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Low Fat and Fat-Free Foods Everywhere you look, it seems that "low fat" foods abound. While there are certain low-fat or no-fat foods that we are going to eat, you don't want to restrict yourself to a totally no-fat diet. There are certain fats that are good fats, and other that are bad fats. We're going to want to eat good fats because they are necessary for proper health. Bad fats, however, will make you fat. There are tons of fad "no-fat" diets out there that have promoted the whole "low-fat" mentality. What's happened? People are still continuing to get fat eating "fat-free" foods. They eat fat-free cookies, fat-free chips, and fat-free dairy products, yet they keep getting fatter. Why? Many fat-free foods have nearly as many calories as their full-fat versions. Just look at something simple like regular milk. Whole milk (full milk fat) has 150 calories per cup. 2% "low fat" milk has 121. If you drink 4 cups of 2% milk per day, that's still 484 calories. Yes, it's better than the 600 calories from the full-fat milk, but you're still consuming a good number of calories. Remember: calories in - calories out = weight gain or loss. Now, you start eating "fat free" potato chips thinking to yourself that you can splurge... hey, why not? They're "fat free." Well, you still load on the calories with fat-free potato chips. It's the calories that make you fat. In fact, when food manufacturers remove fat from their products, often times they replace the fat with sugar to improve the taste. Guess what... by adding sugar, they're bringing the calorie count almost back up to where the full-fat product was. We need fat. Fat forms lining of the cell membranes in almost every cell of our bodies. Your brain is composed primarily of fat. If you don't eat enough of the right kinds of fat, your brain will not get the proper nutrition to function. Eating too little fat can also reduce your testosterone levels (equally important for women as for men). Different Types of Fats What we think of as "fat" is actually a substance made up of smaller fatty acids. Some of these acids are good for you, and some are bad. Some promote heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and stroke. Some prevent it. Some are more likely to be stored immediately as body fat, others are likely to be readily burned as fuel. Unfortunately, the typical American diet is loaded with the wrong kinds of fat. Now, these fats are broken up into a few groups. Essentially you have saturated and unsaturated fats. The designation has to do with the carbon atoms and the placement and nature of their molecular bonds - which we're not going to go into here. Just keep in mind that saturated fats are generally bad, and unsaturated fats are generally good. Saturated fats have a cousin, called Trans Fats. These are man-mad, hybrid, mutated zombie fats that are evil. Unsaturated fats can be broken down into Polyunsaturated and Monounsaturated. Do you have to remember all of this? Not really. Saturated Fats Saturated Fats are bad for you. They are found mostly in beef, milk, cheese, deli meats, butter, and some tropical oils. Saturated fats increase your risk of coronary artery disease, diabetes, and obesity. Avoid or minimize saturated fat intake. Try to eat low-fat meats like chicken and turkey without the skin, and reduced-fat dairy products. If you're eating red mean, get the lowest-fat, leanest meat you can. Trans Fats are extremely bad for you. You should completely eliminate all foods with trans fats in them from your diet. These types of unnatural fats are created during food manufacturing processes such as the hydrogenation of vegetable oil. They are usually found in pastries, buns, chips, doughnuts, shortening, and other such foods. If the label says "trans fat" put that product back on the shelf. If the ingredients of any product say "partially hydrogenated" anywhere on it - put it back. One example: margarine! It's evil. It's loaded with trans-fatty acids. Avoid it at all costs. Also avoid vegetable shortening, commercial pasties, deep-fried food, and most prepared snacks, mixes, and convenience foods. Studies have shown that saturated and trans fats are actually addictive and make you want to eat more. They have also been linked to all kinds of health problems from cancer and heart disease to diabetes. Unsaturated Fats Unsaturated Fats are generally good for you. These types of fats are usually found in nuts, seeds, and grains. Mono-unsaturated fats, such as the types found in olive and canola oil, will actually protect your cardiovascular system from disease. These are the types of fats we're going to load into our diet. Omega Fats Omega fats are unsaturated fats that are not only good for you, but they're essential for your health. Your body cannot create these fats, so you must get them totally from your diet. Omega fats are helpful for many reasons, plus they are necessary for normal cell growth and development. First, Omega fats are an excellent appetite suppressant. Part of the reason why people binge on "fat-free" foods is because fat is what makes your stomach "feel full." If you aren't eating any fat in your meal, your stomach never tells your brain that you're full. Add a little good fat to your meal, and you'll feel full with less food. Eating Omega fats helps your body to unlock stored fat so that you can use it for energy. Omega fat balances your body's ratio of insulin to glucagon. When you eat sugary foods, your body releases insulin to remove the excess sugar from your system. If you do this too often, the insulin will block the hormone glucagon - which is another hormone that functions to help your body burn fat. Too much sugar = too much insulin = not enough glucagon = little fat burning. Plus, you are at risk for diabetes. Omega fats help to balance this ratio. Omega fats help to boost