Imagine Fitness

Are you getting enough fat? What? You are wondering why would I ask a question like that, I mean isn’t virtually everyone trying to cut back on fat?

I am talking about the good fat that your body requires for optimal health, and to lose weight.  Omega 3 is an essential fatty acid that is absent from most diets.  Omega 3 fats helps our bodies to fight against inflammation and can help to lower cholesterol.

Good sources of omega 3′s can be found in flax, flax seed oil, almonds, walnuts and cold water fish. This good fat has been shown to raise our ‘good’ or HDL cholesterol and lower the ‘bad’ or LDL cholesterol.  You can see that these foods are not the most popular today, and therefore the typical diet will not contain enough good fats to help our bodies.  These fats are very sensitive to heat, light, and processing. Therefore, the more natural these fats are, the better.  Try adding a tablespoon of flax oil to your morning smoothie or stir it into some yogurt, you will barely notice it at all.

So while it is critical that we eat a  low-fat diet, don’t carry this fear of fat to far.  Instead, begin by replacing the bad trans fat and saturated fat. replacing them with  the good fats. Eating healthy fat will not make you fat, eating the wrong food and the wrong amounts is what makes us fat.   By adding good fats to your diet your body will reward you with improved health and overall  performance.

Yours in health,

Shelley Healy

“Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson