Welcome to week two of April's challenge focusing on fats.
Last week we talked about increasing healthy fats, butter, egg yolks, lard, animal fats in general, coconut oil, avocados. These healthy fats wont make you fat, especially when eaten with low carb lifestyle and high animal protein. These fats provide the body with vital nutrients, vitamins, minerals, energy for the body. Stability to insulin levels, stable insulin leads to the body being able to burn stored body fat for energy. Go eat your fats!
For the challenge this week, I want to focus on hydrogenated oils. We want to eliminate these oils as much as possible. What are hydrogenated oils? These are fats high in omega 6 fatty acids, type of fat. They are heated to very high temperatures, processed with chemicals, leading to denaturing of the fat, this leads to health problems. These fats include soy, canola, corn, cottonseed, safflower, sunflower, vegetable oils.These oils are one of the leading causes of metabolic decline, your cells not functioning properly, increasing inflammation in the body, interfere with your mitochondria, your power houses, energy sources in your cells. When these are damaged, your health declines. Hydrogenated oils lead to obesity. Inflamed, painful, sore, arthritic joints. Gut health issues. Brain, cognitive decline. Negatively impact your thyroid. Impact the expression of your genetics. Hydrogenated oils damage every cell in your body. These are truly an oil we want to eliminate from our eating.
Where you will find hydrogenated oils? When reading a food label, look for hydrogenated oil on the ingredient list. Even if on the front, it says no hydrogenated or trans fats, be sure to read the ingredients. Here in the US, food manufacturers are allowed to put so much in and still call it "free" from these deadly oils. Read the ingredient label! This will basically keep you buying single ingredient items, real food.
Other places to watch out for trans fats, another form of hydrogenated oils, is liquid oils at room temperature being cooked. Oils such as olive, flax, walnut, even avocado are fantastic for our health and should be eaten, I recommend not cooking them. Heating these oils changes them into trans fats.
By eliminating hydrogenated/trans fats from your diet, you will be protecting your heart, decreasing inflammation in your body, which is at the root of every disease, take off inches from your mid section, plus you will not be eating processed food and instead be eating highly nutrient rich dense foods that will nourish your body.
This could be a challenge, especially if you are used to eating processed, pre-packaged foods, or eating out, because they are loaded with hydrogenated oils. Deciding to fully eliminate these foods from your current way of eating, sounds fantastic, but probably isn't going to set you up for success. One fail swoop of a diet change is not normally sustainable for the long term. Taking it slowly and creating a healthier lifestyle is a better approach for a life time of health, not a crash diet. Choose one of your meals, breakfast, lunch, dinner and decide to eat whole foods at this meal. Once you have this down, move onto another one. This is a journey and it can take time. If you are already well into your journey of healthy eating, maybe fully eliminating these oils is the next step for you. Where ever you are, take the next step!
Where you will find hydrogenated oils? When reading a food label, look for hydrogenated oil on the ingredient list. Even if on the front, it says no hydrogenated or trans fats, be sure to read the ingredients. Here in the US, food manufacturers are allowed to put so much in and still call it "free" from these deadly oils. Read the ingredient label! This will basically keep you buying single ingredient items, real food.
Other places to watch out for trans fats, another form of hydrogenated oils, is liquid oils at room temperature being cooked. Oils such as olive, flax, walnut, even avocado are fantastic for our health and should be eaten, I recommend not cooking them. Heating these oils changes them into trans fats.
By eliminating hydrogenated/trans fats from your diet, you will be protecting your heart, decreasing inflammation in your body, which is at the root of every disease, take off inches from your mid section, plus you will not be eating processed food and instead be eating highly nutrient rich dense foods that will nourish your body.
Where your mitochondria goes, your health goes.
Many blessings to you on this journey to health,
Jenn
No comments:
Post a Comment