Burning the Baby Fat - Fat, the other Good Nutrient

by Teresa Brown

We live in a fat obsessed world where the perpetual battle to get rid of it from our diets and our bodies at all costs rages on. It's the "Darth Vader" of the diet industry and few are the ones who can resist succumbing to the delicious and addictive "darkside" of fatty foods. And thanks to the media, fat's reputation today as an essential nutrient has been put on the back burner. Fat is a neccessary nutrient to burn the baby fat and it's time to set the record straight.

Burning the baby fat requires that you lower your overall fat intake. Unfortunately, in our society the average person has a high fat diet and this can result in being at risk for several health problems such as cancer of the breast, colon and prostate cancer and cardiovascular disease.

The first step to burn the baby fat is to lower the amount of fat in your diet to a healthy level by choosing to follow through with making lifestyle changes in how you purchase and prepare your food. For example, shopping when you are famished is not a good idea, as you will be more inclined to make poor food choices and go for the foods high in saturated fat.

There is no excuse to not be able to manipulate the fat in your diet. The amount of fat in foods can be assessed by simply reading the ingredients and nutrition labels that are there for the specific purpose of informing the consumer. In addition, some restaurants and food companies have dispensed information pamphlets to inform consumers of the products nutrient content.

The recommended percentage of fat in a healthy diet is between 20 to 35 percent. Within that narrow range less than 10 percent should be saturated fat (animal products),no more than one percent should be trans fat (products with hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats) and only 300mg should be cholesterol. The majority of your fat intake must come from monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats (fish oils and plant oil products such as nuts and olives).

Your diet varies from one day to the next and so will the fat in your diet. Nature has a way of balancing things out so you can burn the baby fat by keeping all things in moderation. Focus on the big picture by monitoring your fat intake over a series of months rather than obsessing on the fat in the frappuccino you had an hour ago.

Be a smart consumer on nutrition. Try to buy foods with natural ingredients and lower in fat and calories by reading and comparing product labels and brands. Simply eating a balanced low calorie diet that includes the healthy fats will help you to burn the baby fat and stay healthy.