A diet that is rich with MUFAs (monounsaturated fatty acids) can help reduce belly fat. Belly fat can enhance the chances of having a cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. MUFAs are found in oils, nuts, seeds, olives, avocados, and even dark chocolate. You want to incorporate these into every meal you consume. They are considered a good fat. You still need to eat a healthy, balanced diet in order to lose the weight, but consuming MUFAs will help reduce your belly fat.
How To Incorporate MUFAs Into Your Diet
When you are cooking, choose oil that is rich with monounsaturated fatty acids. You can use any of the following in your meals to help aid in burning your belly fat: olive oil, canola oil, flax seed oil, safflower oil, sesame oil, walnut oil, peanut oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, and pesto sauce.
You can eat any of the following as a snack or even add them into your meals: almond butter, smooth and crunchy natural peanut butter, dry roasted cashews, cashew butter, dry roasted sunflower seeds, roasted pumpkin seeds, dry roasted peanuts, brazil nuts, walnuts, pine nuts, almonds, macadamia nuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and sesame seed paste. You might want to add avocados into your meal to burn belly fat. Try eating lots of olives; you can choose from green olives, black olives, black olive tapenade, or green olive tapenade.
For the chocolate lover you want to choose from semisweet chocolate and dark chocolate. Add the chips or shavings for an added treat, plus the benefits of belly fat burning.
How Much Monounsaturated Fat To Eat
There is no set limit on how much or how few monounsaturated fatty acids you should consume on a daily basis. You want to try and have at least one MUFA in every meal. Instead of cooking with butter use oil with MUFAs in it, put it on salads, or in marinades- 1 tablespoon is a serving. Incorporate nuts and seeds as a snack, dress up a salad, crush them up and use as a breading for meats, spread nut butters on fruit, crackers, and bread. Two tablespoons of nuts or seeds equals to one serving of monounsaturated fatty acids.
The two avocados to choose from are Florida or Hass. You can put these in with a salad, mix into a salsa or a dip, and eat them as is. You will need to eat ¼ cup of avocado to get a full serving of MUFAs. Olives can be eaten as a snack, on top of pizzas, and in salads or pastas. Tapenade can be spread on crackers or a slice of bread when eating a sandwich, or even put it in stuffed chicken or on fish fillets.
You need to eat 10 large olives or two tablespoons to get a serving of monounsaturated fatty acid. You can eat the chocolate any way you like it; ¼ cup gives you a full serving of MUFAs.
One Last Thing To Keep In Mind While Dieting
When you're dieting, your focus is going to be entirely on cutting fat and shaving pounds. It's easy to become consumed by dieting and weight loss, to the extent that it becomes unhealthy. You need to ensure you're managing your weight loss journey appropriately, both from a physical perspective and a mental health one.
Unfortunately, eating disorders are a real problem that many develop on their dieting journey. You become so obsessed with calorie counting and losing pounds that it turns into an unhealthy fixation. Anyone of any age or gender can develop an eating disorder. There is often a stereotype that eating disorders only affect young women, but this is not true.
You need to ensure you're familiar with the warning signs of an eating disorder, both for yourself and anyone you know who is dieting. If you see these warning signs in yourself, it's important to take action as soon as possible. Book an appointment with a mental health professional, or speak to your physician if you are unable to book a session with a therapist.
If you notice these signs in another person, plan an intervention. It's important to avoid panicking, getting angry, or getting judgmental. Doing any of these things will only incur a negative response from the person you are intervening with, and will likely not get you the results you're hoping for. Instead, aim to have a calm and patient conversation with them. Help them see that their actions are only harming themselves, and encourage them to get help. Remember that you cannot force anyone to get help; while it's good to try, ultimately someone else's mental health is not your responsibility.
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