More on the best kinds of food for fat loss....

Today's Post: Tuesday, 12-8-2009

I post so often on why it is so important to NOT eat:

refined grains; and trans fats and the hydrogenated vegetable oils they are made from; and most of the vegetable oils themselves such as soy & corn & canola oils due to their high omega 6 content; & to eat very little sugar & no high fructose corn syrup - & no artificial sweeteners;
& to NOT drink soft drinks,

-- that I think it’s important to do posts on what foods you can eat or eat MORE of.:

About a month ago I did a post, The three best kinds of food for fat loss.... on Friday, 11-6-2009. And, that included some foods I’ll list below.


But today’s post is about some additions that did NOT make that list -- and some new information on two of the foods already known to be health supporting. They also can help with fat loss!

1. Using olive oil and extra virgin olive oil lowers inflammation and helps give you a more favorable omega 3 to omega 6 oil balance, and helps prevent cancer and heart disease when compared with omega 6 oils like corn, & soy, and canola. Olive oil lowers LDL cholesterol while increasing your HDL or leaves your HDL level high while omega 6 oils lower HDL. That also helps prevent heart disease & stroke. Using olive oil instead of butter lowers your LDL levels and saturated fat intake. And, using olive oil instead of trans fats, when it works in cooking helps prevent heart disease. (Trans fats are heart attack starters while olive oil is protective.)

And, the omega 9, or monosaturated, oils from olive oil, nuts, and avocados tend to lower your insulin levels which helps you remove belly fat.

But there’s more! I just found out that compared to butter, olive oil makes you less hungry while butter tends to make you eat more.

The first of several foods I’ll cover that were listed this morning on one of AOL’s features is this new information on olive oil.

Olive oil can actually help with fat loss.

The feature said that a recent study at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, found that butter & some other kinds of fats (trans fats I suspect) tell your brain that to ignore appetite-lowering signals from the leptin and insulin that regulate your weight.

(That may help cause insulin resistance, high blood sugar, and type 2 diabetes. It definitely will help make you fatter and cause you to lose less fat when you try.)

However, olive oil did the exact opposite, allowing your leptin and insulin to lower your appetite.

And, a different study from the UC, Irvine found that olive oil also causes production of a messenger in your small intestine that turns down hunger.

I highlight this one as it gives you a great reason to protect your health by virtually always using only olive oil – namely that you will be far less fat in addition to being healthier!

2. Protein foods help you lose fat since they turn off your hunger so much better than carbs or even most fats & they are one of the 3 kinds of foods we list to eat for fat loss.

Some protein foods such as eggs, beef fed only grass, and wild caught salmon & other seafoods except those with too much mercury do have some fat; but beans and lentils also have fiber and are far cheaper; & nonfat and very low fat dairy products are also cheaper.

But the AOL feature this morning listed a plant based group of foods that you can use which are super low calorie, zero saturated fat, & high in protein, mushrooms.

Button mushrooms have many of the health benefits of portabella and maitake mushrooms but cost less; and portabella mushrooms are large enough to be easier to cook in some ways while maitake mushrooms are credited with many health benefits in addition to their protein content.

3. Many fat loss experts recommend no grains at all; & I suspect that avoiding large amounts of even whole grains and only eating whole grains and virtually never eating foods made with refined grains is essential.

That said, whole grains are high in fiber, provide plant protein, and are inexpensive.

I had read that barley is lower glycemic than other grains & I’ve found I enjoy eating it. Wild rice has similar benefits. And I read of some experiments found that people who ate barley as their main grain tended to be leaner than people who ate other kinds of grain.

The AOL story this morning had two others.

a) They note that "old fashioned," NOT instant, oatmeal has soluble fiber which helps you feel full. (Soluble fiber also helps lower LDL cholesterol.) I eat this kind of oatmeal now once a day & will continue to eat it; but I plan to go to eating it only every other day soon as part of my increased fat loss efforts. However, if someone is eating corn flakes now & switches to this kind of oatmeal, they very well might lose some fat.

b) I’ve always liked rye bread for its taste and now eat one piece of whole grain, sprouted rye bread in a half sandwich at my weekday lunches.

