fat free food items

catlover · February 2008

I just want to start by saying: I've been robbed for about two weeks. I was "guesstimating" 2 tablespoons of my fat free cream cheese on my little bagel and today I measured it. There's no way I've been using the entire 2 tablespoons, because today I only used ONE TABLESPOON and it was hanging off the sides of the bagel. Darn it, I could have had another 15 calories a day!!

Now that I've had my little outburst, what are people's thoughts about fat free vs regular versions of foods like cream cheese, creamer, sour cream, salad dressing, butter (do they make a fat free butter), cheese, ice cream etc. This is what I know, and assume to be mostly accurate:

1. "Sugar free" usually means something else, like an artificial sweetener has been added to make the food taste sweet. I avoid foods advertised as sugar free.

2. Fats are good and bad--tans fats bad, "Ah" fats good (almonds, avacado, olives).

3. What is the process used to eliminate the fats from food, or are they just not added in during the preperation process??

4. If you can't pronounce it, you shouldn't eat it. It seems like fat free foods have a lot of things I can't pronounce, so that concerns me.

Does anyone have information about this or some links to site I could read?? Thanks for the help.

catlover · February 2008

I just want to start by saying: I've been robbed for about two weeks. I was "guesstimating" 2 tablespoons of my fat free cream cheese on my little bagel and today I measured it. There's no way I've been using the entire 2 tablespoons, because today I only used ONE TABLESPOON and it was hanging off the sides of the bagel. Darn it, I could have had another 15 calories a day!!

Now that I've had my little outburst, what are people's thoughts about fat free vs regular versions of foods like cream cheese, creamer, sour cream, salad dressing, butter (do they make a fat free butter), cheese, ice cream etc. This is what I know, and assume to be mostly accurate:

1. "Sugar free" usually means something else, like an artificial sweetener has been added to make the food taste sweet. I avoid foods advertised as sugar free.

2. Fats are good and bad--tans fats bad, "Ah" fats good (almonds, avacado, olives).

3. What is the process used to eliminate the fats from food, or are they just not added in during the preperation process??

4. If you can't pronounce it, you shouldn't eat it. It seems like fat free foods have a lot of things I can't pronounce, so that concerns me.

Does anyone have information about this or some links to site I could read?? Thanks for the help.

rheston · February 2008

A calorie is a calorie is a calorie whether it comes from fat or carbohydrate. Anything eaten in excess can lead to weight gain. You can lose weight by eating less calories and by increasing your physical activity. Reducing the amount of fat and saturated fat that you eat is one easy way to limit your overall calorie intake.

However, eating fat-free or reduced-fat foods isn't always the answer to weight loss. This is especially true when you eat more of the reduced fat food than you would of the regular item. For example, if you eat twice as many fat-free cookies you have actually increased your overall calorie intake.

I am totally of the opinion that if you take something natural out of a food product and replace it with an artificially manufactured chemical that can't be good for your body because the FDA isn't as good about monitoring what's produced for us to consume very well.

Just do a search for "fat versus non fat foods" and you'll come up with a myriad of responses that you should browse through and form your own opinions from.

Bob

astridfeline · February 2008

I try to avoid most of the fat-free foods. The fat is often replaced with quite a bit of sugar and the taste suffers (fat-free whipping cream?) I go with low-fat items; these are more satisfying and don't have the sugar.

jlohern · February 2008

I think it just depends on your preference and what you are eating. For example, salad dressings are loaded with fat and calories. You may think that fat-free dressing is the way to go. However, many of the vitamins from the veggies in salad are fat-soluble, meaning that they need some sort of fat to absorb in your system. That is why you shouldn't use fat-free dressings on salads. Plus, the fat-free salad dressings tend to taste awful!

I do like to use fat-free when it is a recipe ingredient or condiment. I'm a huge fan of fat-free mayo, sour cream, cream cheese, half-and-half and whipped cream. I really can't taste the difference, and even if it is overloading me with sugar, it is still saving me mega calories.

jaxkipi · February 2008

You have a really good point. And I have a best friend who is dead set against what she calls "fake foods." Those are the ones you're talking about and the ones that I eat now. I wonder too, when they remove the bad fat, what are they putting in it's place? Ever read those ingredients at the bottom of the label? I often wonder. I need to bring that to the attention of my nutritionist.

As for the artificial sweetners, I thought the same thing. I never used them, because I wanted to make sure I wasn't eating anything that would harm my body just because it had no calories. I avoided sweet n' low like the plague. So when I spoke to my nutritionist yesterday, I told her about my concerns and she said that the closest and healthiest thing to sugar is splenda. She said that it's the same genetic make up, but some molecules have been removed. I think she said hydrogen. Therefore, we have the taste and our body doesn't absorb it. I looked at the splenda label today and I don't know what there is to absorb...there's really nothing in it!

But I know where you're coming from...I wonder what those other ingredients are and if they are good or bad for you.....:ohwell:

ohthatbambi · February 2008

As for the artificial sweetners, I thought the same thing. I never used them, because I wanted to make sure I wasn't eating anything that would harm my body just because it had no calories. I avoided sweet n' low like the plague. So when I spoke to my nutritionist yesterday, I told her about my concerns and she said that the closest and healthiest thing to sugar is splenda. She said that it's the same genetic make up, but some molecules have been removed. I think she said hydrogen. Therefore, we have the taste and our body doesn't absorb it. I looked at the splenda label today and I don't know what there is to absorb...there's really nothing in it!

I know that some people have issues with splenda, but I think it is great! I don't use it in excess, but I do use it. It is great on fruit--especially right now when berries are not at their sweetest. I also bake with it some. I usually do half sugar/half splenda. I also have made homemade banana pudding (making my own custard) using all splenda and no sugar. I didn't know if the custard would thicken with the splenda, but it did, as if it were sugar and it tasted great. My son didn't even notice and homemade banana pudding is his FAVORITE!! I have read many articles regarding artificial sweeteners and I decided that everyone has an opinion, be it good or bad. So I decided that my opinion is I like the stuff and it works for me. In twenty years are they going to discover that a rat lived 5 less days than it should have b/c it had high doses of splenda every day of its life then so be it. I don't eat high doses of it on a daily basis--just some occassionally--and just like rats, I am going to die one day of something. Since I don't smoke, rarely drink, eat healthy, exercise regularly, don't do drugs---a little splenda is probably okay, considering all the other things I could be doing that would for sure kill me!

:laugh:

fat free food items

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