Posts Tagged ‘Monounsaturated Fats’

7 Ways to Swap Fat Out of Your Diet

Saturday, May 7th, 2011

To have success on a fat loss diet, creating a calorie deficit through your food intake, exercise program or a combination of both is essential. If you want to see fat loss, you have to give the body a reason to start using up its body-fat stores as fuel. If you don’t, be prepared to struggle along, seeing only modest results at best.

One of the simplest ways to create a calorie deficit is to trim off some of the fat from your diet because, gram for gram, fat contains the most calories. If you can shave off even 25 grams of fat each day, that’s the equivalent of 225 calories, which would have you seeing almost half a pound of pure body fat loss each week.

Think eliminating 25 grams of fat will be quite the challenge? Think again. The following are some of the best ways to instantly cut fat from your diet and see great fat loss results quickly by swapping out bad fats for good fats — or not fat at all.

Fat swap: Choose skim milk instead of cream

The first simple change you can make to help shave off fat is to swap the cream you use in your morning cup of coffee for skim milk. Skim milk is virtually fat-free, thus, this move will save about 4 grams of fat per cup (based on a 30 ml cream serving).

If you find that milk doesn’t add enough flavor to your coffee, try some vanilla protein powder or one of the fat-free flavored creamers available — just make sure that it doesn’t contain too much added sugar.

Fat swap: Choose cottage cheese instead of cream cheese

Cream cheese is one of the most popular bagel spreads men use. Instead, try cottage cheese. You’ll save about 15 grams of fat in the process, assuming you use low-fat cottage cheese, and significantly boost the protein content of this meal.

If you need more flavor, try drizzling on some low-sugar maple syrup or sprinkling cinnamon over the top.

Fat swap: Choose ham on your pizza instead of pepperoni

Pizza can be a very high-fat choice if you’re not careful. By simply choosing ham as your meat source over pepperoni, you can save as much as 9 grams of fat per ounce of meat used.
Another great way to lighten the amount of fat with this meal is to ask for reduced-fat cheese or, if that’s not available, ask for less cheese than what they would normally put on.

Fat swap: Choose an egg white omelet instead of a regular egg omelet

A home-cooked omelet is a great way to start your Saturday morning off right, but make sure you prepare it without the yolk. By simply doubling the egg whites used and tossing the yolks, you’ll save 15 grams of fat per 3-whole egg omelet.

Be sure to add plenty of chopped vegetables as well to boost the nutritional value.

Fat swap: Choose a grilled chicken burger instead of a hamburger

When the summer months hit and you’re in the mood for a grilled sandwich, make it a grilled chicken burger to save on fat instantly. On average, frozen burger patties contain 22 grams of fat, while if you opt for a chicken breast you’ll only take in a mere 3 grams of fat.

This swap alone is almost enough to reduce your total daily fat content by the 25 gram goal mentioned above. From foxnews.

Benefit Seen From Adding Monounsaturated Fat to Diet

Monday, November 1st, 2010

Adding monounsaturated fat to a cholesterol-lowering diet can improve the diet’s effectiveness, as evidenced by increases in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and reductions in the ratio of total to HDLhigh-density lipoprotein cholesterol and in C-reactive protein, according to research published online Nov. 1 in CMAJ, the journal of the Canadian Medical Association.

Adding monounsaturated fat to a cholesterol-lowering diet can improve the diet’s effectiveness, as evidenced by increases in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and reductions in the ratio of total to HDL cholesterol and in C-reactive protein, according to research published online Nov. 1 in CMAJ, the journal of the Canadian Medical Association.

David J.A. Jenkins, M.D., of St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, and colleagues analyzed data from 24 men and postmenopausal women with mild to moderate hypercholesterolemia. All subjects went on a diet low in saturated fat for one month and then were randomized to a diet low or high in monounsaturated fatty acid for another month. In the high-monounsaturated fatty acid diet, 13 percent of carbohydrate calories were replaced with sunflower oil.

The researchers found that HDL cholesterol rose in the high-monounsaturated group, compared to no change in the other group, with a significant 12.5 percent treatment difference. The high-monounsaturated diet was also associated with a 6.5-percent reduction in ratio of total to HDL cholesterol. Participants on this diet also had higher apolipoprotein AI and lower C-reactive protein.

“The potential of an effective cholesterol-lowering diet to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease may be significantly enhanced by inclusion of a moderate amount of monounsaturated fat. The long-term effect on self-selected diets remains to be determined, in terms of compliance and in terms of the lipid response and, ultimately, cardiovascular outcomes,” the authors conclude.

Several co-authors disclosed relationships with pharmaceutical companies, food-related trade groups, and other interests. From doctorslounge.