Fact: Healthy Carbs are Critical to a Healthy Metabolism and Weight Loss

Eating enough high quality carbs helps to elevate metabolism, control appetite, and sustain the kind of healthy body that easily keeps weight off. So how many carbs is enough? Your Health and Fitness Action Plan includes nutrition guidelines on balancing carbs with fat and protein in your diet. To learn more about choosing quality carbs, check out Nutrition, Energy, and Mood, Choosing Healthy Food, and Eating for Performance.

Fiction: Fat is Bad for You

People are gradually waking up to the idea that not all fat is bad for you. The low fat movement of the 1980’s led to our current obesity epidemic, prompting scientists to question weather low fat diets are really a good idea. Studies of cultures like Greece and the Alaskan Inuit revealed low rates of heart disease and obesity in spite of higher fat diets. This led to the realization that some fats are actually good for you. Olive oil and omega 3 fats (available in cold water fish – especially Alaskan salmon) have received a lot of positive press in recent years, and for good reason. These are the healthiest fats you can put in your body. Even saturated fats, once cast as the worst possible things you could eat, have begun to receive vindication. Recent studies have indicated that saturated fat intake has little or no effect on heart disease. The fact of the matter is that most natural sources of fat are good for you in moderation. Olive oil and fish fats should be staples of most people’s diets (if you don’t like fish, supplement with fish oil). Almond oil and coconut oil are two healthy oils that are under consumed. Saturated animal fats have their place as well. Even bacon, beef, and full fat cheese can be part of a healthy diet as long as they come from a quality source. Choose organic bacon, grass fed beef (organic if possible) and raw milk cheese (again, organic is best).

Unnatural fats are the most important fats to eliminate from your diet. These fats, so called trans fats, are found in many processed foods. Be on the lookout for any kind of hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil. Canola oil, often mistakenly branded as a healthy fat because it shares some characteristics with olive oil, is also best avoided. In its natural form canola oil is violently toxic. The canola oil in stores is from plants specially bred to reduce the levels of toxic compounds (These plants were bred because canola oil is cheap to produce and can be passed off as olive oil).  But the basic truth of the matter is that human beings are not meant to be eating canola oil, so it’s probably best not to. Palm kernel oil, which is so often hydrogenated,  is another unhealthy fat that should largely be avoided. A number of vegetable fats such as soy oil, safflower oil, and peanut oil are also best eaten in strict moderation.

Fact: Fat Helps you Stay Full, Nourishes Your Brain, and is Critical for the Health of Your Heart and Your Entire Body