How to Incorporate Healthy Fats and Take the Bad Fats out of your Diet.

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Finding out how to incorporate more of those healthy fats into your diet can sometimes be tricky. You want your food to taste good but not be deep fried and you want it to be healthy but not taste like cardboard or like your just eating a stick of pasture butter. Below, I have listed several different ways you can cut out the bad fats and replace them with the good ones in a way that is healthy yet tastes great!

1. Get rid of vegetable oil and canola oil. Vegetable oil and Canola oil are the most widely used oils out there yet they are the most nutrient empty and vegetable oil is actually one of those bad fats known as trans fats. When sauteeing foods using oils like coconut or palm oil or maybe try using ghee, they are great alternatives. They are saturated fats but they are the good kinds. If you have to deep fry something try using sunflower or safflower oil. Ditch any salad dressings or marinades that are used with canola or sunflower oils and try ones that have maybe sunflower, safflower or olive oil.

2. Say hello to hemp and flax oil. Hemp oil and flax oil are great oils to use in salad dressings. They have great flavor and they are so good for you! They are unsaturated fats better known as omega-3's, which are inmportant for overall health. You can even finish off your hot meal by simply drizzling either one of these oils on top. Word of caution: both of these oils have low smoke points which means that they burn quickly and aren't ideal for cooking.

3. If your butter is not grass fed organic, say goodbye! I've said it once before, but I'll say it again, conventional dairy is a huge no no! Toxins hide in fat, so that means if your butter is coming from a cow that eats gmo feed and is pumped full of hormones and antibiotics than all that will be in the cow, especially the cow's fat, which means your butter is basically a science experiment. Grass fed organic butter and ghee will be much cleaner and actually higher in omega's 3 and 6.

4. Ghee is great! Ghee (also known as clarified butter) is butter that has had all of the milk fat removed, so what you are left with is a richer, cleaner tasting butter. Ghee is traditionally used in Indian cusine but has been gaining popularity here in the US lately because of its unique properties. Ghee can help your digestive system, it lasts a very long time and it tastes awesome!

5. Eat more nuts and seeds. Nuts and seeds are awesome! They are contain protein and the good unsaturated fats. You can put them in salads, trail mixes, granola and nut butters go great in just about everything. Keep in mind that peanuts are not actually a nut and cashews, sorry to say, are the least nutritious of the group. Before I workout, one of my go to foods is a pack of walnuts or almonds, they do a good job of supplying me with energy.

6. Eat avocados with everything! Avocados are another one of those healthy unsaturated fats. Avocados are loaded with fiber, contain more potassium than a banana and are healthy for your heart. Avocados are also extremly versatile. You can make a guacamole, salads, put them in smoothies, put them on sandwiches and even make a vegan chocolate pudding with them.

7. Bad fats hide in pre-packaged and processed foods. Most pre-packaged and processed foods contain trans fats. That's right, your beloved doughnuts, cookies, frozen pizzas and potato chips more than likely contain trans fats. This is another reason to try and avoid processed and pre-packaged foods!

8. Full fat coconut milk does wonders. Now, when I talk about full fat coconut milk, I am not talking about the carton of "So Delicious" coconut milk you use in your morning granola. I am talking about the canned stuff that you typically find in the international foods section at your supermarket. Typically the stuff in the carton is just the watered down version of what you find in the can. The stuff you find in the can is pure gold. The top of the can is full of delicious coconut fat which I could just eat with a spoon. Coconut milk is high in medium chain fatty acids which is good for your heart and brain.