Myth: Fat makes you fat

Watch the video: 7 Healthy High-Fat Foods You Should Be Eating

Not so: “In a review of 53 randomized controlled trials lasting a year or more, high-fat diets consistently beat out low-fat diets for weight loss,” says Mark Hyman, MD, director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine and author of Eat Fat, Get Thin ($28; amazon.com). “Fat, it turns out, cuts your appetite, boosts your calorie burning and prevents fat storage, while sugar and refined carbs do the opposite.” Cutting out sugar and refined carbs, eating mostly vegetables with some fruit, and then consuming fat (in the form of olive oil, avocados, nuts and seeds, coconut butter, and grass-fed or sustainably and organically raised animal foods) is “the fastest and most effective way to create sustained weight loss,” he says.