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healthy fats

How to Beat Fat Cravings
healthy living

3 Ways to Beat Fat Cravings

Fat makes food taste good, but as we know, too much of this good thing is decidedly bad.
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Fat makes food taste good, but as we know, too much of this good thing is decidedly bad. A new study has even found that some people may be wired genetically to crave a higher amount of fatty foods than those who lack the fat-craving gene variation.

Whether or not you're wired to crave fat, being more conscious of how much you are consuming can help you reduce those cravings. Take control of your taste buds with these three ways to beat fat cravings.

  1. Make a "Do Not Order" list: I love this tip from Hungry Girl Lisa Lillien: never order your favorite unhealthy food when dining out. Even when you have the best intentions, you risk overindulging by finishing an entire restaurant-sized order of fries or heaping pile of buttery mashed potatoes. Save those fatty can't-stop-eating-it treats for your next home-cooked meal; you'll be able to make substitutions and tweak the recipe to make it healthier, and practice portion control.

Read on for more tips for beating your fat cravings.

List of Foods With Healthy Fats
Food

11 Ways to Eat More Healthy Fats

It's sad how fat has such a bad reputation.
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It's sad how fat has such a bad reputation. I used to think I should avoid all kinds of fat, but now I know that not all fats are the bad guys.

Healthy fats are the ones known as monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and omega-3 fatty acids. Don't worry about remembering their name, just know that the good-for-you fats help lower your LDL (bad) cholesterol and boost your HDL (good) cholesterol. Although these fats benefit our bodies, you don't want to go overboard. Limit your healthy fat intake to 30 percent of your total daily calories. So if you consume 1,800 calories a day, that's about 540 calories from fat or 60 grams each day.

If you're confused about which foods are in the group of healthy fats, check out the list below for some easy ways you can incorporate the good guys into your diet.

  1. Half an avocado topped with sunflower seeds — double bang for your buck.
  2. Add chopped olives to your salad or pizza.
  3. Drizzle olive oil on bread or grilled veggies.
  4. Make some popcorn on the stove using canola oil.
  5. Top cereal, oatmeal, or salad with walnuts.

Keep reading for more healthy fat ideas.

A List of Foods With Good Fats
Food

Fatty Foods Worth a Little Indulging!

Not all fats are bad for you; in fact, incorporating healthy fats into your diet can actually be good for you!
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healthy fatsNot all fats are bad for you; in fact, incorporating healthy fats into your diet can actually be good for you! The general rule of thumb is that good fats are liquid at room temperature and bad fats are solid at room temperature. Therefore, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats fall into the good fats category, while saturated and trans fats fall into the bad fats category. Unlike saturated fats, monounsaturated fats help lower LDL (bad) cholesterol, while boosting your HDL (good) cholesterol. Dietary fat is also good for us because it is one of three macronutrients that supports a number of our body's functions and provides us with energy.

Now for the fun stuff — the foods with all the healthy fats:

  • Avocados: Avocados contain monounsaturated fats (and antioxidants and beta carotene too!), which is said to help enhance memory and prevent heart disease. The recommended daily intake (RDI) of fat is 65 grams and one cup of avocado contains almost one third of your fat intake for a day, about 23 grams. So it's probably best to stick with eating just a half an avocado each day.

Keep reading for more healthy fatty foods!

Top 10 Vegetarian Sources of Omega-3s
healthy living

10 Fish-Free Ways to Eat Omega-3s

Since fish, a huge source of omega-3s, is off limits for vegetarians, they have to pay special attention to their diets in order to reach their daily quota.
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Since fish, a huge source of omega-3s, is off limits for vegetarians, they have to pay special attention to their diets in order to reach their daily quota. It's recommended to consume 1.1 grams of the heart-healthy fat daily. If you don't, symptoms like fatigue, poor memory, weakened immune system, dry skin, heart problems, and depression could plague you. For all you out there eating a plant-based diet, here are some animal-free sources of omega-3s.

  1. One tablespoon flaxseed oil: 7 grams
  2. One tablespoon chia seeds: 2.5 grams
  3. One tablespoon flaxseeds: 2.3 grams
  4. One tablespoon flaxmeal: 1.6 grams
  5. One tablespoon canola oil: 0.8 grams

To see the other five sources, keep reading.

Go Nuts! Eat Healthy Fats
almonds

Go Nuts! Eat Healthy Fats

Women are scared of FAT.
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Women are scared of FAT. We think that if we eat fat, we'll become fat. It's true that certain types of fat are unhealthy for us. Trans fat should be avoided like cigarettes. Also, foods high in saturated fat like butter, cream, sausage, bologna, and bacon can clog up your arteries, so moderation is key when it comes to those fats.

Then there are unsaturated fats. Nuts, olives, olive and canola oil, avocado, and pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds all contain these healthy fats. Some people avoid nuts like walnuts, almonds, cashews, and peanuts because of their high fat content, but most of the fat is monounsaturated (a kind of unsaturated fat) - which can actually lower LDL (bad) cholesterol and maintain HDL (good) cholesterol.

Besides lowering LDL cholesterol, nuts are great sources of protein, fiber, Vitamin E, magnesium, zinc, potassium, riboflavin, and selenium.

Fit's Tips: Try to include a variety of these heart healthy fats in your diet. You can replace unhealthy saturated fats with these healthy fats by spreading peanut or almond butter on your toast instead of butter. Also instead of adding chocolate chips to your cookies, add walnuts. You can also eat snacks that contain nuts such as LARABARs and KIND Fruit + Nut bars.

Source

Eat Fat - Burn Calories?
Olive Oil

Eat Fat - Burn Calories?

It may sound weird to include fat in your diet when most of us want to dissolve the fat we already have.
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It may sound weird to include fat in your diet when most of us want to dissolve the fat we already have.

A low-fat diet was all the craze, but studies now show that increasing your fat intake a little (to 30-35% of total calories) doesn't translate to bad news on the scale. By including healthy fats in your fiber-rich and lean protein diet, you may find it easier to lose weight permanently, stay fuller longer, and avoid the binging that packs on the extra pounds.

In order to burn calories effectively, you need to consume regular doses of healthy fats. Sorry to say - I'm not talking about junk foods that contain saturated or trans fat.

Some foods containing these good fats good-for-you-fats are nuts like walnuts and cashews, nut butters like peanut and almond, seeds like sesame and sunflower, salmon, avocado, flaxseed, green and black olives, and olive oil.

Fit's Tips: Snack on a handful of nuts to get your fill of healthy fats. Instead of buttering up your bread with dinner, try brushing on some olive oil.