Low Fat DietBasics As the name states, a
low fat diet aims to allow
only a small amount of fat in your diet. Calories in the food we eat
come from 3 main sources:
fat, carbohydrates, and
protein. A
portion of fat has twice as many calories as a same sized portion of
protein or carbohydrates. Also, when we eat fat in food, our bodies
turn these excess calories into our own fat more easily than extra
calories from protein or carbohydrates. It would make sense that
cutting out fat would help with weight loss.
Low fat diets help you decrease the amount of calories you eat every day. Be careful not to be tricked by foods that say they are “low-fat.” A lot of food makers lower the amount of fat in their foods but increase the amount of sugar in their products. This means that foods that are “low-fat” can have just as many calories as regular foods. When shopping for groceries, do a quick comparison of the different boxes’ food labels. Be careful not to replace a low fat diet with a high sugar diet. How Much Fat Should I Eat? Most dietary recommendations say that people should eat about 30% of their total calories as fat. A national guideline on lowering cholesterol recommends getting 25-35% of your total calories from fat. This is more flexible than just saying 30%. It is still hard to think about the percent of calories in fat that each food has. Most food labels will list how many grams of fat a serving has and what percentage of an average diet they contain. Everyone is different, and you may not fit the percentage listed on the food label. It is easier to count the number of grams of fat you should eat. Here is how to do the math to figure this out: Step 1: Calculate the total amount of calories you should eat every day. You can do this on your own, or you can use an
online calculator. Step 3:
Fat has 9.4 Calories per gram. Take the number of calories you got from
step 2 and divide it by 9.4. This gives you the number of grams of fat
you should eat each day.
You do not have to completely cut out all foods with fat in them. That would make any diet virtually impossible to stick with. The key is to eat fat in moderation. Try your best to stay within the 25-35% range. When cutting out fat, replace the high fat foods with healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grain foods. This will help fill you up, and you will get the health benefits of these foods, which makes your low fat diet that much better for you. Types of Fat Our bodies actually do need some regular fat to be healthy. Specific types of fats will add to our overall health.
Omega-3 fats
(i.e. fish oil or flaxseed oil) have many benefits, such as lowering
triglycerides, increasing the good cholesterol, helping the neck
arteries in diabetics, and decreasing the risk of dying after having a
heart attack. There are some risks and side effects to fish oil
supplements, so discuss this with your doctor. When talking about the fats in low fat diets, I am referring to the most common (i.e. regular) type that is simply listed as "Fat" on on food labels. Low Fat Diet Plans A couple of low fat plans are the Pritikin diet and the Ornish diet.
It is important you discuss any weigh loss or exercise plan with your doctor. Only you and your physician can decide what is best for you. Some people have certain conditions that prevent them from doing all exercises, and goal body weights may be different for different people. You need to discuss all these things with your physician before starting any weight loss or exercise program. This article was written by
John Vickery, MD.
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There is a database of
people who have lost 30 pounds and kept it off for at least one year.
It is called the