your body's metabolic rate. This also helps you to burn more calories. Omega fats are the building blocks of your cells. Your cell membranes consist of Omega fats. Since they cannot be created by the body, you must get them from your diet. Omega 3 Fatty Acid is obtained from flax seeds or flax seed oil. This will be the primary fat that we'll add to our meals. You can use it on salads and in breads, add it to soups and yogurt. Don't cook with it, however, as the heat will change it's chemical properties. You will also find good doses of Omega 3 in most seafood, green leavy vegetables, fatty fish (salmon, tuna, trout, mackerel), walnuts, olive, and canola oil. Omega 6 Fatty Acid is plentiful in our diets already. You will get it from many store-bought products because Omega 6 is found in corn - and so much of our American diet is corn based. Don't add more Omega 6 to your diet, as you probably get enough already. Avoid oils that are high in Omega 6, such as corn, safflower, soybean, and cottonseed oils. Omega 9 Fatty Acid is found in olive oil, peanuts, almonds, and other nuts. This is the second-best fat to add to your diet because it enhances your use of Omega 3. You should use Olive Oil or Canola Oil for cooking instead of Vegetable Oil. Flax Seeds & Flax Oil You need to keep some fat in your diet, as we've already discussed. Flax oil contains the perfect amount of the Omega fats for your body - especially if you're trying to lose weight. It has plenty of Omega 3 and Omega 9, which is what we're concentrating on adding to our diets. While you can take flax oil as a supplement, I recommend buying it in liquid form. You'll find it in most major supermarkets or health-food stores. It needs to be kept cold, so look in the refrigerators. I will warn you that it's a little pricey - a small 8oz bottle costs $10 to $15. However, you don't need much of it... a tablespoon per day is plenty. I love to add it to my salads, oatmeal, soups, protein shakes, with bread, on rice, or just about anything. Remember, add a little flax oil (fat) to your foods and you'll not only be getting the extra health benefits of the Omega fatty acids, but you'll become "full" faster because of the extra fat you're eating. However, don't go overboard. A tablespoon of flax oil has 110 calories... but they're good calories. Good v. Bad Fats
Keep in mind that you need fats in your diet, but even the good fats listed above have a good amount of calories in them - so take it easy! A tablespoon of olive oil, for example, as 100 calories. Almonds (which I love to snack on) have 6 calories a piece. Nuts are a great, healthy-fat snack - but just make sure to take a small handful not the whole bag! Rick's Tips on Fat You won't get fat from eating fat. This is a common misconception. Remember, getting fat is a result of eating more calories than you burn off. Plain and simple. Now, fat is a very calorie-dense food. In other words, if you are eating foods that are high in fat (even good foods like almonds) then you don't need very many of them to pack on serious calories - as opposed to, say, eating celery which has almost no fat. Also, if you eat the wrong kinds of fat, your body is more likely to store it as body fat than if you eat the right kinds of fat. We'll talk more about this in the next section - but it's calories that make you fat. You need some fat in your diet. Think like a cave man. Humans have existed for millions of years. For the vast majority of our history, we were hunters and gatherers. Humans adapted (evolved) to the conditions of their diets over those millions of years... meaning, our bodies expect to be fed the same balance of nutrients found in the wild plants and game that our ancestors ate. This means that our bodies expect foods like nuts, berries, green leafy vegetables, carrots, and meat from lean, free-ranging game animals - not french fries and a Big Mac. Our ancestors also ate more fish and nuts than we do. They didn't have the technology to harvest grain or dairy products, yet these foods make up a significant portion of our diets today.We didn't evolve to eat these kinds of foods - that's why they make us fat. You eat what the chickens and cows eat. What do free-range chickens and cows eat? Grass, insects, worms, green-leavy vegetables. Yet, what are chickens and cows raised by commercial farms fed? Cornmeal. Why? It's cheaper.Remember, you eat whatever that animal ate. Since the chickens and cows aren't eating their normal diet, you're not getting normal chicken and cow meat. Remember, Omega 3 fats are found in green leafy vegetables. Omega 6 fats are found in corn-based products. Guess what? If you're eating chickens and cows that were fed cornmeal, you're eating the wrong kind of fat. What's the problem with corn? Corn is lacking in Omega 3 fat and very high in Omega 6 fat. Corn oil is something that is a new invention in our diets - we didn't have the technology to harvest corn oil until relatively recently in the 20th century. We process tons of corn at a time with high-temperature, high-pressure, and chemicals. Unfortunately, diets high in corn oil have shown an increase in heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and stoke. However, you don't hear about this on the news. Why? Corn is a very large part of the American diet. Corn products go into tons of different foods. Do you really think the food manufacturers want you to know this? Canola Oil for Cooking. Don't use vegetable oil, shortening, or butter for cooking. Use canola oil. Again, canola oil has less saturated fat, and more of the good Omega fats. Canola oil also has a lower "smoke point" than olive oil... so it's better for cooking with. Olive oil tends to get all smokey and bubbley when you cook with it. My rule: use canola for cooking; olive oil for seasoning after you cook or on uncooked foods.
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