Mar
7
Premeal Fat, It’s Good For You!
Filed Under Eating Healthy, Nutrition
A decade or two ago, fat was evil! Everyone was into low fat diets and trying to eliminate all fats from their food. A decade later, and it was carbs. Carbs were the root of all that was bad in life and fats were great. I’d like to think that we’ve swung back into balance these days. At least I hope that most people realize that neither carbs nor fats are evil and both are necessary parts of our diet. That said, there are good fats and there are bad fats, just like there are good carbs and there are bad carbs. There are also good and bad times to eat these nutrients.
The Positive Benefit of Fat
Fat is necessary for a variety of bodily functions, you probably knew that already. However, what you may not have known is that fat is also a trigger for hormones that signal your brain and stomach when you’re full. That’s right, consuming fat will cause you to feel full and stop eating.
How Can We Use This?
If you’re like me, and your body tells you you’re full two hours after your chow down on a whole buffet, this trick might help you out. Before a meal, eat a little bit of healthy fat. That could mean 5 or 6 almonds, or perhaps a little bit of avocado. Whatever it is, don’t overdo it which means keep it under 100 calories. Make sure to do this 30 minutes or so before you eat your meal.
The fat you just consumed will trigger hormone production which should be hitting your brain right about the time you sit down to eat your meal. End result, you feel full and eat less.
Don’t Overdo It
Be careful not to turn this little trick into a trap. You want just a little bit of healthy fat. So a bit of olive oil and cheese might be good but a big piece of bread with butter and olive oil is too much. A few peanuts is ok, a whole bag of cashews is too much.
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Your body is a wonderfully constructed system for processing food. Get to know it this system and how it communicates. Listen to those signals and start generating them yourself. The body is a great ally to have in the struggle for good health.
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2 Responses to “Premeal Fat, It’s Good For You!”
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Very interesting, thanks for the great tip, I’ll give it a try.
=]
That’s a very good tip indeed. I take a couple of flaxseed oil capsules everyday to get a vegetarian source of omega-3 fatty acids. I’m going to try taking one half an hour before a meal instead of at the end and see how things go.