Let that statement settle for a moment. It might be difficult for you to read. Especially after all of the research that has suggested, “fat doesn’t make you fat.”

That statement is still true — up to a point. The role of any macronutrient in your diet — whether protein, carbs, or fats — all walk a delicate balance between being good for weight loss and being good for your general health.

Just because you can go high-fat and lose weight doesn’t mean it’s great for your general health.

In the case of fat — or more appropriately, “healthy fat” — that balance has been lost. Some research has twisted an important fact (you need to eat fat in your diet) with a twisted version of reality (eat lots of healthy fat, from many different sources, and you’ll lose fat and never have health issues).

The reality: there’s a very simple way to know if you should be eating more or less fat in your diet (more on that in a moment). More importantly, many foods that have been recommended as a “healthy fat” aren’t actually that healthy. 

So where does that leave you? Let’s start with a few essential facts about your diet.  

If you prioritize calories and protein, then the amount of fat or carbohydrates you eat is a secondary concern. That’s based on the latest research shows, which shows calories are still king when it comes to weight loss.

In other words, figure out how many calories you need, prioritize protein (usually somewhere between .7g – 1g per pound of your goal bodyweight — although it can be less for some diets, such as if you follow a ketogenic plan), and then fill in the rest with carbs or fats. This is why research shows that both low-fat and low-carb diets help with weight loss. Because both can.

But, where does that leave you when it comes to eating healthy fat? In most cases, you’re probably still confused about what you should eat.

Should you load up on nuts? What about coconut oil, olive oil, and butter?

Just because you can go high-fat and lose weight doesn’t mean it’s great for your general health. After all, we have professors following Twinkie diets and losing nearly 30 pounds.

To understand the “healthy fat” debate, you need to hit refresh on the extremes (“Fat is bad!” “Fat is amazing!”) and take a different perspective. Not only will this new approach give you peace of mind, it’ll also help you understand what you can eat often, what is OK in moderate doses, and what you should completely avoid.  

What is a Healthy Fat?

The thing about the term “healthy” is that everything is relative. The answer will differ from person to person and depend on context.

For example, take the question of whether or not coconut oil is healthy. Start with the baseline: Healthy compared to what?

If the question is coconut oil vs. nothing – i.e. the alternative is starving – then yes, by all means, coconut oil is the better choice.

But if the question is coconut oil vs. another fat source, then you have a debate—one that will have different outcomes depending on the opponent. That’s because some fats are more beneficial than others.

For example, the PREDIMED study, which followed thousands of people over several years, showed that olive oil and nuts were linked with better overall cardiovascular health. By definition, both would be considered healthy fat.

“That was a landmark study because it showed hard events,” says Dr. Spencer Nadolsky, a physician and online health coach based in North Carolina. “Not just some little experimental data showing mechanistic changes in sensitivity, cholesterol or endothelium function. So, at the very least, you can say that olive oil and nuts are probably pretty healthy.”

Nadolsky says the same is true for avocados (and avocado oil), fish, and nut butter. They contain beneficial health properties over and above the presence of fat.

“Olive oil has polyphenols in it and cardioprotective properties, and so do nuts,” Nadolsky says. “We have data on olive oil, nuts, fish oil, and omega 3s.” So those fats are, in that sense, “good” for you.

So what are you to make of other supposed healthy fat sources like coconut oil?

The Coconut Oil Debate (And What it Teaches You About “Healthy Fat”)

The recent controversy about coconut oil started with small studies showing some benefits, which were then taken out of context.  

One study kinda-sorta suggested that coconut oil might inhibit the growth of certain bacteria.

Media translation: “Coconut oil is antimicrobial! Use it to clean your bathroom!” (<-Not true. Don’t do that.)

Another study showed that men who ate more medium-chain triglycerides, a type of fat present in coconut oil, lost a whopping one pound more than those who followed a “regular diet” over a 28-day period.

Media translation: “Coconut oil will make you skinny! Put a shovel of it in your coffee!” (<-Listen, you can do this if you want. But don’t expect anything special to happen.)

You get the idea. The nutrition industry consistently exhibits “irrational exuberance” about the benefits of certain foods. Combine that with marketing hype and a little myth, and before you know it, you have a “superfood.” 

In coconut oil’s case, the superfood train had well left the station in many people’s minds. And it was picking up steam until the American Heart Association released a report advising against the consumption of coconut oil. Suddenly, EEEERT!

