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Fat Loss Nutrition - The Big Fat Lies

By: Natalie Beech As obesity in the US becomes an epidemic, more and more people are going on a diet. Is there a connection? The fact that diet foods such as low-fat and low-carb products are a $7.6 billion-a-year business might have something to do with it. Is the food industry keeping you fat with processed foods, so it can sell you more diet products? And is avoidance of both processed and diet foods the only solution for weight loss?

Getting the basics of fat loss nutrition right, along with the right kind of exercise, will lead to weight loss. The problem with many diets is that they are not balanced. They cannot be maintained long-term. And when you stop dieting, the weight piles back on. Focus on fat loss nutrition, rather than actual weight loss. An approximate guide is that for every 3 grams of protein at a meal you need to have 4 grams of carbohydrate and 1.5 grams of fat. More important still is the type of fat, carbohydrate and protein you eat.

The Good Fats, Bad and The Ugly in Fat Loss Nutrition

The secret to healthy weight loss is not low-fat, it is quality fat. The fats to avoid are the toxic 'trans' fats or hydrogenated fats in processed and fried foods. We also have an excess of omega-6 fats in our diet which can lead to insulin resistance (see the section on Carbohydrates). It is important to reduce the amount of vegetable oils, grain-fed beef and many processed foods (omega-6 fats) in your diet. At the same time you will probably need to increase the omega-3 fats in your diet to obtain the ideal 1:1 ration of omega-3 to omega-6. Oily fish, fish-oil capsules, or flaxseed oil are the best sources of omega-3 fats.

Saturated fat has been demonised for so long that it is quite difficult to convince people otherwise. Coconut oil, which is a good saturated fat, has been shown to increase weight loss as it has the ability to help stimulate your metabolism and actually burn fat for energy. It also helps regulate blood sugar, an essential in weight loss - and it’s good for your heart too!

The fat loss nutrition advice is to keep your extra-virgin olive oil for salad dressings and use coconut oil for cooking.

Carbohydrates

The key to fat loss nutrition is blood sugar balance. You need to reverse the insulin resistance that contributed by processed foods to burn off the fat. The excess of carbohydrates from our starchy and sugary diet is a far greater contributor to weight gain than the fat on its own. The combination of wrong fats and wrong carbohydrates is the route to an unhealthy lifestyle.

We consume far too much bread, cereal, pasta, corn, rice and potatoes, mostly as processed food. Good for the food industry, but not for fat loss nutrition and for you. These processed carbs stimulate the over-production of insulin, which leads to insulin-resistant cells. The sugar in your blood has no place else to go except to your fat cells, resulting in bulging stomachs and rolls of fat.

Good old fiber is your fat loss nutrition weapon in the battle of the bulge. Good sources of fiber are brown rice, vegetables and whole grains.

Fat Loss Nutrition: Protein

You can slow down the release of sugar into the blood stream, the ‘sugar rush’, by eating protein with your carbohydrates. This is not a recommendation to eat red meat at every meal, which has been linked to colon cancer. You just need to eat a little of other sources of protein such as beans, lean white meat and fish.

A little bit of protein at every meal is an important fat loss nutrition approach to blood sugar balance. Even a handful of pumpkin seeds eaten with an apple can slow digestion and even out your metabolism.

Balance and Quality

Willpower is not really an issue with the fat loss nutrition approach, when you learn to balance your blood sugar. It is really all about the right balance and quality of foods, and the right exercise. You don't have to rely on the the low-fat, low-carb, high-protein, high-fat diet fads. Just avoid processed foods where you can and concentrate on the healthy foods. You will even find that hunger is not an issue when you practice fat loss nutrition.

Article Source: http://www.lifeweightloss.com

About the author: Discover the truth about fat loss and healthy weight loss. Nutritionist and health writer Natalie Beech sorts the fat loss nutrition fact from myth at the Fatloss-Fitness Website
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