Are “healthy” foods sabotaging your weight loss?
No matter what health "experts" say, fat is fat. Your body doesn't care if it's "healthy" fat or unhealthy fat, it is treated the same - stored in your tissues to help get you through a famine.
That can be a problem for weigh loss.
LET ME BE CLEAR, AVOIDING CERTAIN FOODS IS NOT A GOOD NUTRITION GAME PLAN. However, if you are trying to lose weight, you may be consuming a lot more fat than you realize. And no matter what health "experts" say, fat is fat. Your body doesn't care if it's "healthy" fat or unhealthy fat, it is treated the same - stored in your tissues to help get you through a famine. Fortunately for you, that famine is likely not coming. Unfortunately, your body doesn’t know that.
It's important to remember that the human body does not know what year it is. It's still operating like you're a cave person who may go days without any substantial food. That fat it stores will help you survive. SURVIVAL IS YOUR BODY'S ONLY GOAL. Ok, there's actually one other goal but that's for another day.
With that being said, some of the most nutrient-dense foods, unfortunately, are also some of the most calorie-dense and contain the most fat. The three foods I'm referring to can absolutely be part of a healthy way of eating, and they should be. However, if you are trying to lose weight and you're eating a lot of these foods, we may have just solved some of your problems. 😉
I work with many wellness coaching clients who eat these foods A LOT because they have heard that they are healthy foods full of "healthy" fats. It's not their fault. Fat is a seriously misunderstood nutrient. Yes, we need to eat fat, it serves some pretty important purposes in the body. Do we need to eat gobs of it every morning slathered on toast? Nope. Especially if you are working on losing weight.
Ok, let’s get down to it. If you are not trying to lose weight, or if you need to gain weight, these foods would be great additions to a healthy diet full of plants! Here are three foods that may be sabotaging your weight-loss efforts.
Avocados – I knnnnooooowwwww, but avocado toast!! I hear ya! Before I realized how much fat an avocado contains, I was eating a whole avocado almost every day. 😳 Yikes. One cup of avocado contains 21 grams of fat and most avocados are more than one cup. According to the USDA, there are also 234 calories in each cup. Avocados are an excellent source of carbohydrates (12 grams), fiber (10 grams), protein (2.9 grams), and vitamin C. They are very nutrient-dense, but as you can see, they are also very calorie-dense. And the problem is, they are very easy to overeat. But not as easy to overeat as our next food….
Nuts – Now, nuts are in so many “health” foods such as granola bars, peanut butter everything, trail mix, and not to mention straight out of the bag! There are so many nuts to choose from, but they are very calorie-dense. Let’s look at walnuts. According to the USDA, a ¼ cup serving of walnuts contains 13 grams of fat and 131 calories. That is a very small serving size – probably a handful. How many handfuls do you eat in a sitting? Like avocados, walnuts are very nutrient-dense. They are excellent sources of potassium, B vitamins, magnesium, and omega 3 fatty acids. Peanut butter also falls into this category. A serving of peanut butter is 2 tablespoons and contains 16 grams of fat. Wow! How easy is it to eat way more than two tablespoons of peanut butter?! Now, on to the food that is probably the easiest to over-consume….
Olive oil – This also includes all other cooking oils. Oil is pressed out of the original plant and does not retain many of the nutrients of the original plant, mainly fiber. Olive oil is void of many nutrients; however, it is a great source of omega 3 fatty acids which are essential to many body functions. The USDA’s nutrition facts for olive oil show that one serving (1 tablespoon) contains 14 grams of fat and 119 calories. Yep, that’s A LOT of fat in only one tablespoon. And let’s be real, how many times do you use only one tablespoon? I’m guessing not many.
The obvious question here is, “What do I sauté my veggie in if I’m trying to cut down on oil consumption?” That’s where a little thing called “water sauté” comes in. You can use either water or broth for this method.
Simply warm your pan on the stove over medium to medium-high heat. When it’s warm, add 2-3 tablespoons of water or broth and warm. Then add your veggies and sauté as normal. If they start to stick, add more water or broth, one tablespoon at a time. The veggies will still brown and will be much healthier. If you want, you could then add olive oil afterwards to add flavor, or simply add more herbs and spices, which are super healthy and naturally low in fat and calories. This method takes some practice, but before you know it, you’ll wonder what you ever did without it!
That was a lot of information! The goal of this article is to address “hidden” places that fat may be in the foods you eat. Avocados, nuts, and olive oil absolutely can be part of a healthy diet, however, serving size should always be kept in check, especially if trying to lose weight. The biggest source of fat in the standard American diet is processed foods and animal products. If you’ve already cut out a lot of processed foods but still feel like you’re missing something, look at how often you eat the foods we talked about above.
That’s all for now! We’ll talk again soon!
Peace, love & kale!
Lindsay
Source:
USDA FoodData Central: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/