The onslaught of ominous headlines denouncing coconut oil was immediate and ubiquitous. It’s a knee-jerk reaction that says if a food isn’t good, it must be bad.  That’s freaking out about a food’s supposed risks.

By and large, no single food is going to make or break your diet. You’ve been taught to view foods as “good” or “bad,” but that’s a gross oversimplification.

The biggest concern cited in the AHA report is that coconut oil is high in saturated fat. But anyone who’s even casually glanced at a coconut oil nutrition facts label would know that—it’s stated right there. And while saturated fat has been blamed wrongly for a lot of health problems, it’s also not something you can eat in any quantity. 

So what’s your move? Start with a better understanding of saturated fat.

“There are all sorts of different types of saturated fatty acids. It’s not just one molecule. Just as there are multiple polyunsaturated fatty acids—omega 3s, omega 6s, and so on—there are multiple types of saturated fatty acids, and they all have different effects on the body in the body,” says Nadolsky.

So saturated fat on its own isn’t a problem. Neither is cholesterol, necessarily. Whether or not a problem arises depends on the condition of your body—and especially your arterial walls—and how many lipoproteins you have in your system.  

“How does atherosclerosis (the hardening and narrowing of the arteries) actually happen?” Nadolsky asks. “Think of your arteries as a canal, the lipoproteins as boats, and cholesterol as those boats’ cargo. The more lipoproteins you have, the greater of a risk you run that the boats will go crashing into the canal’s walls. And when that happens, it causes the beginning of atherosclerosis or plaque build-up.”

Even if you don’t have a lot of “cargo” (cholesterol), you can still run into trouble if your canals are full of boats (lipoproteins).

So if you really want to know how much saturated fat you can have, go see a doctor and test your lipoprotein levels (apoB/LDL-P).

This will indicate how much eating saturated fat affects your body. Yes, that requires a visit to the doctor. But it’s worth it. And a lot better than playing a guessing game.

Healthy Fat vs. Available Fat (The A-Ha! Moment)

But what about this “MCT” everybody talks about when they discuss coconut oil? These are the “medium-chain triglycerides,” which people tout as a fat-burner because of the way the fat is broken down in your body.

To be clear: MCT can have health benefits as a healthy oil, but its reported benefits of melting fat from your body are significantly overstated. As we mentioned, when you look at the data from the study that is used as evidence of MCT’s fat-burning power, it shows that MCT oil led to just one pound of additional fat loss.

Second, the oil used in that study had a far greater concentration of MCT than what you’ll find in coconut oil. When researchers examined whether coconut oil had the same effect, they found that it did not affect fat oxidation in the same way. Bottom line: If you want to burn money (MCT ain’t cheap) for an extra pound, that’s your choice.

As nutrition researcher Alan Aragon pointed out in his research review, a curious detail about the studies cited in the recommendation is that some of the most damning studies of coconut oil used a hydrogenated version of the stuff. That’s an important point because hydrogenated anything isn’t healthy for you. “Hydrogenation of vegetable oil is a well-established way to [turn] a relatively neutral oil into a threat to cardiovascular health,” Aragon writes.

But it’s pretty easy to avoid this problem: Simply buy the extra virgin version of any oil you buy, coconut oil included. (If you stop reading this article right now, that’s a tip that will provide some insurance to upgrade your shopping behavior.)

So where are we left? Is Coconut oil good for you? Is it bad for you? The answer is: It’s neither.

“You will not receive any magical benefits from eating coconut oil,” Nadolsky says. “Coconut oil is not going to kill you, either, so long as you’re not eating gobs and gobs of it.”

That answer holds true for a lot of other fat sources, too. Most of them are what they are: a source of fat, the most calorie-dense of all macronutrients. (Proteins and carbs have four calories per gram, while the same unit of fat packs nine calories.) They can be helpful for greasing pans when you’re making eggs or pancakes. And, it’s fine to consume them in moderation.

Fat is an essential nutrient. Your body requires it in order to survive. 

“Butter and coconut oil are not ‘bad’ for you,” Nadolsky says. “They are perfectly acceptable fat sources. But you shouldn’t go out of your way to eat more of them. There’s no proven benefit to doing so—and there are some documented risks.”

There are really only two fats you should avoid all the time: Trans fats (but you already knew that), and nuts — if you have an allergy (you knew that too).

