1. 3 “FATTY” Fat Burning Foods that Can Help You
Get a Flat Stomach
By Mike Geary, Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist
Author of the best-seller -- The Truth about Six Pack Abs
At this point, the anti-fat propaganda has died and almost everybody
understands by now that eating fat doesn't necessarily make you fat. In
fact, it's absolutely imperative to get enough healthy fats in your diet to
keep your hormones balanced, blood sugar under control, and prevent
cravings. Here are 7 examples of "fatty" foods that can actually HELP
you to get lean...
1. Super Dark Chocolate (at least 72% cacao content or higher) - It
might not be a secret anymore, but yes, dark chocolate (NOT milk
chocolate) can be a very healthy food, even though it is technically
calorie dense.
However, I would contend that dark chocolate can actually HELP you
to burn off more body fat if you're the type of person that has a sweet
tooth and likes to eat a lot of desserts. In this case, just 1 or 2 small
squares of dark chocolate can many times satisfy your sweet tooth for
only 30 or 40 calories as opposed to 500 calories for a piece of
chocolate cake or a piece of pie.
Also some brands of dark chocolate that are in the mid 70's in % cacao
content or higher, can have a fairly high ratio of fiber content (I've seen
some brands have 5 grams of fiber out of 15 grams of total carbs per
serving), and relatively low sugar content compared to the amount of
healthy fats. In fact, that's one of the "tricks" I use to select a good
2. quality chocolate... I look for more total fat than total carbs (or about the
same number of grams of each).
The importance of that fact is that it means many dark chocolates will not
greatly affect your blood sugar and will have a fairly blunted blood sugar
response compared to other "sweets".
In addition, dark chocolate is also very rich in healthful antioxidants,
including a powerful compound called theobromine which has been
shown to help lower blood pressure and have other health benefits. The
fat content in a good dark chocolate should come solely from the natural
healthy fats occurring in cocoa butter and not from any other added fats.
Any chocolates with added fats or other additives will generally not be as
healthy.
The reason I say to choose dark chocolates with at least 72% cacao
content is that the higher the % of cacao, the lower the % of sugar.
However, this does mean that any chocolate over 80% cacao content
will generally start to get a more bitter taste and have very little
sweetness. If you like this type of taste, then the higher % cocao, the
better. Otherwise, a good 75% dark chocolate is in my opinion an almost
perfect combination of lightly sweet with a rich chocolate taste. Just
remember to keep those daily quantities of chocolate small as it is
calorie dense!
You can also reap the benefits of the antioxidants and fiber without all of
the calories by using organic unsweetened cocoa powder in your
smoothies or other recipes.
2. Coconut milk, coconut flour, and coconut oil -- Coconut milk and
oil are great sources of a super healthy type of saturated fat
3. called medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), including a component called
lauric acid, which is a powerful nutrient for your immune system, and is
lacking in most western diets. In addition, MCTs are readily used for
energy by the body and less likely to be stored as bodyfat compared to
other types of fats.
Along with coconut milk and coconut oil as healthy fat choices, we've
also got coconut flour as a healthier flour option for baking. Coconut flour
is an extremely high fiber flour alternative (almost ALL of the carbs in this
flour are fiber and not starch!). Coconut flour is also VERY high in
protein compared to most flours and is also gluten free!
Just beware that if you're going to use coconut flour for baking, it
absolutely NEEDS to be mixed with other flours as it sucks up moisture
like crazy... I've made delicious baked goods by mixing coconut flour
with almond flour and quinoa flour in equal parts, and adding slightly
more liquid ingredients than the recipe calls for.
3. Grass-fed (pasture-raised) butter -- yes, delicious smooth and rich
BUTTER (real butter, not deadly margarine!)... It's delicious, contains
loads of healthy nutritional factors, and does NOT have to be avoided in
order to get lean. In fact, I eat a couple pats of grass-fed butter daily and
maintain single digit bodyfat most times of the year.
There's a lot of confusion about this topic... in fact, I just saw a TV show
today that was talking about unhealthy foods and one of the first things
they showed was butter. It just shows that the majority of the population
has zero idea that butter (grass-fed only!) can actually be a healthy part
of your diet.
In fact, there's even ample evidence that REAL butter can even help
you to lose body fat for a couple of main reasons:
4. a. Grass-fed butter is known to have high levels of a healthy fat called
CLA, which has been shown to have anti-cancer properties, and also
has been shown to help burn abdominal fat and build lean muscle.
b. Grass-fed butter also has an ideal balance of omega-3 to omega-6
fatty acids (unlike conventional grain-fed butter) which helps fight
inflammation in your body, and can help balance hormones.
c. The healthy fats in grass-fed butter also contain MCTs, which help
to boost your immune system and are readily burned by the body for
energy. The healthy fats in grass-fed butter also help to satisfy your
appetite and control blood sugar levels, both of which help you to stay
lean!
If you have a hard time finding a grass-fed butter at your grocery
store, Kerrygold Irish butter is one of my favorites, and even though
the label doesn't clearly state "grass-fed", the cows are 100% grass-fed
on lush green pastures in Ireland. It's one of the richest butters in color
that I've seen, which indicates high levels of carotenoids.
I hope you enjoyed this look at some of the healthiest "fatty" fat-burning
foods you can possibly eat. I could list a ton more, but wanted to give
you a few of my favorites for now. Enjoy!
More foods that
fight stomach fat:
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