3 Fats That Make You Skinny

Forget dry toast and plain vegetables. Adding these fats to your food can help you get the body you want.

1. Coconut Oil
Most oils, including corn and olive, are broken down into fatty acids that circulate through your body after you eat them, allowing hungry fat cells to suck them up and store them. Coconut oil, however, is rich in a type of fat rarely found in other foods, called medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs). "When you eat MCTs, they go straight to the liver instead of going directly into circulation. There, they're burned up like kindling for a fire.

How to use it
Spread coconut oil on toast instead of butter, melt it on veggies or use it for sautéing. But don't deep-fry with it; coconut oil breaks down at high temperatures. Look for virgin oil (nonvirgin is processed and tastes nasty) at health-food stores. Beware: Coconut oil is saturated and can raise cholesterol and triglycerides, so alternate it with other oils.

2. Enova

Traditional fats contain three fatty acids, but Enova, an oil, has just two, so your body treats it differently. It's processed in much the same way as coconut oil, travelling directly to the liver, where it's burned off and used for energy.When people on low-calorie diets consumed 15 percent of their daily calories from Enova (between three and eight teaspoons), they lost 1 percent more weight and nearly 3 percent more body fat than those who ate a similar amount of vegetable oil.

How to use it
Enova's neutral taste makes it perfect for salad dressings. You can also bake and sauté with it, but don't use it for frying, as it can change taste and colour when overheated. Enova is expensive — it costs about double the amount of a usual vegetable oil.

3. Nut Butters
Research has shown that people who eat nut butters often weigh less than those who shun them. It's likely that the combination of protein, fat and fibre keeps you full, so you'll eat less overall.Whole nuts are effective, too: Purdue University researchers found that people who added peanuts to their diet for 19 weeks boosted the amount of calories they burned at rest by 11 percent. Why? The unsaturated fat in peanuts and nut butters burns faster than other fats.

How to use them
Nut butters add flavour to Asian noodles, satays or dipping sauces, or you can use them as a spread for your morning muffin. Chunky varieties are better, since they have more fibre than creamy versions. But a little goes a long way; the ideal amount is one to two tablespoons, not the whole jar. Use natural versions that are free of added oils and hydrogenated fats.

When Good Fats Go Bad

All fats contain nine calories per gram. To get weight-loss benefits, you have to substitute these for fat that's already in your diet, not tack them onto what's on your plate.