For nearly everything else—butter, coconut oil, grapeseed oil, corn oil, and so on—you can feel free to eat them within moderation, and without guilt. These are the “available” fats. You’re not bringing your body one step closer to death by eating them. You’re also not doing it any big favors. You’re simply supplying it with an essential macronutrient.

Are there “better” or “healthier” sources of fat? Yes.

Olive oil, nuts, and seeds contain polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats with demonstrated health benefits that have held up in studies. But that doesn’t mean you need to only eat them.

You should also know that simply adding a “healthy” fat source to an otherwise crappy diet (one that’s high in calorie-dense packaged foods and low in fruits, vegetables, and whole foods) will not make you healthier. In fact, it could make you less healthy if the additional calories you pile onto that crappy diet take you over your daily caloric intake, and lead to fat gain.

“If you do it in the extreme, you could see extreme changes,” Nadolsky says. “And not in a good way.”

The Quick Guide to Healthy Fat (AKA What You Should Eat)

READ MORE: 

How Much Fat Should I Eat?

Do Carbs Actually Make You Fat?

Winning the War on Hunger: Practical Solutions to Overeating

The post Healthy Fat: Which Foods Should You Really Be Eating? appeared first on Born Fitness.

In this healthy recipe, you mix foods with a lot of flavor—cough, cough…sausage and cheese—with those that tend to be more bland and boring—egg whites and spinach. That’s the secret to success in any eating plan: make it flavorful and enjoyable so you look forward to your meals.

It’s not about whether you are on a “diet” or not; it’s about making nutrient-dense food taste great while also fueling your body with what it needs to lose fat and gain lean muscle.

Want to enjoy this breakfast pita every day? You can because it’s full of protein and packed with nutrients. Best of all? Our breakfast pita can be ready to eat in less than 10 minutes, meaning it’s perfect for your on-the-go lifestyle.

Why it’s a Healthy Recipe

In order to keep the calories low and the flavor high, we substituted the fat in an egg yolk for the fat in chicken sausage and cheese. And if you want more calories, simply keep the egg yolks.

The chicken sausage is a great alternative to pork sausage because it’s lower fat. [Note: fat isn’t bad, but it is calorically dense. This way you save calories in one place and can add flavor in another.] By sautéing the onions and spinach in the sausage first, you’re adding flavor and micronutrient-rich vegetables.

We can’t promise instant bicep growth like Popeye, but spinach has anti-inflammatory, anti-cancerous phytochemicals that also support eyesight. The whole-wheat pita is a great way to add fiber and complex carbohydrates to your meal. Make sure to check the ingredients in your pita, or any bread or wrap for that matter. Look for the word “whole” before he first ingredient. Words like “enriched,” “wheat” and “multi-grain” can fool you. Buyer beware.

Ingredients

Serving size: 1 serving

Cook time: <10 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

• 1 whole wheat pita, cut in half (if allergic to wheat, simply choose a gluten-free option)
• ½ c liquid egg whites
• ½ chicken sausage diced
• 1 c baby spinach
• ¼ c diced onion
• 1 tbsp. shredded parmesan cheese
• ¼ tsp. garlic powder
• ½ tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, for sautéing
• Sea salt & pepper, to taste
• Tomato, sliced, optional

Breakfast Pita Directions

1. In a medium sauté pan, add the onions and sausage. Stir and let sausage edges brown and the onions caramelize for a few minutes. Then add the spinach.
2. Stir. Once the spinach has wilted, add the liquid egg whites and scramble.
3. Season the egg white scramble with garlic powder, sea salt, and pepper. Sprinkle on the cheese and stuff it all into each pita pocket.
4. Serve with sliced tomatoes if you’d like and enjoy

Nutritional Information & Macros (per serving)

• 333 calories
• 6.5g fat
• 34.5g carbs
• 34g protein

The post Sausage and Cheese Breakfast Pita appeared first on Born Fitness.

If the engine is broken, it doesn’t matter what type of fuel you add to the machine.

But if the fuel is terrible, your body still won’t function the way you want.

Between fears of high protein diets, high fat diets, and really any type of carbohydrate, eating has become an overcomplicated mess that creates more stress than needed.

It’s time to change that mindset while simultaneously changing the way your body looks.

Use this guide to understand what your body needs, and why you don’t have to frustratingly avoid certain foods that you want as part of your healthy living plan.

Carbohydrates: The Misunderstood One

Carbohydrates seem to be the focus of most diets you read about (especially fat-loss diets), so it makes sense to start here.

