When people typically think of losing weight or getting healthy the first thing they think about is getting rid of fat. However, that’s not the way to go. Listen, not all fats are bad fats and I’m here to explain a little.
The Low-Fat Overview
The low-fat diet is an eating plan that consist of a moderate/high amount of carbohydrates, a moderate/high amount of protein, and a low amount of fats. Typically, a person that partakes in this type of plan will eat 30% or less of fats from their daily calories. When it comes to fat you don’t want to drop your intake too low because fats perform a number of functions in the body. They’re needed for cholesterol, sex hormones, and vitamin absorption. The quality of fat is super important so when a person minimizes fat in this particular diet they are eliminating more of the “bad or not so good” saturated and trans fats, but increasing the “good” unsaturated fats like monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.
Saturated fats are solid at room temperature that comes mostly from meat sources. Trans fats are artificially produced and found in many processed commercial foods like baked goods and fast food like French fries.
Polyunsaturated fats are omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. They are also liquid at room
temperature unlike the saturated fat. Monounsaturated fats are found in your olive oil and sesame oil. These are liquid at room temperature and can become solid when refrigerated.
Other foods that you should incorporate in a low-fat diet are:
· All fresh fruits and vegetables, canned are okay, and frozen (without added sugar or sauces). Organic would be best.
· Whole grains
· Lean protein and plant protein
· Low-fat dairy (avoid full fat and non-fat)
· Naturally occurring fat foods (avocado, olive oil, sesame oil, avocado oil, canola oil, nuts and seeds)
Who Would Benefit
This diet was initially created to help reduce the risk of heart disease. However, a diet low in fat doesn’t necessarily reduce the risk of heart disease. As a matter of fact there are tons of studies that show the opposite. On the flip side though the low-fat diet has the ability to improve and decrease your systolic blood pressure number.1
Have you ever heard of lipid metabolism disorder? It’s when someone doesn’t have the enzymes (or enough) to break down the fats they eat. So, someone that would benefit from the low-fat diet is an individual with this disorder such as Gaucher disease or Tay-Sachs disease.2 Another population that would benefit from a low-fat diet would be those that has had their gallbladder removed. Foods with a high fat content are harder to digest with a gallbladder removal. Eating them may result in extreme discomfort.3
Who Should Avoid It
If you are looking to lose weight or trying to reduce your risk for cardiovascular disease, this is not the diet that will give you significant results. Yes, there are studies that show some results of it being helpful, but none showing turn around results. Just as I mentioned not all fats are bad. We need fat for different processes in our body, it’s essential. So, reducing the amount of saturated fat and trans fat is definitely the way to go. That just really equates to reducing the number of processed foods and high intake of animal fats. To be quite honest, when you reduce the amount of processed foods/fats and focus on the unsaturated fatty acids, you’re pretty much at the 30% range anyway.
What You Should be Aware Of
You should be aware of the facts that many foods labeled low-fat, no fat, or non-fat typically have more sugar added. In a comparison of sugar content in low-fat versus full fat, the low-fat products contained higher amounts of sugar.4 So with an increase in sugar comes an increased risk of weight gain and other health issues. Some low-fat foods also have chemical fillers in them as well.
Conclusion
So, the low-fat diet may not be all that you thought that it would be. Yes, reducing those saturated fats and trans fats all together will help in reducing the risk of many diseases. But with that said we still have to make sure that we include some essential dietary fats into our daily diet. You don’t have to go “low or no” unless it’s medically necessary.
References
1. van Meijl LE, Mensink RP. Low-fat dairy consumption reduces systolic blood pressure, but does not improve other metabolic risk parameters in overweight and obese subjects. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2011;21(5):355-361. doi:10.1016/j.numecd.2009.10.008
2. Lipid Metabolism Disorder. Medline Plus. Updated August 23, 2016. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://medlineplus.gov/lipidmetabolismdisorders.html
3. Butler N & Jewell T. Gallbladder Removal Diet: What to Eat and What to Skip. Healthline. Updated August 27, 2020. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://www.healthline.com/health/gallbladder-removal-diet
4. Nguyen PK, Lin S, Heidenreich P. A systematic comparison of sugar content in low-fat vs regular versions of food. Nutr Diabetes. 2016;6(1):e193. Published 2016 Jan 25. doi:10.1038/nutd.2015.43
By Victoria Motley
Fitness and Certified Nutrition Health Coach
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