"Excuse me, do you have any MUFA's?"

What the heck is a MUFA?
MUFA's {Mono unsaturated fatty acids} are GOOD FATS that BURN BELLY FAT! Just a small amount a few times a day goes a LONG way to aid in the reduction of the undesired bulge, but don't OVERDO, as the OPPOSITE effect (no fat loss) may occur.

How do I add a MUFA to my daily regime? Try to add one of the following at each main meal {or 3x per day} :

1/4 an avocado, 1 tsp. of olive, canola, flaxseed, sesame or peanut oil, a few tablespoons per day of nuts {almonds, cashews, walnuts, peanuts, pecans, etc. and/or nut butters} olives and high quality dark chocolate.

One of the best ways to do this is to incorporate a mix up of the ideas to optimize your enjoyment of them. For example, add 1 tsp pf peanut butter to your morning protein smoothie, mix up equal parts olive oil and balsamic vinegar for a salad dressing, make a simple pesto! Blend pine nuts, olive oil, basil and Parmesan cheese, then spread over fish or chicken after baking. Super easy and tasty ways to get good MUFA's!

SOME MUFA IDEAS:

• Add avocado in omelets, add to meat and cheese roll-ups, add diced atop thin crust pizza
• Put peanut butter in smoothies, on celery, in whole wheat wraps, in stir fries, on apples
  
• Sprinkle almonds/nuts on top of salads, fold into cream cheese and fill celery, crush cashews or pecans and and coat fish
  
• Mix nuts and ground flaxsee into your yogurt; add flaxseed oil to your smoothies
• Add sunflower seeds, walnuts or pecans to quinoa/brown rice for a cereal or side dish
• Toss sliced avocado, chopped olives, or sliced nuts into your green leaf salad
• Use oil based dressings on salads: Olive oil, canola, sunflower - avoid soybean oil
• Add avocado to a Mexican chicken or black bean soup or chili
• Instead of croutons, add nuts and seeds to your soup or salad
• Add nuts to stir-fry dishes, using olive, canola and peanut oil when stir-frying
• Add olives to top a thin crust pizza
  
• Fold pesto sauce into steamed spaghetti squash with olive oil, garlic and Parmesan
• Add a dollop of pesto to dishes ie: tomato soup or cucumber-tomato mozzarella salad
• Stir minced olives into marinara sauce
• Sprinkle nuts on cream-based soups like tomato-basil, butternut squash, etc.
• Add avocado to shrimp/crab salad with a squeeze of lime and cilantro
• Top chicken, turkey burgers or beef burgers with guacamole and chopped tomatoes
• Add diced avocado to fresh salsa
• Fill celery stalks with Laughing Cow cheese and raw almonds for a crunchy snack
• Baked chicken is yummy with a slice of fresh mozarella and olive tapenade placed atop
• Blend avocado and Laughing Cow cheese with lemon for a veggie/shrimp dip
• Dip celery or apples in peanut or almond butter
• Enjoy a piece of good quality dark chocolate a couple times a week for a mid day treat. Mix dark chocolate chips into ricotta flavored with vanilla extract and Stevia

Tomato, Basil & Mozarella Salad

{tomatoes, fresh basil, mozzarella balls, olive oil, salt and pepper}

Getting the MOST nutrition from the foods we eat is optimum, so be aware of what is IN what you CONSUME. 90% of what we are is from what we eat, so be proactive in your choices and enjoy the variety of healthful foods that is all around us, including a daily dose of heart healthy MUFA's.