Carbs have taken a real beating in the media ever since some guy named Atkins (you may have heard of him) decided we weren’t allowed to eat doughnuts anymore. (Prior to this we were allowed to eat doughnuts, but they had to be reduced fat; this made us feel better about ourselves.)

All joking aside, carbs have a bad reputation, or at least a worse one than they deserve.

Carbs come in a variety of forms. Some are good for you, and some are bad. The bad ones are usually highly processed and could barely be considered food other than the fact that they’re edible. They may be delicious, but they’re also the result of some crazy scientific processes.

Of course, if you process the crap out of anything, it reaches a point where it just isn’t healthy anymore. This doesn’t mean carbs are evil and to blame for the obesity epidemic—it just means that eating processed foods that are loaded with sugars and highly palatable are great at making people fat.

Why? Because we end up eating far too much of it. The reality is, your diet can include some processed carbs too, as long as it’s a minimal amount of the overall amount you eat.

Carbs 101: Simple vs. Complex

Carbohydrates are made up of sugar molecules, which your body breaks down into fuel, especially when you’re working hard. Sugars, starches, and fiber are all basic forms of the carbohydrate.

There are two main types of carbohydrates: simple and complex.

We could also mention fibrous carbs that you can find in foods like green veggies, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, sprouts, spinach, cauliflower, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini … buuuut we won’t.

For the purposes of this discussion of carbs, we only want to touch on stuff that is probably causing issues with your weight. This doesn’t mean that these foods don’t count. They do.

But I don’t think a primary cause of weight gain is eating too many vegetables. And after coaching literally thousands of people, it’s become very clear that eating more veggies has always been a good thing.

Quite simply, eating vegetables allows you to eat more. And by eating more, you’re less hungry. And when you consider that hunger is strongly associated weight weight gain, winning war on hangry is half the battle.

Simple Carbohydrates

In the most basic sense, simple carbohydrates include table sugar, syrup, and soda. Most of the time, these carbs should be avoided (exceptions include cheat days or small daily indulgences, which should be included in any plan) and are usually the “bad carbs” that fitness pros talk about. Also included on this list are things like candy, cake, beer, and cookies. In other words, the best ones.

Complex Carbohydrates

Complex carbohydrates include oatmeal, apples, cardboard, and peas.

For a long time, people believed that complex carbohydrates were universally better for you than simple carbohydrates, but that isn’t always the case.

You see, your body takes both complex and simple carbohydrates and tries to break them down into useable sugar energy to fuel your muscles and organs. It’s not the type of carbohydrate that really matters, but how quickly your body can break it down and how much it will spike your blood glucose levels.

It’s not as simple as dividing complex carbs from simple ones, though. A slightly more sophisticated way to rate carbohydrate quality is something called the glycemic index (GI).

The GI attempts to classify foods by how quickly they break down and how high they boost blood sugar levels.

For a while, the GI was all the rage, and people argued that by following a low-GI diet, you’d keep insulin levels in check even while eating more carbs overall.

This has turned out to be only partially true. Which is to say that while it’s probably better to eat low GI foods than high ones, there probably won’t be a tremendous difference in your waistline if you’re still eating your weight in sweet potatoes instead of Cheerios.

Neither low-carb diets nor low-GI diets are a magic pill for fat loss; the main thing is to eat the right amount of healthy foods that fuel metabolism, which in turn will help you burn fat.

The important thing to remember is that your body needs carbs, even if some of the fad diets tell you otherwise. This becomes even more important if you’re performing intense exercise. Without carbohydrates, your body will begin to break down your muscle tissue to fuel your body, which will sabotage your efforts.

Carb lovers lament low-carb diets, and anti-carb crusaders posit that you can avoid carbs for the most part and still do well.

It is true that low-carb diets offer many health benefits, but as I’ve stated before, low carb doesn’t mean no carb.

Just as important, those health benefits don’t mean low carb is strategically better for fat loss. Research published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition dropped a bomb when it compared a lower carb diet to a higher carb diet and discovered no significant difference on fat loss, metabolism, or muscle retention.

Your Eating Tip: Ultimately, the number of carbs you eat is going to be highly based on personal preference, activity levels, and how your body reacts to what you eat. Carb intake should be determine after you prioritize fat and protein levels.

[prompted-search initial-state=”open” /]

Fats: From Zero to Hero?

