Eating healthy fat will not make you fat.   Eating more calories then your body uses, eating empty calories, not excercising, eating too many carbohydrates and sugars, this is what makes you fat.

It is neccesary to include a small amount of “healthy” fats in all  meals throughout the day.  Healthy fats help your body absorb fat-soluble vitamins, they lubricate the joins and bowels and offer our body vital nutrients.  Healthy fats increase satiety: they make you feel full quicker and keep you feeling full for longer (an essential weight-loss tool!) The key is the amount of fat and the type of fat. As far as the amount- it should be very small. 1TBSP  of the right types of fats each day is sufficient.

Healthy fats to include in your diet: Nuts – unsalted and raw walnuts, almonds, brazil macadamia nuts, brazil, pecans and cashews. Nut butters are another great choice, but make sure they have no added ‘other’ fats, salt or sugar. Nuts are high in many minerals including magnesium, calcium and selenium.

Add oils (macadamia, coconut, olive, flax oil, sesame oil) to your cooked veggies, salads and proteins for an extra boost of flavor! Raw unsalted seeds and avocado are two other great additions.

Macadamia oil naturally raises your good cholesterol and lowers the bad. It is also an excellent ‘carrier oil’, bringing out the flavours in your food.

Coconut oil is perhaps the most mis-understood of all the fats;  it a medium-chain triglyceride.  In the simplest of terms, this makes it capable of dragging any ‘bad fats’ from your body, lowering cholesterol and speeding up weight-loss.  Coconut oil, like all nut oils, are the only oils it is really safe to cook with.  They have high smoking points and domestic heat cannot damage them the way cooking damages plant oils like olive oil and sunflower oil, making them damaging to our bodies.  Add to that the fact that coconut oil cannot go rancid and you have a great, economical and healthy fat right there!

Fats that are best AVOIDED are:  most mayonnaise, butters, yellow cheeses, creams, whole milk, corn and canola oils and partially hydrogenated oils.  Be on the lookout for hidden saturated fats in processed and ready-to-eat foods, baked goods, chocolate, crisps and other fast-food snacks.

This a great link that explains clearly which oils are safe to cook with : http://www.eatnakednow.com/eatnaked/2011/04/12/smokin-hot-or-unsafe-is-cooking-with-grape-seed-oil-a-good-idea/