Seriously- Low Fat? page 2

[JoanieL]

While the word moderation is often belittled, I like the balance of not being afraid of fat and still making some lower fat choices. I'll choose leaner cuts of beef and especially leaner ground beef everytime. I'll use butter to fry my eggs, but a half tablespoon rather than just cutting a hunk off.

Fat is good. It's brain food, it makes hair and skin look good, it provides energy, etc. But it is extremely dense calorically (that has to be spelled wrong). I wouldn't go back to buying foods only because they were lower in fat, but trying to get 70% of my calories from fat doesn't make me feel good either.

I think something that some people don't get is that lean meats that are "95/5" are labelled by weight. A one ounce serving of that beef has 38 calories. It has 1.4 grams of fat, or 12.6 calories from fat. Therefore, the calorie percentage is 33%, and that's really not a low fat food.

So, while I'll never go back to non-dairy creamer, artificial mayonnaise, or spray butter, I'm certainly not going to put two tablespoons of real butter in my coffee either. I might if I come back in the next life as a six foot man under 40, though.

[zoebird]

the trouble with this is interpretation.

On a primal/paleo diet, you can be low-fat. You simply have to eat more fruit and veg to be that way. As a poster as pointed out, it's entirely possible.

Trouble is, most people watching said news programs are not at all interested in their health to look beyond food guide pyramids and tv news spots about "health." Thus, they are eating a highly processed diet with a lot of transfats, chemicals, grains, and so on. My own ILs are on a "low fat" diet and have been for years (since a family member was diagnosed with heart disease in the 1970s). My SIL is a major low-fat advocate. They eat so much processed and junk food, but they are "right" of course, and we are both wrong and crazy.

The real, real trouble for folks comes in when they add "high fat" to this insanity of a highly processed diet. That causes a mess. And a lot of people do it, So cutting the fat (rather than processed) does help them.

Better would be to cut all processed, then find the macro-nutrient ratio that works for you. Might be zone in any one of three ways, right? Right.

[gopintos]

I didnt read the article but I was trying to think of the words earlier but you guys are saying it. It is one thing to be on a natural lower fat, then trying to emulate a low fat from the highly processed SAD food choices. Like eating a case of Snackwells but telling yourself it is okay because they are Low/No fat or whatever.

[magnolia1973]

It's one thing to say, not put butter on your steak. But low fat often gets fully stripped of fat- my old breakfast of tortilla (fat free), egg whites (fat free), salsa (fat free), and a small amount of low fat cheese was ridiculous.

I'm all for eating a balanced diet that includes carbs (I do), and more moderate fats. I think I used to run off of like 70%-80% carbs because the more CW low fat also loves the 3 ounce portion of meat. OK, chicken breast.

And I think it's a good point- more fit people can eat more carbs, while it seems like low fat just makes a fat person fatter....

[emmie]

The problem is how we associate these terms--high fat, low carb, low fat, etc.

There are people who believe that a low carb eating plan MUST be high fat, but before I ever discovered Primal eating, I was trying to lose weight with low-carb eating (Atkins-like) since I'm very, very sensitive to carbs. Then I began having some gall bladder problems, but tests showed no stones or other abnormalities. My GI told me that he'd seen cases like mine, and since eating fat (mayo in my tuna salad) would bring on an attack, he suggested that I simply eat low fat.

So for the next year or so, I ate low carb/ low fat--mainly protein and green vegetables--at about 20g of carbs a day, sometimes fewer. I lost well, and since I'm hypothyroid, I have regular blood tests, and my endo does a full panel rather than simply the thyroid hormones. All my lab values were excellent while eating this way--and I felt great.

After a year, I was gradually able to add a moderate amount of fat, and although if I should happen to eat a high fat meal, I don't get those attacks, I don't feel well either. I do best with limiting fat.

BUT I don't eat low-fat products! I eat whole foods and will use butter to cook my omelet and EVOO in my salad dressing.

I read once that 'older' women tend to do better with moderate rather than high fat, and that certainly seems to be true for me (I'm 71). I just get annoyed that people think that because I eat lower fat, I must be eating bread and other starches that is part of the 'traditional' low-fat plans.

Despite the sensationalism of the media, we all have to find a WOE that works best for us as individuals to promote our health.