Frustrated with your excess belly fat? It is good to know that one of the best foods to blast away belly fat is in fat. Fat has gotten such a bad name and most people think that the best way to lose weight including lose belly fat is to eliminate all fat from their diets. While some fats definitely need to be eliminated such as trans fats and many saturated fats, not all fat is bad, so don’t throw away the baby with the bath water.
Before you vilify all fat, first determine whether it is a “good fat” (I know!) or a “bad fat”. The bad fats as mentioned previously comprise of trans fats (eliminate entirely) and saturated fats (eliminate or reduce). There are some saturated fats such as coconut oil that may be good for you. One of the foods to lose belly fat are the so called “good fats” that the body needs for proper functioning with the added benefit that they can actually help you lose weight. Pretty unbelievable huh?. Well, here is the support for these claims.
Good or healthy fats need to be consumed more because they help the body increase its fat burning potential which is excellent news for weight loss. They do this based as follows.
A study conducted by the American Journal of Physiology – Endocrinology and Metabolism established that when athletes consumed a diet rich in high quantities of good fats, more fat stores were released by their bodies that if they consumed a diet with little to no healthy fats and they also burned more fats during and after exercise. When fat stores are released by the body, this equals less body fat which means less belly fat. When you try to eliminate all fat from your diet, you body will hold onto its current fat stores with a death grip and will not release any as the body needs fat for healthy functioning so give your body healthy fats that are beneficial for the body and also help eliminate excess belly and body fat. While bad fats have no health benefits, good fats definitely have more health benefits and you should consume more to maintain a healthy body and they are also one of the best foods to lose belly fat. Other studies have also shown that an increase in healthy fats led to increased fat burning as well as a decrease in body mass.
What Are “Good Fats”?
- Polyunsaturated fats
One of the best foods to lose belly fat are those that contain polyunsaturated fats which are one of the two healthy fats. Polyunsaturated fats include;
Omega 3s (commonly found in abundance in Mediterranean diets) Omega 6s (commonly found in Western diets)
Both have anti-inflammatory properties which is great for the body’s sickness and disease fighting ability but for the best foods to lose belly fat fast, look for those that contain more omega-3s which are excellent for fat burning. A fat burning diet containing omega 3s and omega 6s should be in a ration of 2:1 respectively. Anything other than this with more omega 6s will only trigger the brain to inform the body to hold onto fats and not release them.
Common sources of polyunsaturated fats include fish, flaxseeds, flaxseed oil, walnuts, etc.
- Monounsaturated fats
While monounsaturated fats do not contain as much fat burning potential as polyunsaturated fats, they are still crucial for a healthy body.
Monounsaturated fats are excellent for heart health and can help to lower your cholesterol levels by increasing good cholesterol while decreasing bad cholesterol. This helps to decrease the fatty acid build-up in the walls of the arteries which thereby reduced overall heart disease risk.
Monounsaturated fats include various seeds, peanut butter, avocado, avocado oil, olives, olive oil, nuts, canola oil, etc.
In Practice
It is very easy to incorporate these fats into your daily life and obtain the benefits of fat loss and heart health. You can switch to cooking with these various healthy fats, add ground flaxseeds to your oatmeal, add flaxseed oil to your smoothies or protein shakes, snack on the various seeds and nuts mentioned, etc.
You can also utilise fat burners, these have proven results and reviews across the board that speaks to its efficiency and effectiveness, it can also be coupled with several different diet and exercise plans to ensure a healthy and long lasting weight loss plan, in the process creating long term gains.
