Fats May Promote Weight Loss

Yesterday I cited a study that promotes monounsaturated fats as a key to controlling dangerous belly fat. But  be careful with how much fat you are consuming. All fats are calorie dense. I actually had a client that was having a half a cup of processed peanuts several times a day thinking he was going to lose weight by including more monounsaturated fats.  But think about this, four ounces of peanuts would be equal to 656 calories and 56 grams of fat, about 11 servings of fat at one sitting! Ideally he should have had about 10 whole (in the shell) peanuts for a small snack, worth one serving of fat.

So what are other sources of monounsaturated fats and how do they measure up?
•    1/8 of an avocado is a fat serving.
•    Unprocessed nuts like seven almonds, six cashews, four pecans halves, and one tablespoon of pine nuts are each equal to one serving of fat.
•    One teaspoon of olive oil or five olives is equal to a serving of fat.
•    One tablespoon of organic peanut butter (buyer beware: commercial brands frequently include trans fats/hydrogenated fats) is equal to about two servings of fat (about 100 calories) and one teaspoon of peanut oil is equal to one serving of fat.
•    One tablespoon of unprocessed sesame seeds is a serving of fat.

And yes, Canola oil may be a monounsaturated fat but there is a lot of controversy around it being a genetically modified oil so I personally would avoid it or limit the use of it.

The lesson here is to consume small amounts of monounsaturated fats and then limit the unhealthier saturated and trans fats. You might also use ND's free Daily Needs Calculator to determine the total calories you need for the day to lose weight.