You’ll often read about a single discovery that suddenly makes everyone switch to the next super food or condemn a specific food. Fat is one of that received the most condemnation. Everyone suddenly got on the “eliminate fat train” and forgot that healthy slimming fat is part of the group. In order to understand the condemnation of fat and why some is good, you have to know there are all types of fat.
Saturated fat versus unsaturated fat in the war for good health.
The two main categories of fat include saturated and unsaturated. Within those groups, there are even further divisions. Unsaturated fat tends to be the heroes of good health with the saturated fats playing the foes. Unsaturated fat includes Omega3 fatty acids, which are the true heroes of healthy eating. It’s a poly unsaturated fat. The best way to get this is eating fatty fish, such as salmon, but you can also get it from flaxseed and walnuts. Monounsaturated fight right along with the polyunsaturated fats to help you keep healthier and are in foods like olive oil, cashew, avocados and pumpkin seeds. Bad fats, such as transfat and some saturated fats definitely aren’t your friend. The worst of the worst is artificial trans fats that were popular because human engineering gave them a longer shelf life.
When you eat healthy fat, it actually helps you lose weight in a number of ways.
While a diet solely of healthy fats, such as cashews and avocados, would be disastrous and leave you malnourished, mixing in healthy fat with your diet can help you shed those extra pounds. Healthy fat leaves you feeling full, but doesn’t add all the calories that it would take for carbohydrates to leave you feeling satiated. It also doesn’t raise the insulin levels.
Your body can burn fat more efficiently when you have healthy fat available.
A diet lower in fat reduces the production of the hormones adipokines. One of those, adiponectin, helps your body metabolize fat and increases the rate that it breaks down fat. Since the goal is to burn fat, you want to maintain higher levels. A low or no fat diet lowers the level, making it harder to shed those extra pounds. In fact, one study shows that a low or no fat diet actually made people fatter.
– A diet that has adequate monounsaturated fat can actually lower the potential for fat building in the abdominal area and help eliminate belly fat.
– Healthy fat is not only good for weight loss, it’s brain healthy too. Many sources of healthy fat also are nutrient rich, making it a healthy option for all parts of the body.
– You’ll get a boost of energy without all the extra calories from healthy foods that are sources of good fat.
– A study from the British Journal of Nutrition published in 2009 found that people who had the highest consumption of unsaturated fatty acid also had lower BMIs. They had limited belly fat too.