Aug 14 2008
MUFA Servings, Recipes, and Portion Control
Wow! I am certainly not the only one MOO MOO for the MUFAS! You can get a whole book of recipes in the Flat Belly Diet book but if you are like me you just want to know the skinny on the MUFAS so you whip up your own Flat Belly delights.
The biggest question after “What is a MUFA?” is “How much of each MUFA do I eat?”
Well, remember the idea is to add one serving of your choice of one MUFA to each meal. Ideally you should be eating 4 to 5 small meals per day.
Here are some additional MUFA guidelines.
Let’s start with the oils.
- Your choices are sesame oil, peanut oil, & canola oil (for stir frying) olive oil & walnut oil (for pan frying), pesto sauce (for sandwiches, soups, grilled foods, pasta & rice), safflower oil, , soybean oil, sunflower oil (for cooking), flaxseed oil (for salad dressings).
- MUFA serving allowance is 1 tablespoon.
- EASY MUFA TIP* I put one tablespoon of olive oil in my protein shake. (pomegranate juice, handful of frozen fruit, fresh banana, fresh blueberries when I have them, a scoop of protein powder and a tablespoon of olive oil. DELISH!)
Next is Nuts.
- Proper MUFA serving size is 2 tablespoons.
- Use the nuts as snacks or toss in salads and use the spreads on crackers, fruit, and bread.
- Your MUFA nut choices include almonds, almond butter, Brazil nuts, cashew butter, chunky natural peanut butter, dry-roasted cashews, dry-roasted peanuts, dry-roasted sunflower seeds, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios, roasted pumpkin seeds, smooth natural peanut butter, sunflower seeds, sunflower seed butter, tahini, and walnuts
My favorite MUFA is Avocado.
- Proper MUFA portion for avocado is 1/4 cup.
- There are so many choices. Smash with lime and salt or combine into salsa for chips, chop up and toss in a salad, slice as edible garnish with just about anything.
- MY FAVES: ***Smash out a quarter cup and spread onto a tortilla shell with fresh crunchy veggies like peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes. *** Cube and serve over eggs with salsa *** borrowed from the FIT FOR LIFE book of recipes is the perfectly combine sandwich which consists of avocado, tomato, sprouts, and mustard on toast. YUM!
I Will Gag to my death if you make me eat an olive but here’s some info just for you!
- 10 large olives is a good MUFA serving for you freaks who eat them. I have no recipe ideas for you, though. You’re on your own.
I saved the best MUFA for last. CHOCOLATE!
- Your proper MUFA serving size for chocolate is 1/4 cup.
- Eat it chunked, shaved or chipped but it has to be dark or semisweet.
I hope that helps you out with your MUFA questions. There has been so much interest in it and I can’t say I am surprised. Just please don’t forget, although good fats, these foods are still fats and too much of them will chub you up so make sure you stick to the guidelines.
As excited as I was about the MUFA revolution I have not indulged much in my chocolate and avocado servings at all. It still comes down to having to be easy to work into my routine and I am happy I discovered how good the olive oil tastes in my protein shake. That’s been my MUFA of choice. How about you?