For a long time, fats were like carbs—blamed for every health problem possible. It’s the reason that for nearly twenty years, low fat was synonymous with healthy.

And for many people—maybe even several of you reading this—that’s still how you determine if something is safe to eat. If it’s low fat, it has to be good. Or if it doesn’t have saturated fat, then it’s okay.

Much like any silver bullet nutrition solution, this isn’t the case. As our nation’s fat consumption decreased, its obesity increased, according to CDC data. This was due to a variety of factors—the frequency of meals and snacks, the size of meals, and the consumption of sugar.

So what is the bottom line on fat? For starters, fat is a necessary component of your diet and something you’re probably not consuming enough of.

Fat is good. It’s good for testosterone. It’s good for your heart (yes, you read that correctly). And it’s good for your muscles.

Fat plays an important role in helping the general functioning of your body. Fat is a critical coating for nerves. This coating serves to speed up conduction down the nerve so that every neurochemical signal that is sent through your body (any time your brain wants to tell your body to do something), it happens efficiently.

What’s more, fat also serves as a substrate for a whole set of hormones known as eicosanoids. Eicosanoids are essential for numerous functions that regulate things like blood pressure, inflammation, and even blood clotting. This kind of fat is needed for basic human physiology, which is reason enough to include it in your diet.

Now that you know what fats are needed in your diet, here’s what you should know about the different types of fats—and why each needs to be included in your diet, with the exception of trans fats.

Monounsaturated Fat

Monounsaturated fats are found mostly in high-fat fruits such as avocados as well as nuts like pistachios, almonds, walnuts, and cashews. This type of fat can also be found in olive oil.

Monounsaturated fats help lower bad cholesterol and raise good cholesterol. They’ve also been shown to help fight weight gain and may even help reduce body fat levels.

Polyunsaturated Fat

Like monounsaturated fats, these good fats help fight bad cholesterol. Polyunsaturated fats stay liquid even in the cold because their melting point is lower than that of monounsaturated fats.

You can find polyunsaturated fats in foods like salmon, fish oil, sunflower oil, and seeds. Polyunsaturated fats contain omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, which have largely been processed out of our food.

Omega-3s and 6s are very important and are oftentimes referred to as essential fatty acids, or EFAs. These cannot be manufactured by our bodies, and so it becomes essential to ingest them. And because your body needs these sources to function optimally and remain healthy, it’s your job to make sure your diet has enough of these fats to avoid problems and breakdown.

Saturated Fat

Saturated fats might be the most misunderstood substance you can eat. And for good reason: there have been studies linking high intake of saturated fats to heart disease. But those studies also have more questions than the Riddler.

When researches have gone back in and looked at the data from all the countries where data was available, there actually was no link between fat consumption and heart disease deaths.

Much of the debate about dietary fat comes from sources like The China Study and movies like Forks Over Knives, which have pointed the finger at saturated fats—and all animal fats—as the reason for all health problems. And yet, these studies all took a very slanted bias toward the saturated fat hypothesis and completely ignored populations that were incredibly healthy despite diets based on saturated fats.

In fact, people who live in Tokelau (a territory off of New Zealand) eat a diet that is 50 percent saturated fats, and they have cardiovascular health superior to any other group of people, and yet this data and information is ignored.

There are several studies of hunter-gatherer tribes that consumed 50 to 70 percent of all their calories from saturated fats without any health problems. When you receive the specific calculations for your fat intake, up to half of the fat can derive from saturated fats.

Even Walter Willett, chairman of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard, has publicly stated (after a twenty-year review of research) that fats—and more specifically saturated fats—are not the cause of the obesity crisis and are not the cause of heart disease.

Listen, saturated fat is one of the best sources of energy for your body. It’s why your body naturally stores carbohydrates as saturated fat.

Are you going to argue with one of the most basic structures of how your body was intended to work? Not to mention, saturated fats are some of the most satiating foods, meaning they keep you fuller longer.

And research shows diets that are higher in saturated fats are oftentimes lower in total calories consumed.

That leaves you with one option: assuming you’re not a vegetarian, you should be eating red meat, dairy, and eggs to consume your share of saturated fats. Not overeating them, or downing sticks of butter like they’re going out of style. But also not avoiding them as if they’ll break the scale.

The exception: Trans Fat

Trans fats are the black sheep of the fat family. Trans fats are the worst fats, and in truth, one of the worst forms of food that you could possibly consume. They’re found in foods such as French fries, potato chips, and most fried foods.

