I've seen this trend appearing over and over on fitness message boards, facebook and other people's personal blogs and it's really quite worrisome. I'm not sure if these people just don't know any better, don't care, or both b...
I've seen this trend appearing over and over on fitness message boards, facebook and other people's personal blogs and it's really quite worrisome. I'm not sure if these people just don't know any better, don't care, or both but foods like natural peanut butter, olive oil, almonds and other high fat foods that are considered "healthy fats" should still be consumed in moderation.
Yes, I understand that they are healthy fats, but just because something is healthy doesn't mean you can indulge on it whenever, wherever and however much you want - espcially if it's high in fat (healthy or not)! I read one article where someone made what they called a "healthy chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting". Now, sure, the person did a great job of using all healthy, natural ingredients, but the fact of the matter was that their recipe contained 1/3c olive oil and almost as much natural peanut butter making the fat content of the cake just as high (or even higher) than a regular cake.
Healthy foods matter, but calories consumed is the bottom line!
The point I am trying to make is that if you overeat - even if you eat 100% clean, healthy foods, you will gain weight. Healthy foods provide great benefits to our body, essential nutrients, vitamins, minerals and you'll be better off eating them than not - that is a given. But a calorie is still a calorie and over-indulging will lead to weight gain regardless the type of food.
So, please if you think you're eating healthy be sure to not only look at the ingredients but fat and calorie content as well. There was one time I wanted a small snack. I picked up a 30g protein bar from the shelf because that was the "healthier option". Upon reading the nutrition label the bar had a whopping 410 calories and 12g fat! Needless to say on this day since I was already up on my protein and just needed a small snack, I went for a 3 Muskateers bar which only had 280 calories and 8g fat. Now I totally understand that the protein bar had more protein and contained more vitamins and minerals, but at this point in my diet, I saved 130 calories and 4g fat by replacing a "healthy" option with an "unhealthy" one. This is not something I'll want to do too often, and I probably just need to find a better protein bar, but the point again is that some foods that we think are healthy, or foods that use healthy, natural ingredients can be very high in fat and calories and should be eaten sparingly. Another great example is the professor who only ate twinkies and lost 27 lbs because he was in a caloric deficit. Sure he had a protein shake every day to avoid malnutrition, but he was able to lose weight eating only twinkies!
To wrap things up, a healthy, balanced diet is the key to it all. Healthy fats have their place in our diets - that's a given. But just because something is "healthy" doesn't mean you can go ape on it...As always, moderation is important, even when eating healthy foods.
