You Are What You Eat

The single most important part of health and wellness is diet. Period. Whether you are trying to lose weight, gain muscle, get more energy, overcome physical injury, or any other number of reasons to get fit, diet is the most integral part.

There are a few myths I would like to dispel over the next few diet posts. I am not going to turn this post into a chemistry lesson. But I do want to give you some general guidelines and patterns to follow when making choices about the foods you are eating.

FAT

It is true that too much fat is bad. Consuming too much dietary fat can cause major health problems including obesity. But there are different kinds of fat and if you skip out on these all together you may also be adding risks to your health. Fats:

· Insulate your body and organs.

· Give you energy.

o1 gram of fat = 9 calories of energy - twice that of carbohydrates and proteins

· Allow your body to deliver, process and store fat soluble vitamins

oVitamins A, D, E, and K

· Are good for your hair, skin, and brain function

A good guideline to follow when making dietary choices is to have about 25% of your diet comprised of fats. This doesn't mean eating a bag of potato chips everyday will give you all the benefits of fat and help get you in shape. There are “good” fats and “bad” fats.

Monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats are known as the “good fats” because they are good for your heart, your cholesterol, and your overall health

.

GOOD FATS
Monounsaturated fat	Polyunsaturated fat
Olive oil Canola oil Sunflower oil Peanut oil Sesame oil Avocados Olives Nuts (almonds, peanuts, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, pecans, cashews) Peanut butter	Soybean oil Corn oil Safflower oil Walnuts Sunflower, sesame, and pumpkin seeds Flaxseed Fatty fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring, trout, sardines) Soymilk Tofu

Saturated fats and trans fats are known as the “bad fats” because they increase your risk of disease and elevate cholesterol.

BAD FATS
Saturated fat	Trans fat
High-fat cuts of meat (beef, lamb, pork) Chicken with the skin Whole-fat dairy products (milk and cream) Butter Cheese Ice cream Palm and coconut oil Lard	Commercially-baked pastries, cookies, doughnuts, muffins, cakes, pizza dough Packaged snack foods (crackers, microwave popcorn, chips) Stick margarine Vegetable shortening Fried foods (French fries, fried chicken, chicken nuggets, breaded fish) Candy bars

Any easy way to tell the difference is that saturated fats and trans fats tend to be solid at room temperature (think of butter or traditional stick margarine), while monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats tend to be liquid (think of olive or corn oil).

GET TO KNOW YOUR FOOD

The best thing you can do for yourself is to read the labels of every food or drink product you purchase. My wife makes fun of me for this (even though she does it now too). You wouldn't buy a car without knowing the specs on it (gas mileage, engine size, leather or cloth interior, power or manual seats and windows). You wouldn't buy a pair of pants without knowing the size, brand, material, etc. Why would you purchase something you are putting into your body without knowing what your are getting yourself into?
With all the money we spend on food every year (it's a little heartbreaking to add up) you should want to be getting the best bang for your buck.

I would like to introduce you too a handy little tool I like to use called My Fitness Pal. This app makes it super easy to track your calories (and there sources from macro nutrients: Carbohydrates, Fats, Proteins). You can enter information online or on your phone. This is by no means 100% correct on its prescriptive meal plan and I would advise speaking with your doctor before any drastic dietary changes. I use it solely to track what I am eating so that I can keep my diet balanced.