On low fat eating...

Options
2

Replies

  • seamaiden1000
    seamaiden1000 Posts: 76 Member
    Options
    You need good fat to rid bad fat in a weight loss diet How so? Good fats like lecithin for example are emulsifiers which means that they keep fats in your body as liquid, stops them from solidifying, clogging your arteries and helps your metabolism process bas cholesterol. Omega 3 fatty acids, same deal. Mono saturated and polyunsaturated fats, ie, olive oil, avocado, walnuts, almonds... all nuts and seeds in fact are excellent in maintaining good nutrition and satiety.

    Without fat you cannot absorb all the nutrients in your food as a lot of vitamins are fat soluble, not water soluble. Furthermore fats are necessary for skin health, the largest body organ and what protects us from pollutants and doubles as our body's second kidney. Good fat is necessary for maintaining eye health as all the little vessels of our eyes need to be kept as clean as possible (omega 3). Our brain requires good fat to keep it supple and stop us from falling prey to depression.

    Bad fats such as trans fats and saturated fats clog our arteries, raise our bad cholesterol and lead to disease eg heart disease. Too much sugar gets convert ed to bad fat.

    The only thing you need to watch about good fat is the calories! 1 gram of fat is approximately 9 calories where as 1 gram of protein or carb has 4 calories. Alcohol has 7 calories per gram. So cut out the alcohol, and do your liver a favour, and up your good fat intake instead.
  • fuhrmeister
    fuhrmeister Posts: 1,796 Member
    Options
    I agree!
  • spammyanna
    spammyanna Posts: 871 Member
    Options
    I make up for the dressing by adding cheese and bacon.

    I <3 this.
  • ajhr
    ajhr Posts: 92 Member
    Options
    Some call it "lite", I call it "chemical sh!tstorm".
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
    Options
    I go over on fats almost every day. I've still been losing inches without losing pounds. Win-win for me, I get to eat awesome food and get smaller.
  • _Bro
    _Bro Posts: 437 Member
    Options
    Yawn, pass the peanut butter..
  • roachhaley
    roachhaley Posts: 978 Member
    Options
    I'll stick with my low-fat diet, thanks. It works for me.

    Fat is essential for brain function, have fun being miserable.
  • epmck11
    epmck11 Posts: 159 Member
    Options
    I'll stick with my low-fat diet, thanks. It works for me.

    Good point, let's throw science and nutritional facts out the window for your biased opinion.

    You're significantly over-simplifying the issue. Yes, fats are necessary and not all fats are bad *in moderation*. But the average person consumes an excess of fats so making a blank statement like "low fat foods are bad because you need fats" isn't founded on "science and nutritional facts" either. For people to lose weight, they need to reduce their calorie intake, and fats provide a lot of calories, so other than the moderate amount of fats, they don't need to consume any more. Getting people to lose weight by eating salad with low fat dressing is not a problem if they still consume a healthy amount of fats (which most likely do).

    Also, just because a fat is a healthy fat does not mean it is still healthy if eaten in excess, and the amount needed for health is still pretty small.

    So no, fat free / low fat foods are not the problem just like not all fat is the problem. The problem is eating an excessive amount of fats and an excessive amounts of calorie.
  • kmeekhof
    kmeekhof Posts: 456 Member
    Options
    So true!!! Even moderate amount of Saturated fats aren't bad for you. I would be more worried about eating highly processed junk and refined carbs. Studies are showing (no I don't have a link.... I just recall hearing about it) that these are more of a culprit for high cholesterol and heart disease. Whether its true or not... I don't think we'll ever know. I do know that my dad is a red meat and butter guy... and he has lower cholesterol than I do, and I eat fairly healthy and exercise!

    So Does this mean we can go out and gorge ourselves on high sat fat foods? Heck no! Everything in moderation!
  • carld256
    carld256 Posts: 855 Member
    Options
    I'll stick with my low-fat diet, thanks. It works for me.

    Fat is essential for brain function, have fun being miserable.

    Wow, and you think eating low-fat makes you a miserable person. How ironic.
  • Jamee_J
    Jamee_J Posts: 63
    Options
    Now I am curious as to how many fat grams you like to stay at? And do you use reg. Yogurt, reg. Sour cream, reg. Mayo. Educate me please. Feel free to message me if you have good info.
  • seamaiden1000
    seamaiden1000 Posts: 76 Member
    Options
    Yes, even 'good' fats if in excess of your calorie expenditure, along with excess protein and carbs, get stored by your body as solidified fat ie. bad saturated fat and cholesterol. And yes also, consuming saturated fats in very small amounts are not going to kill you either. The idea behind a diet weight loss plan is to get rid of the excess stored, or saturated fats in our body and to provide and maintain the 'liquid gold' fats necessary to transport nutrients and keep everything 'well oiled' in a sense. Like a lean mean muscle machine!
  • ka97
    ka97 Posts: 1,984 Member
    Options
    Now I am curious as to how many fat grams you like to stay at?

    I had the same question. What do most of you consider a good amount per day?
  • seamaiden1000
    seamaiden1000 Posts: 76 Member
    Options
    I'm a bit loose but I aim for 30% of my diet to be fat, and I average about 60g based on MFP. Generally I go over my fat % quota and less on my carb quota ( set at 40%). However I watch the calories and exercise far more closely.
  • epmck11
    epmck11 Posts: 159 Member
    Options
    Low fat is not good.
    Case and point: When eating salad, you need fat in order to absorb the nutrients. If you're eating a lot of salads with no or low fat dressings, you're not coming close to receiving the full benefits nutritionally.

