3 “Good Fats” to Help You Gain or Maintain Weight

A healthy diet includes a good balance of all three macronutrients- protein, fat and carbohydrates. A healthy CF diet requires getting more of all of these in a balanced way.

But let’s talk about fats.

We all know that it can be challenging to gain, or even maintain weight when you have CF.  But choosing the highest quality fats will help you achieve your weight goal while supporting your best overall health.  On the other hand, consuming a high level of saturated and trans fats, such as those found in fast foods, vegetable oils and packaged foods, will contribute to inflammation in the body and have a negative impact on your health.

Healthy dietary fat is needed by the body to perform many of its essential functions. Fat helps your body absorb nutrients, produce energy, develop healthy cells and produce hormones.

But which ones are best for your better CF diet?

Here are 3 healthy fats to include in your diet:

• Ghee is a type of clarified butter. It is made by heating butter to separate the liquid and solids portions of the fat.  The solids are removed, leaving the liquid fat, or ghee. Ghee has been used for centuries as part of the Indian alternative holistic healing system known as Ayurveda.  It is believed that ghee stimulates digestive “fire” along with other digestive secretions needed to break down food and carry nutrients throughout the body. I also like ghee as a healthy fat choice because it creates a healthy coating on the lining of the stomach and digestive tract which makes is soothing and makes digestion more comfortable. Double benefit if your CF includes constipation.

• Avocado is actually a fruit and it has an amazing amount of nutrients and healthy monounsaturated fat, so it is definitely an important one to add to your diet.  Monounsaturated fats are the kind that help reduce “bad” cholesterol. This type of fat also assists your body in absorbing Vitamins A, D, E and K, which are super important for everyone, especially someone with CF.  The avocado also has almost 500 mg of potassium (more than a banana!) which supports a healthy heart as well as healthy levels of hydration in the body.

• Macadamia Nuts contain a higher level of fat than other types of nuts, but again, it is the healthy monounsaturated kind that is heart healthy.  Their antioxidants and flavonoids also found in macadamia nuts help fight inflammation and cellular damage.  By adding just 10-12 nuts to your diet every day, you can get about 200 calories and 21 grams of fat.