Here Is Why You Need To Eat Fat If You Want To Lose Weight

For years, we’ve had it all wrong! We’ve been avoiding fat completely in an effort to improve our health and lose weight. Well, turns out, the key to losing weight — and reducing the risk of heart disease — may actually be eating fat!

This doesn’t mean you can go out and start drenching your meals in butter, we are talking about very specific fats, namely  monounsaturated fats (MUFAs) and  polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs), which include omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.

For too long we’ve been depriving ourselves of these healthy, “good” fats. Unsaturated fats are loaded with antioxidants like vitamin E and can even lower bad cholesterol levels and reduce your risk of heart disease. Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids help keep our heart and immune system working as they should. If weight loss is your goal, MUFAs can actually help you burn fat! (Need a plan that will help you add healthy fats to your diet? Check out the 30 day BodyRock Meal Plan).

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While your focus should be on getting MUFAs and PUFAs in your diet, a little bit of saturated fat may also be helpful. Recent research has found that the saturated fat found in meat, cheese, and milk, are not as harmful as we once believed. Analysis has shown no correlation between a high saturated fat diet and an increased risk of heart disease. Coconut oil, for example, is a plant-based saturated fat and it has been show to actually raise the level of good cholesterol in the body. Having said all that, it is still advisable to limit your saturated fat intake.

Eating fats, in general, should be done in moderation. All fats, good and bad, are high in calories. Based on a 2,000 calorie a day diet, guidelines suggest you should consume no more than 65 grams of fat a day. Registered dietitian, Julie Upton, suggests replacing foods that are low in quality carbs and high in saturated fat with foods that are high in MUFAs and PUFAs in order to accommodate the extra calories.

Does this news about fats come as a surprise or have you already started to make the adjustment?

Source: POPSUGAR

 

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