Avoid Saturated Fats, Not “All Fats”

Fat is usually considered as a bad food choice for for people opting for weight loss programs. However, most dieters fail to understand that fat is a concentrated source of energy. They also fail to cauterize fats and tend to avoid fats altogether. True, saturated fats are bad for health and must be avoided; but you must include polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats in the regular diet plan. These unsaturated fats come from vegetable sources and remain liquid at room temperature.



These fats have several health benefits such as transporting fat-soluble vitamins E, A, K, and A throughout your body. They also protect the internal organs and benefit your heart and immune system. Some polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats include Essential fatty acids or EFAs such as omega-3, which help in increasing metabolic rate and burning fats. This, in turn, helps you in achieving successful weight loss.

Dieters often opt for low-fat foods as healthier alternatives without considering the fact that less fat usually means more sugar. In fact, a classic example of this is the reduced-fat peanut butter. Though these products come with a fraction less fat, the healthy fat is usually replaced with a carbohydrate called maltodextrin. This carbohydrate is most commonly used in many processed foods as a filler. And a serving of such reduced-fat peanut butter is equivalent to 10 calories. Therefore, dieters usually trade the healthy fat of peanut butter for double the sugar and empty carbs. If you still want to opt for the low fat varieties, it is recommended to read the ingredients list along with the nutritional data. Food that includes fewer ingredients is considered as healthier option.

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Don’t Let Diet Myths Confuse Your Food Choice

Health and diet myths, no matter how innocent they sound, may become dangerous for the dieters. They are most likely to become innocent victims of such well-intentioned misinformation. These dieters may even suffer from lunch/ dinner plate panic and would rather starve themselves than having the so-called “unhealthy” foods. But before discussing about these myths, let’s see what is considered as “healthy food”.



A proper diet plan includes well-balanced meals, rich in various essential nutrients such as protein, fiber, fat, and carbohydrate. These meals must be potion controlled and low calorie, and at the same time must be able to boost your metabolism. Diet myths, on the other hand, usually confuse food choices and will only make your weight-loss harder, not to mention making your meals less enjoyable.

Most common diet myths are around chocolates and chocolate bars. They are considered as the source of empty calories and thus, must be avoided. However, many fail to understand that researchers consider dark chocolate as a health food; it is rich in cocoa, which includes a heart-healthy compound called flavonoids, also found in green tea and red wine. The most potent form of flavonoids is found in dark chocolate. In a recent study conducted by the Greek researchers, it was found that having dark chocolate that contain 100 mg of flavonoids can relax your blood vessels and improve blood flow to your heart.

Tip: Replace your taste for milk chocolates with dark chocolates, as the later is rich in flavonoids.

Many believe that too much of protein can hurt the kidneys. This too is nothing but myth; most of the poewerlifters and strength athletes follow high protein diet at it helps in burning fats and building muscles. In 1983, researchers found that high protein food increases the amount of blood that the kidneys filter per minute. A number of scientists immediately jump off to a conclusion that high-protein diets place the kidneys under greater stress. However, these scientists were proven wrong soon after. Studies later found that though high protein diets increase blood flow to your kidneys, they do not affect the overall kidney function adversely.

Tips: Include more lean protein in your diet and opt for baked, grilled or boiled meat and fish.

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