The Skinny on Low Fat Diets

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You've got some fat to lose, so you figure that the best way to do it is to go on a low fat diet, right? Well, partly.

Eating low fat food actually is healthy for you, but that doesn't mean you can go gung-ho and eat anything that is marked as low fat and still lose weight. Unfortunately, low fat doesn't always mean low calorie. Many people who go on a low fat diet will still eat things like low fat cookies, chips and candy because they fall within the fat restrictions for their diet. The calories from this food can really add up, though!

For instance, let's take a look at gummy bears. They are fat free, so they should be good for a low fat diet, right? Well, just 10 gummy bears have about 90 calories. Most people eat way more than 10 gummy bears in a sitting, which means that your sweet treat probably added about 180+ calories to your day without giving you any nutritional value since they are made entirely from sugar.

For the same number of calories you could have had an apple and a small scoop of cottage cheese which would have given you protein, calcium, potassium and lots of vitamins instead of just sugar. The apple and cottage cheese has a little bit of fat, but would have kept you feeling fuller for longer because of the protein, so you probably would have eaten less later on in the day.

When you go on a low-fat, high calorie diet you aren't getting the vitamins and nutrients that are good for your body. You body can actually benefit from the fat in food. Fats help our bodies to absorb vitamins including A, D, E, and K.

Instead of going on a low fat diet where all you care about is how much fat is in food, focus on eating the right kinds of fats and eating foods that give your body the nutrients it needs. Look for foods with monounsaturated fats like those found in plant sources like olive oil, peanut oil and canola oil. Another fat that is good is Omega-3 fat. Omega-3 fat is found in dark green vegetables, walnuts and oily fish like tuna and salmon.

Also be sure to look for foods that have the vitamins and nutrients that you need. Eating vitamin-rich foods will help keep you feeling full longer, which means you will eat less than if you were eating low-fat, high calorie foods. Eating nutritious food will also help keep you from binging since it keeps your blood sugar more stable than low fat, high calorie foods tend to. This means you won't get those intense cravings that drive you to eat a gallon of ice cream all in one sitting and blow your diet :-)