It seems I made a good fat loss choice too.

The AOL article reported that some Swedish researchers found that eating rye bread increases you feeling of being full enough to tend to cause you to eat fewer calories up to 8 hours after you eat it when compared to eating whole wheat bread.

This study, published in "Nutrition Journal," also stated that people who ate rye bread also had a lower insulin response.

Not bad!! If you eat fewer calories and have lower insulin levels, you WILL be less fat and have less belly fat.

4. This part of the AOL story is like the olive oil part. It seems that another good for you food that tastes good also helps you feel full better than an alternative food that hasn’t as strong a health supporting track record.

It seems that researchers at Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Copenhagen found dark chocolate turns down your hunger more than milk chocolate.

Even with that, you still have to be a bit careful not to overdo even dark chocolate as it is made with sugar.

But still, it’s nice to know that the dark chocolate that lowers blood pressure and increases your chances, according to another study I read of, of surviving any heart attack you might have, also turns down your hunger better than milk chocolate.

5. Next, in today’s online health news elsewhere was a story that an artificial sugar called oligofructose, may help people lose fat & will lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels in people who need it.

OFS has about 30% to 50% of the sweetness of table sugar the story reported.

Given the dreadful health track record of other artificial sweeteners and such artificial food components initially thought to be good for you! such as, hydrogenated oils and margarine, I strongly suspect that no one should ingest this OFS who values their health.

BUT, agave nectar also has about 30 to 50% of the sweetness and glycemic response as sugar and might well have similar effects.

(I’ve not yet experimented for taste with a mixture of one fourth maple syrup or brown sugar, one fourth agave nectar, and one half erythritol, a natural virtually no calorie sweetener. But this combination would have less than half the calories and glycemic response of 100 % sugar and might well also work.

My guess is that it would also be as sweet as 100 % sugar but without causing your body to crave more sugar as 100 % artificial sweetener would do & 100% erythritol might do.)

6. People who drink at least one glass of real fruit or vegetable juice each day are less likely to get Alzheimer’s disease. Commercial vegetable juices such as tomato juice and V8 juice are low in sugar and lower in glycemic index compared with fruit juices but are salted. And, real orange juice and real grape juice have some real health benefits but are nearly as sweet and may have the same fat loss problems as regular soft drinks.

But, I just found out that real, 100 %, cranberry juice has about a sixth as much sugar as grape juice. It also has outstanding health benefits including helping to prevent bladder and kidney infections. (Whole Foods Markets sell it.)

It does cost a lot more per ounce than grape or orange juice or tomato juice or V8; but drinking it instead of a more sugary juice half the time or most of the time will help you lose fat.


Here are 3 food groups that ranked zero or close to it on glycemic index and glycemic load.:

(This part is from my Friday, 11-6-2009 post. Foods with a glycemic index that low are the BEST foods for fat loss.)

1. Nonstarchy vegetables. These include such foods as:

Cooked cabbage, raw cauliflower, green beans, spinach, & mushrooms -- & raw broccoli florets, radishes, asparagus, and other salad greens such as kale and romaine lettuce, etc.

2. Raw or dry roasted nuts. Pecans, walnuts, and almonds were listed in the zero, zero group.

(Oil roasted and/or salted nuts are NOT good. Usually the oils are omega 6 oils or partially hydrogenated omega 6 oils with horrible health results. And, more than just a tiny bit of salt will boost your blood pressure too high or higher.)

3. Eggs, meats, seafood, and fish also are in the zero, zero group.

Only eat the safest, least polluted, and most health supporting kinds. These are wild caught or naturally raised.


4. Eating some fresh fruit and very low fat dairy foods and home-juiced vegetables is OK as they have low moderate to moderate ratings on the glycemic index.

The goal is to eat an overall diet that is 20% or less on the glycemic index.

The result is hunger-free and effective fat loss.

Getting regular walking and a few sessions each of strength training and vigorous if brief interval cardio each week makes all this work even better to create hunger-free and effective fat loss.