Eat Fat to Stay Slim - The Skinny on MUFAs

There's so much hype surrounding healthy fats these days - but it's usually Omega 3s we're hearing about. These fats are great of course, but there's other players on the fat team we need to be aware of - MUFAs, which can help us lose weight and keep it off.

Monounsaturated fatty acids, or MUFAs are good fats found in certain foods such as nuts and nut oils, seeds, avocado, olives and olive oil, canola oil and even dark chocolate. They present as liquid at room temperature but may solidify when refrigerated, unlike polyunsaturated fats that are liquid at all times. This indicates that MUFAs are more stable than polyunsaturated fats, as well as being rich in nutrients and a good source of antioxidants.

MUFAs can help fire up the metabolism, helping the body burn energy faster and more efficiently. A breakfast high in MUFAs can stimulate metabolism for up to five hours, especially in those with a higher amount of stomach fat.

A report in the British Journal of Nutrition showed that a diet that replaced unhealthy saturated fats with MUFAs actually helped people lose weight and body fat without needing to reduce their kilojoule intake. So rather than attempting a fad low-fat diet, overweight people can see better long term weight results by following a moderate fat MUFA-rich eating plan.

In addition to its unique fat-burning abilities, monounsaturated fat also has several other benefits:

A healthy heart
MUFAs remain flexible in the arteries thus have no negative effects on the cardiovascular system, unlike saturated fats which tend to clog the vessels. Harmful LDL cholesterol levels are lowered and beneficial HDL cholesterol increases.

Reduces inflammation
A three year study by Italian researchers found that monounsaturated fats were able to reduce markers of inflammation in the body. Chronic inflammation can lead to conditions such as arthritis and elicit ageing responses.

Type 2 diabetes
MUFAs can help improve blood sugar levels in those with Type 2 diabetes. They assist in slowing digestion, keeping energy levels steady and thus managing hunger, especially when eaten with complex carbohydrate.

Metabolic Syndrome
A cluster of disorders identified by several risk factors such as abdominal fat, hypertension and raised blood fats, MUFAs in the diet can improve insulin sensitivity and blood lipids and greatly diminish cardiovascular risks, even more so than if all fats were removed from the diet completely.

Cancer
Studies show that women with the highest levels of monounsaturated fat in their diets had an almost 50 per cent less risk of breast cancer.

How to reap the benefits

Try to include a MUFA with every meal, whether it's breakfast, lunch or dinner. Add avocado to your toast at breakfast, snack on almonds, Brazil nuts and hazelnuts mid-morning and choose olive or oil on a salad dressing at lunch. Sprinkle sesame seeds over stir-fried vegies at dinner and perhaps a small treat of dark chocolate in the evening and there's five serves in just one day. Control your overall kilojoule intake and you too can benefit from marvellous MUFAs!

By: Amy Dusseldorp, Nutritionist