Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Cutting Through The Fat

Most fat is not good for your diet, and trans fat is dangerous to your heart. Cutting fat from your diet does not just help you keep your waistline; it helps you prolong your life. It is important to realize that there are healthy fats and the body needs a certain amount of fat each day. Determine you calorie needs, based upon carbohydrates, protein, and fats and then aim for the required fat amounts each day. Choosing foods with healthy fat will go a long way and helps ensure that you are not consuming the wrong type of fat.

Knowing the properties of the food you eat is an important step in reducing fat. If you love a food, but it has a high amount of fat, then look for low fat, healthy alternatives. The best way to learn the nutritional content of food is by reading food labels. Pay close attention, however, to labels that state 0 trans fat. Many times these foods do have small amounts of trans fat and if consumed in large amounts, that fat adds up. If you have not noticed by now, there are a lot of restaurants showing their nutritional values as of late, but if you want to continue to go to your favorites restaurants, I suggest that you do not read them. If you care about your body and what you put in it, then I suggest you take a look, you will be amazed how much bad fat and sodium is in the food. There are a few restraints that I stay away from now.

When it comes to dieting, it is important to understand that the body uses fuel from three sources: sugars, carbohydrates, and fats. Sugar is the first source that is burned for fuel, followed by carbohydrates, and then fat. This means that if you have a large amount of your calories coming from fat, you are at a greater risk to storing those calories as fat. By reducing your fat content, you will burn calories more efficiently.

If the focus on diet and nutrition is placed solely on reducing fat grams to lose weight you might be disappointed. Recent studies and weight gain trends show that reducing fat alone is not enough to lose weight. The goal is to monitor all of your calories and create a plan that focuses not solely on fat, but on carbohydrates, proteins, and sugar as well.

If you drink milk, choose low fat versions to cut back on fat grams. Substituting butter, margarine, or mayonnaise with low fat alternatives will go a long way. Choose olive or canola oil as these are healthier sources of fats. When eating foods that are sources of fat, choose those that are high in Omega 3 oils. Healthy fats must be included in the diet but the key is moderation. By knowing the best fats to eat and incorporating a variety of ways to reduce fat in your diet you can lose weight and protect your health.

Workouts that have great nutrition plans are the P90x workout and the Slim in six.

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