Dietary Fats - Friend or Foe?

There is a lot of mythology out there about fats, good fats, and bad fats. If you are going to start any exercise program to lose weight, you can help yourself immensely by knowing what kinds of food are good to eat, and what kind to avoid. Exercises to lose weight are no good unless you at least make an effort to change your underlying eating habits.

First off all, all fats are not bad. A few years ago there was a huge "fat free" craze. Everything that had was labeled "fat free" was considered to be automatically healthy.

What is most dangerous about this idea is that many of these foods are actually very bad for you. Any simple carbohydrate, like bread or sugar, if eaten too much will be stored as energy.

And guess how your body stores energy? You guessed it, as body fat. I think we have enough of that stuff.

So even if you ate a completely fat diet for six months, but did nothing but sit in front of the TV all day, you wouldn't really be in all that great of shape.

It's no wonder then, that while this "fat free" craze was sweeping the nation, we were getting fatter and fatter.

The paradox about eating fat is that it entices your body to burn it's stored fat for energy as well as the fat you are eating, provided you are eating the right kind of fat.

There's some exciting new research being done on this hormone called "leptin" which many believe is a great trigger that sets of the burning of body fat for energy. And more and more people are starting to acknowledge that the increase in production of leptin in your body is, at least in some part, helped out by the consumption of certain fats.

But not all fats are created equal. There are healthy fats, and unhealthy fats. Healthy fats are fantastic for your body, and can help to balance out your cholesterol, and are believed by some to keep your arteries in check as well as many other added benefits, including keeping your brain and immune system in tip top shape.

So what are some healthy fats?

Fatty fish, avocados, almonds, olive oil, grape seed oil.

The famous Mediterranean diet, which is know for extreme low rates of heart disease, contains many of the above fats in healthy doses.

How about some unhealthy fats?

Animal fat, and any fat that is solid at room temperature. Many restaurants unfortunately use these kinds of fats because they keep longer, and are easier to use in cooking. Anything fried in a restaurant, fast food or otherwise, is filled with unhealthy fats.

Also animal fat, butter, milk fat are in this group of fats you should be avoiding.

If you liked this article, then you'll love this new program which shows you how to use all this information to powerfully blast off stomach fat and create the body you want. Click on the link below to find out more.