The Next Time You Go To The SuperMarket… (Part 2)

Onwards to part 2 of the supermarket sequel..

In my last post, I was touting the benefits of incorporating good, healthy proteins in your diet. Today, I’m going to introduce more on healthy fats. Normally, when someone hears the word ‘fat’, they would be thinking like …”are you sure..?”

Actually not all fats are bad and in fact we need dietary fats (the good ones of course) to survive! Yes, in order to live the body needs proteins and fats and we can actually survive without carbs. Anyway, that’ll be saved for another topic altogether.

This post is about healthy fats! So here we go:

• Mixed nuts
• Flax seeds or flax oil
• Fish Body Oil (not cod liver, never!)
• Olive oil

That’s it? Is there all to it? Healthy fats… Only those outlined above?

Well, try consuming all of the above on a frequent, daily basis and you’ll know what I mean. If you can do it, bravo! Good for you.

All right, the above 4 is not the be all and end all of fat sources that you should take. It is just a summary of the better monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats that’s beneficial to your body.

What about saturated fat? Is it bad? No, it’s not. I’d skip all the scientific mumbo jumbos and save you the trouble of scratching your head.

There are bad saturated fats and there are the good ones. The good ones comes from things like eggs, meat, cheese, coconut, etc so you don’t actually need to add anymore into your diet. By just concentrating on the monos and polys, you’d do just fine.

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Mixed nuts:

I’d say walnuts are the best  as they have highest concentrations of omega 3s but please, you’d get sick and tired of eating the same things everyday right? Most mixed nuts are OK but try to get those from the baking section and not from party nuts section as the latter would have vegetable/cotton/rapeseed oils added to it for texture. Also if you’re dieting down, avoid peanuts and cashews as they have higher carb content.

Flax seeds:

Flax seeds are great source of fibre and omega 3s (yet again!). You can mix it with anything actually and has a nutty taste to it. I prefer the ‘golden’ versus the ‘brown’ as the latter taste quite bitter. Make sure that you don’t consume the seeds whole. What I mean by this is, you’d have to grind it if you buy the ‘seeds’ version. Another option is to get milled ones. But make sure to store in an air tight container and in the fridge.

Flax Oil:

Flax oil has the highest omega 3 concentrations compared to any other foods out there. But to take it on it’s own can be quite nasty. Can be easily solved though. Mix it with soups, salads or gravies to reap it’s health benefits. Soon enough you’ll see improvements in your skin. Try it!

Omega 3 Fish Oil:

The oils are derived from the bodies of deep, cold water fishes. The ones that our lovely moms fed us when we were young was actually cod liver oil. Inferior, low quality source of oil. (Blame the ads, love your moms still all right). These normally come in capsules though there are cheaper, liquid oil alternatives. You can get your omega 3s from normal food like fish and nuts but you’d normally fall short of the minimum requirement. So a minimum of 6 capsules or 1-2 tsp per day should suffice.

Olive oil:

These, like the flax oil can be poured onto salads, soups and gravies too. A great source of monounsaturated fats.

OK folks. Start adding some good fats into your diet and start feeling and looking a lot better! See you soon for part 3.

Cheers!

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