsamic vinaigrette recipe and you’ve made a delicious meal loaded with healthy fats.
Fish are an especially good source of fat because they are high in omega 3 essential fatty acids, which your brain relies on. Some evidence has even suggested that omega 3 EFA’s can even help fight depression and heart disease. It is know that they fight inflammation within the body, which is the pre-cursor to many different diseases.
The key is to stick with natural healthy fats and shun synthetically made fats, which have been linked to cancer and are known to be quite unstable. Also be careful with oils which when heated to smoking point can oxidize and fill your body with dangerous free radicals.