Fad Diets & Workout Trends

A MUFA Tip

I just turned 40 and it seems that for my entire life I have been saying, “if only they would find a diet where my favorite foods would actually help me LOSE weight instead of gain it, I would be a happy girl.”  Finally with all the attention surrounding monounsaturated fatty acids it appears that wish of mine, and countless other people I am sure, is coming true.  Just by including one serving of these magic mufas in every meal we are attacking and preventing fat storage as well as cholesterol.

For a more complete listing of the MUFAs and their portion sizes click here .   Some oils, dark chocolate, olives, some nuts, and avocados are basically what we have to choose from.  That’s a pretty good variety which would cover almost any type of meal.

Olive oil in your stir fry.

Olives out of the jar.

Nuts on your salad.

Avocado slices on your sandwich or veggie burger.

Chunk of dark chocolate for dessert.

Easy right?  But what if you are like me and you start your day out with a breakfast shake?  Or maybe you have a bigger breakfast and lunch followed by a meal replacement shake at dinner?  How do you work in your MUFA?  Olive oil.

I got the idea of olive oil in my shakes from research I did for an article I wrote on body building.  The weight lifters put olive oil in their pre/post workout shakes as well as their meal replacement shakes, in order to amp up the good fat.  One day it hit me while I was making my breakfast shake and thinking how nothing on the MUFA list sounded appealing with my shakes.  I tried the olive oil and was surprised to find that the flavor doesn’t really change at all and the shake is just a little smoother.

Easy enough to do, just put a tablespoon of olive oil in with your shake powder (I use Beachbody meal replacement shakes because they are a soy-whey combination with no preservatives) and water or milk and blend.  Easy MUFA meal!