Good Fats Versus Bad Fats

The classic battle of good versus evil is alive and well in the discussion of good fats versus bad fats.

There are no inherently bad fats out there. All fats in their natural form (key word being “natural”) serve a purpose and carry with them a given nutritional benefit.

Now just because there are no naturally bad fats out there does not mean that the benefits one gains from eating fat cannot be outdone. How? By eating too much of it or eating non-organic varieties of it.  Yes, too much of a good thing can be bad for you – natural or not.

Let’s touch first on the topic of fats from organic sources versus non-organic. An example of fat from an organic source would be the fat on a steak you get from a cow that has received no medication and is feed a diet that consist of grass that has not been treated with herbicides and/or pesticides. See most living organisms use fat as the storage sight for harmful chemicals their body ingests or absorbs through the skin, as a way of shielding their bodies from the harmful element. Our fat stores are the equivalent of toxic waste storage. So if we go around eating steaks from cows that have been feed grains, have been injected with drugs to make them stronger and meatier, are fed on feed that has been treated with fungicides to keep it fresh and are exposed to a mixed cocktail of other foreign chemicals throughout their life all that goodness ends up in their fat. It is a good idea to avoid this source of fat.

On the flip side of the above scenario if your meat is organic, eat your fat!

The key to remember is organic sources of fat are always cleaner and therefore safer for you to eat. When consuming fat moderation is the key and under no way bad for you.

Want to learn how you can shed your fat and still enjoy the foods you love?

Call us today for coffee on us! 813-406-0827.

Serving Citrus Park, Carrollwood, and Odessa, FL.

8721 Gunn Hwy.
Odessa, FL

Chicken with Green Olives & Prunes

From EatingWell:  Fall 2004, The EatingWell Diabetes Cookbook (2005)

 Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of fat
• 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1/4 cup red-wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup chopped pitted green olives, such as Spanish, Cerignola or cracked green
• 1/4 cup chopped pitted prunes, (dried plums)
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Preperation:
1.Pat chicken dry with a paper towel. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until browned, about 2 minutes per side. Add broth and vinegar to the pan; bring to a simmer, stirring. Add olives, prunes and pepper; reduce heat to low. Cover and cook until the chicken is tender and no longer pink in the center, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate. Spoon sauce over the chicken and serve.

Nutritional Info:
Per serving: 224 calories; 8 g fat ( 2 g sat , 2 g mono ); 118 mg cholesterol; 3 g carbohydrates; 0 g added sugars; 29 g protein; 1 g fiber; 394 mg sodium; 454 mg potassium.

 Bonus Opportunity!!!

Bake it and bring it in for a free session!!!

We are located just north of South Mobley!

8721 Gunn Hwy
Serving the Greater Tampa Bay Area

813-406-0827

Are All Calories Created Equal?

Let’s start off with a quick discussion about what a calorie is. A calorie according to Wikipedia.

If you took that time to read that you may be even more in the dark about what a calorie is. Look at it this way: a calorie is a unit of heat. The more calories a food has the more stored energy it contains.

No all food calories are not created equal!

A calorie of fat has a different impact on our body then a calorie of carbohydrate and the same goes for protein. Each of these macro nutrients has a completely different impact on your body composition and in turn your weight.

Do I need to understand calories?

Yes calories are important to understand, but more importantly to understand is the impact that each macronutrient (Fat,Protein,Charbodydrate) has on your body.

It is important to understand how each macronutrient impacts your blood sugar and what this means for those of us looking to get rid of some of our unwanted fat.

Let’s take a look at what happens in our bodies moments before we consume a meal that is high in processed carbohydrates. As soon as we start to think about consuming this meal our pancreas begins to release insulin into our blood stream to get ready to combat the spike in blood sugar that follows eating a meal high in processed carbohydrates. Insulin is a storage hormone and is responsible for maintaining a balanced blood sugar. The problem is that when our blood sugar goes up so does our production of insulin and our body goes into a storage mode setting the stage for everything that we eat with in that meal to be stored as fat for later use.

Now take a look at what happens when we consume meal of protein, fat and leafy green carbohydrates. There is a small increase in insulin production at the onset of the meal that reaches a cap in the first few moments. It then returns to neutral as the blood sugar returns to neutral. With insulin not present in our blood, the body will now continue to produce glucagon, a break down hormone that is responsible for the breakdown of fat for energy. The energy you consumed instead of going into fat storage gets ushered into your lean tissue and stored as glucose for later use.

Now this is a simplified version of what happens when we consume calories of different macronutrients. The moral of the story is still the same, eat processed carbohydrates and you will store fat!

Interested in knowing more?

Call us today for coffee on us! 813-406-0827 . Serving Citrus Park and Odessa, FL.

8721 Gunn Hwy.
Odessa, FL