It’s that time again; spring break is almost here and girls are frantically trying to shed those winter layers by indulging in the latest diet trend and un-indulging their eating habits.
There’s a secret these girls don’t know though. Diets don’t work, changing your eating habits does.
Diets don’t work because they’re temporary, and the majority of people who buy into them gain all or more of the weight back after it’s over.
So while you’re trying to makeover your body for spring break, why not makeover your eating habits too?
Starting with your view on fat.
Part 1: Bad Fat vs. Good Fat
We need three essential macronutrients for energy and absorption of nutrients: carbs, protein and you guessed it, fat.
The average adult needs at least 10% of their daily calories to come from fat, preferably good, unsaturated fats of which there are two types: monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. You can find them in fish, unsalted nuts, various oils, tuna, and leafy vegetables. These good fats help lower bad cholesterol and reduce your risk for heart disease.
A good rule to remember is this: Good fats are liquid at room temperature and bad fats are solid.
Take Jiff creamy peanut butter for example; It has 16g of total fat, only 3g of saturated fat leaving 13g of good, unsaturated fats.
Applying the rule above, you may think peanut butter is a bad fat because it’s a solid at room temperature, but the catch is in the ingredients where it states FULLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL. Hydrogenation of oils is simply the heating and addition of hydrogen gas that transforms liquids into solids, and fully hydrogenated oils do not contain trans fat (saturated fat).
As you travel further into a healthier lifestyle, things like this will catch your attention and your knowledge base will expand.
Now, after reading this, you know that fat is not your enemy. Fat does not make you fat, good fat actually burns fat.
Start looking at nutrition labels and outweigh the amount of bad fat you eat with good fat, include this with regular exercise and you’re on your way to a better body for spring break and for life.