Perfect Pairings: Healthy Fat & Carotenoids

Did you know that adding a healthy fat to your veggies can help you absorb the antioxidants even better?  That's because many of the nutrients (such as carotenoids) in veggies are fat-soluble, meaning that their absorption is pretty wimpy when there's no fat in the mix. 

So first, a quick science lesson.

Phytochemicals are the compounds found in plant foods that impart the tastes, aromas, colors, and other characteristics to the fruits and veggies we love.  They give garlic its pungent flavor, tomatoes their dark red color, and hot peppers their burning sensation. 

Carotenoids are among the best known phytochemicals and include the well-known beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein, and zeaxanthin.  They are the naturally occurring pigments that give color to many red, yellow, and orange fruits and vegetables along with many dark green veggies.  Carotenoids are found in everything from apricots, broccoli, cantaloupe, carrots, pumpkin, spinach, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, spinach, kale, and collard greens.  Besides making your fruits and veggies look pretty, they act as antioxidants in the body and protect your cells from damage, reduce the risk of cancer, and bolster the immune system.  For example, did you know that the carotenoid lycopene is the pigment that not only gives tomatoes, guava, papaya, pink grapefruit, and watermelon their red color but also protects you against cancers of the esophagus, prostrate, and stomach? 

Here's a quick and easy recipe filled with carotenoids from the carrot and red pepper and some healthy monounsaturated fat from almond butter to help you aborb them.

Carrot Salad with Almond Dressing

Serves 4

2 large carrots, peeled and shredded
1 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced
3/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
1/2 cup raisins

Dressing

1/4 cup creamy almond butter
1 Tbsp lime juice
1.5 Tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce or tamari (wheat-free soy sauce)
1 tsp honey
Pinch red pepper flakes

1.  Mix carrots, bell pepper, cilantro and raisins in a large bowl.
2.  In a small bowl, whisk together almond butter, lime juice, low-sodium soy sauce, honey and red pepper flakes.
3.  Add dressing to carrot mixture and combine thoroughly.  Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving.

Nutrition Facts Per Serving:  190 calories, 5 g protein, 27 g carbs, 9.5 g fat, 3 g fiber, 17 g sugar, 325 mg sodium

Is Brown Fat the Secret to Being Lean?

Oh brown fat - we hardly know you. We're all too familiar with white fat - the unwanted party guest that keeps showing up uninvited on our hips, thighs, stomach, arms, and butt. But brown fat is different. Though they share the same last name, brown fat is white fat's much cooler cousin. Instead of storing excess calories from food as "love handles" or the dreaded "muffin top," brown fat helps to burn incoming calories. How is this possible? Brown fat has a much different job than white fat.

The purpose of brown fat is to help regulate body temperature. Brown fat are specialized cells packed with mitochondria - the powerhouse of the cells. Instead of producing a high energy compound called ATP (adenosine triphosphate) to help keep us moving and shaking, brown fat cells instead burn through fuel (calories) to produce heat to help keep us warm. Brown fat is prevalent in infants and hibernating animals, which both need it to help stay warm in cold temperatures. It was previously thought that brown fat stores shrink as we age since we become more efficient at regulating our body temperature. However, recent studies indicate that adults actually retain a significant portion of brown fat in the neck area. (Sorry - there goes your excuse to act as immature as a baby or take the winter off to hibernate like a bear in your hopes of boosting your brown fat stores.)

Is there a way to harness of the power of brown fat to become a weight loss dynamo? Researchers at the Univeristy of Gothenburg in Sweden learned in experiments that exposing people to cold temperatures increased the activity of brown fat. Scientists estimate that 50 grams of brown fat could burn 20% of an average person's daily caloric intake - or about 400 calories of a 2000 calorie diet.

Now before you head off to your doctor asking for a pill or injection of brown fat or stand out in the cold shivering, it's important to keep in mind that the body is extremely efficient. A boost in calorie burning is often accompanied by a boost in appetite.

While researchers predict that real world interventions with brown fat are at least 5-10 years away, scientists also state that these treatments would only be effective when paired with changes in nutrition and exercise. (Oh snap - we still have to make lifestyle changes.) Brown fat - I guess we're still trying to get to know you.

Here are links to a few articles discussing the metabolic power of brown fat:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/10/brown.fat.obesity/index.html

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1890175,00.html

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-brown-fat2-2009nov02,0,3235554.story