While some trace amounts of trans fats are naturally occurring in meats and other foods, by and large, most are not naturally occurring. Instead, they are generally manmade.

Trans fats are made by a chemical process called partial hydrogenation.

Manufacturers take liquid vegetable oil (an otherwise decent monounsaturated fat) and pack it with hydrogen atoms, which convert it into a solid fat. This makes what seems to be an ideal fat for the food industry because it has a high melting point and a smooth texture, and it can be reused in deep-fat frying.

Essentially, trans fats come about as a result of overprocessing our foods in order to offer consumers a longer shelf life. If your food is pre-packaged, it’s a pretty safe bet that it has its fair share of trans fats. If you are serious about your goals, you should try to avoid trans fats at all costs. Or if you just don’t want to be eating plastic garbage.

Of course, we take a moderate approach. If you’re limiting your intake of junk foods, exercising regularly, and getting good nutrition otherwise—including a variety of healthy fats—then chances are, you can have the occasional Twinkie once every few months and be okay.

Your Eating Tip: Research suggests that about 20 to 35 percent of your daily calories should come from fats.

Protein: The White Knight

While both carbs and fats have spent their time as public enemy #1, being demonized or lauded by turns, no macronutrient has enjoyed the rise to prominence and popularity as our friend, protein.

A favorite among bodybuilders, athletes, and just about any fitness enthusiast, protein is used by your body to repair damaged muscle, bone, skin, teeth, and hair, among other things. Think of it as the mortar between the bricks; without it, the entire structure of your body begins to break down.

Unlike other nutrients, your body can not assemble protein by combining other nutrients, so it needs to be prioritized if you’re to achieve your healthiest (and best looking) body possible.

Protein helps to create an anabolic hormonal environment (good for muscle building and fat loss), and along the lines of the brick metaphor, it provides a lot of the materials used to build your muscles.

There are two categories of protein: complete and incomplete.

Protein is comprised of smaller molecules called amino acids. There are twenty-two amino acids that warrant attention, of which nine belong to a subcategory that can only be obtained through your food. Your body can manufacture the remainder of the amino acids.

The nine amino acids that are obtained from food are called essential amino acids. For those interested in such things, the essential amino acids are:

• Tryptophan
• Lysine
• Methionine
• Phenylalanine
• Threonin
• Valine
• Leucine
• Histidine
• Isoleucine

A complete protein (also known as a whole protein) is one that contains adequate portions of those nine amino acids. By contrast, an incomplete protein is one that is lacking in one or more of those amino acids.

These amino acids also help your body create hormones that help regulate things like blood pressure and blood sugar levels, which are directly responsible for your metabolic rate and muscular growth. In short, protein is extremely important, especially the complete proteins that are found in foods such as fish, poultry, eggs, red meat, and cheese.

The Pink Elephant: The Kidney Question 

Some “experts” would like to have you believe that eating lots of protein will cause all sorts of problems, ranging from kidney stones and gallstones.

For most people, this is not a concern—or rather, it is a moot point. That’s because there’s no research showing any relationship between eating lots of protein and developing kidney problems.

In fact, a study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research tested up to 400 grams of protein per day without any negative consequences. Now, if you have a preexisting kidney problem, it’s possible that a higher protein diet could be hard on your body. But if you have a kidney problem, you should be talking to your doctor about your diet anyway.

If you’re healthy, you are clear to eat protein and not worry about any health problems—because there are none.

What’s more, protein is one of the most metabolic macronutrients, meaning that the more protein you eat the more calories you burn. For that reason–and protein’s ability to help spare muscle mass–it’s a common reason why if you’re going to overeat on any macronutrient, protein is usually your safest bet.

But don’t forget—calories are still calories so you can’t eat as much as you want.

Your Eating Tip: Protein should be set about .5 to 1 gram per body of goal body weight. If you’re very active, you can veer slightly upward, but it’s not necessary and should be based more on food preference than anything else.

Personalize Your Menu

Still need help figuring out what to eat and how to train? Let a Born Fitness coach help you create your own personalized workouts and meal plans. Learn more here.

READ MORE: 

Big Meals vs. Small Snacks: What’s Best For You?

Eating at Night Does Not Make You Fat

How Many Eggs are Safe to Eat?

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post Fix Your Diet: Understanding Proteins, Carbs, and Fats appeared first on Born Fitness.