Ever since the first reports of harmful links between fats and metabolic diseases surfaced, “low-fat”, “trans-fat” and “zero-fat” were propagated enough to make us believe that “fat” is bad for our health.
But lately, there has been a rage over How Some Fats Actually Help.
In fact, people are going back to fats for extra energy and building muscle mass! So in bonhomie with our dessert lovers and fitness enthusiasts, let’s know some comforting tips about eating fats so that we can keep bragging about our love for food without feeling guilty!
Eat fats earlier in the day
A common weight-loss tip given by dieticians is to eat fats in your breakfasts and lunches instead of keeping them for dinner. Dieticians say that the later you eat, the worse is the body’s understanding of your food patterns. So next time you want to gorge meats, like pork, lamb and bacon, or peanut butter, make sandwiches with these for breakfast or at max, for lunch. Know that your body is less likely to be able to breakdown fats completely as the day progresses, and this hampers the conversion of fat into energy which forces them to be stored as adipocytes.
Combine Fats with Proteins
Ladies and gentlemen, you need fats and proteins as much as carbs because fats and proteins take longer to breakdown keeping you feeling full for a longer time. You must have noticed it often that if ever you had rice plus vegetables for lunch, you could be feeling hungry just after an hour or so of feeling too full. If you want to eat a cheesy sandwich, just make sure it’s a wheat bread/multigrain one and has chicken shreds, crabmeat or scrambled eggs to be a complete meal.
Avoid high heat for cooking fats
High heat changes good fats (read: unsaturated fats) into their saturated intermediates, which tend to disturb the LDL cholesterol numbers. Boiling or steaming meat before cooking removes a large chunk of the fats your body really doesn’t need. Make lamb and mutton healthier by using just a teaspoon of oil to cook them. The fat content in these red meats provides enough oil for them to be cooked fully. An easy thing to do is making kebabs in an air fryer that requires only 1 teaspoon of oil.
Include liquids and fibre in your diet
If you’re eating a diet containing fibre (sourced from wheat flour, muesli, flaxseeds, sesame seeds, nuts etc.) and greens and watery foods like bottle gourd and cucumber, consuming saturated fats doesn’t pose any disease risks. Diet experts say that it’s the right balance of nutrients that make the difference. Nothing can put a stop to your weight gain if you keep consuming ONLY saturated fats. Fun fact – Capsaicin, present in capsicum, increases fat oxidation rates.
Preservation of fats – Super Important!
Refrigeration and storage strategies of fats for both mono and poly unsaturated fats (omega fats) make a big difference in their nutritional capabilities. They need the fridge otherwise, oxygen saturates them. That means, the olive oil bottle resides in the fridge!
Here’s a list of the do’s and don’ts about fats – good, bad and somewhere in the middle!
