Most people will reduce or eliminate fat from their weight loss diet, mistakenly thinking that you will put on weight eating fat. Actually, it is the right type of fats that you should be looking at. When you eat good fats, you can lose weight.
What are good fats?
Good fats are essential fatty acids. The word essential means that the body needs the nutrients for all cellular functions but cannot manufacture them on its own. Therefore, we need to obtain them from the food we eat.
There are 2 types of essential fatty acids:
- Alpha Linolenic Acid ( ALA) – a type of Omega-3 fatty acids
- Linoleic Acid (LA) – a type of Omega-6 fatty acids
Other Omega-3 fatty acids such as the EPA ( Eicosapentaenoic acid ) and DHA (Dodosahexaenoic acid) can be manufactured in the body from ALA.
Where to you find good fats?
Food source of ALA and LA are flaxseed, flaxseed oil, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, leafy green vegetables and walnuts.
Most vegetable cooking oils are rich in Omega-6; canola oil, sunflower oil, soya bean oil, corn oil. However, as these oils are highly processed, most essential nutrients are destroyed or lost during processing.
Moreover, a small amount of toxic chemicals are produced as a by-product of the oil processing in the factory. Therefore, when too much cooking oil is consumed over a period of time, the toxic chemicals cause diseases in the body.
Our modern-day diet rich in fried and processed food leads to a high ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 (14-25 to 1) being consumed. Ideally, we should target for a ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 at 2.5 to 1. That means reduce intake of fried food and processed food. Do more steaming and boiling instead.
How does good fats lose weight?
1) Fat burning
Omega-3 helps to increase energy production by helping the cells obtain more oxygen. Increasing oxygen intake increase the metabolic rate and this helps to burn more calories and fat.
Omega-3 causes a reduction of insulin level by 50%. Lowering insulin will increase the use of fat for fuel and reduce fat storage in the presence of excess calories.
2) Water retention
ALA and LA essential fatty acids help the kidney to remove excess water retained in the cells and tissues. This reduces water retention, which forms part of the body weight.
3) Reduce cravings
When the body does not receive sufficient nutrients, it creates cravings to trigger you to eat more. So, when eat the wrong food such as refined carbohydrates or sugar, it triggers a cycle of continuous cravings and starvation of nutrients. Feed the body with the essential nutrients and the cravings will stop.
4) Elevate mood
When people are depressed, they tend to overeat and put on weight. Essential fatty acids elevate mood and lift depression. ALA and LA the basic building blocks of the brain and nerve cells. The brain cells membrane contains 20% essential fatty acids, which are crucial to keeping brain signals moving smoothly.
What are the evidences?
A study reported in the International Journal of Obesity of 2 groups of obese volunteers were fed exactly the same diet of 6 g fat daily; one group was fed with fats from butter, olive oil, sunflower oil and peanut oil while another group was fed with Omega-3 fish oil.
The group fed on 6 g of fish oil daily achieved reduction of 2 lb of body fat and a basal metabolic rate of 1775 calories compared to the other group fed on normal fat achieved a reduction of 0.7 lb of body fat and a basal metabolic rate of 1710 calories. This is 25% higher in reduction of body fat per day.
Go ahead to start eating the good fats and be on your way to burning more body fats and losing weight.
How much good fat are you eating now? Share with me in the comment box below
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