Fat Bomb Your Diet for Better Health

Eat more fat. If that seems counterintuitive to everything you've ever heard about fat, you're not alone. If you're trying to improve your health and watch your weight, more fat seems like the last thing you'd want to eat more of. Right?

Wrong. It's time for a major mindset shift. Some fat is healthy. At least 20 percent of your daily calories should come from healthy fats. One study even found that you can lose weight and improve your health with 40 percent of your calories from fat.

Mind blown? Before you head to the drive-thru for your favorite fat-soaked burger-and-fries combo, you need to know what kind of fat we're talking about. Not all fat is healthy. And the burger-and-fries kind doesn't make the list. Foods made with trans fats and partially-hydrogenated oils produce the kind of artery-clogging mess that leads to a heart attack or stroke.

Other examples of bad fat foods include cakes, pies, cookies, biscuits, margarine, crackers, microwave popcorn, anything with a cream filling, doughnuts, and frozen pizza.

So what healthy-fat foods should you be eating? Foods high in monounsaturated fats should be part of your diet. This good fat helps your body absorb nutrients from food, helps lower cholesterol, slows the breakdown of carbohydrates into glucose, and helps you feel fuller longer.

Examples of foods that contain healthy fats include avocados, nuts, fish, olives and olive oil, butter, milk, bacon, cream cheese, coconut, and dark chocolate. And there's a growing trend of supplementing your diet with fat bombs made from some of these ingredients. Why? They're very satisfying, contain little to no carbohydrates, help your body burn fat for energy, and aid in weight loss. Sounds good, tastes even better. Give these fat-bomb recipes a try.

Obviously, you can't turn every meal into a fat-bomb, even if it does contain healthy fats. If you're trying to lose weight or want to follow a low-carb diet, you also need to eat other healthy foods. And you'll find plenty to choose from on our Low-Carbohydrate menu.