[Ian]

The Low-Fat Diet

The low-fat diet reduces fat intake, following the governmental food pyramid that suggests using fats sparingly. There are many good reasons to limit the amount of fat in your diet:

*cholesterol and fats can result in clogged up arteries, leading to heart disease and possible cardiac damage (in the form of a heart attack), stroke, and kidney disease *fat packs a lot of calories - if you don’t use those calories up in your daily activities, they will be stored in your fat cells and cause weight gain

Low-fat diets are often higher in carbohydrates than the average American’s diet. Low-fat products take advantage of the fat-carbohydrate trade-off; if you compare “lowfat” cookies with their “normal” counterparts, you may notice that the fat per serving is lower but there is more carbohydrate per serving than the “normal” alternative. Because fat is flavorful, simple sugar and loads of salt may be added to lowfat products to enhance taste.

Carbohydrates are not as good a signal of satiety. In contrast, when you eat a bit of fat, your body “recognizes” it as a signal to limit the amount of intake. So, while a low-fat diet can help you stay healthy, a no-fat diet may encourage you to eat more than you need. If you make up in carb-calories what you lose in fat-grams, excess carbs will be stored as starch in the liver and fat in your fat cells! So even though your diet is low-fat, you may end up gaining weight if you eat more carbs than you use in daily activities.

Lastly, you need the right sorts of carbs to keep healthy and assist weight loss. Simple sugars are quickly absorbed and use little energy to process - in other words, they add lots of calories to your meal. In contrast, foods with more complex carbohydrates, like starches in whole grain breads - take longer for your body to absorb and use more energy. They also give your body time to recognize that you’re full. Complex carbohydrates are more likely to have vitamins (like potato skins which have lots of B12) and fiber (like whole grain bread), both of which are important for good health.

Article provided by Shoppe.MD, a resource for weight loss tips and
prescription diet pills.

[NeedtoLose]

I think low fat is good, but people that follow it need to make sure they do not substitute the fat with all kinds of prepackaged foods. Prepackaged foods can have all kinds of things in them that are bad for you also.

Make sure to eat plenty of vegetables, fruit and whole grains.

[blessed]

LOL :grin: Imagine this post being in an Atkins and low carb diet forum!

Sorry, it just strikes me as being funny because I think of most low carb plans being high in fat.