    I am just sad from seeing all the low fat items in diarys. Our bodies NEED good fats! And when you see something labeled as a "low fat" version of the original, it usually has more sugar and is packed with foreign ingredients to make the item palatable.

    After reading through this thread, I still can't believe how many people are praising this guy's troll logic and not calling him out on it.

    His reasoning follows:
    Low fat is not good because you need fat, so therefore, if you eat low fat ANYTHING, you're not getting enough fat, so it's unhealthy. HUH?!? Are you guys really that stupid that you're buying this troll logic? Re-read what he said -- that's the exact logic that he used. There are a lot of things you need in your diet for proper nutrition, but it doesn't mean that you shouldn't also try to find ways to cut out excess amounts of it.

    Yes, of course you need fat, but simply because you eat low fat or non-fat foods does not mean you're not getting any or enough fat in your diet. There are plenty of ways to get fat in your diet, just because you choose one food option that has a reduced fat option so you're consuming less calories (and therefore, getting less fat yourself) does not mean you're not getting enough fat and you're not absorbing nutrients.

    Let's hope the OP is drinking whole buttermilk instead of any type of reduced fat milk (hell, even 2% milk would be "low fat" in comparison) because he wouldn't want any of that precious fat go to waste. Because obviously if he cuts out ANY fat in his diet, he "isn't coming close to receiving the full benefits nutritionally."

    Nice bro-science, dude.
  • Tyler477
    Tyler477 Posts: 23 Member
    Options
    Low fat is not good.
    Case and point: When eating salad, you need fat in order to absorb the nutrients. If you're eating a lot of salads with no or low fat dressings, you're not coming close to receiving the full benefits nutritionally.

    I am just sad from seeing all the low fat items in diarys. Our bodies NEED good fats! And when you see something labeled as a "low fat" version of the original, it usually has more sugar and is packed with foreign ingredients to make the item palatable.

    After reading through this thread, I still can't believe how many people are praising this guy's troll logic and not calling him out on it.

    His reasoning follows:
    Low fat is not good because you need fat, so therefore, if you eat low fat ANYTHING, you're not getting enough fat, so it's unhealthy. HUH?!? Are you guys really that stupid that you're buying this troll logic? Re-read what he said -- that's the exact logic that he used. There are a lot of things you need in your diet for proper nutrition, but it doesn't mean that you shouldn't also try to find ways to cut out excess amounts of it.

    Yes, of course you need fat, but simply because you eat low fat or non-fat foods does not mean you're not getting any or enough fat in your diet. There are plenty of ways to get fat in your diet, just because you choose one food option that has a reduced fat option so you're consuming less calories (and therefore, getting less fat yourself) does not mean you're not getting enough fat and you're not absorbing nutrients.

    Let's hope the OP is drinking whole buttermilk instead of any type of reduced fat milk (hell, even 2% milk would be "low fat" in comparison) because he wouldn't want any of that precious fat go to waste. Because obviously if he cuts out ANY fat in his diet, he "isn't coming close to receiving the full benefits nutritionally."

    Nice bro-science, dude.

    Thanks for adding a bit of rational thinking to this thread, I was wondering why people are praising this guy also.
    Sure, you need some fats... personally I make sure to eat a half an avocado every day, and add flax to my green smoothies ( 1/2 tbspn) but to say low- fat foods is bad is ignorant. You guys honestly believe that 1oz of cheese is going to fill you up more than 6 oz of steamed spinach?

    personally I am in the process of cutting and lifting heavy for the next month, and have a total of 1370 cals a day to eat. Without a low fat diet I would be hungry as hell. The key word here is LOW fat not NO fat which I think the OP is getting it confused with.

    Stop encouraging this guy, you are helping promote faulty logic here.
  • KPaden1221
    KPaden1221 Posts: 433
    Options
    low carb and higher fat than i'm used to has really kicked the lbs *kitten* for me! it works.. i couldn't agree more! i'm not scared of "fat" anymore!!
  • msmindylee
    msmindylee Posts: 61
    Options
    For me, it's less about "low" or "high" fat, sugar, whatever.

    It's about eating REAL FOOD, people. If a "low fat" or "fat free" product has a bunch of ingredients on the label that I can't pronounce, it's probably not going to be all that healthy for me to have it as a steady part of my everyday diet.

    It also doesn't mean that I'd substitute an equal amount of the fully-leaded version for the chemical poopstorm food. If I would have had two ounces of the half-synthetic cheese, I'll have one ounce of the real cheese. And, amazingly enough, I'll be just as satisfied.

    I didn't always think this way, but the more I dwelt on it, the more I realized how ingesting foods that are closer to the earth, closer to the seed, closer to the farm (and as far away from the laboratory as possible) is so much better for us healthwise.

    I don't really know the science of it, but it just makes sense to me. I mean, why is it that, with as much as we supposedly know about nutrition in this country, more of us are obese than ever before in history, and the incidence of Type 2 diabetes is skyrocketing?

    This is my soapbox issue, and I'm getting riled up, so I'll just quit for now. Heh.
  • carld256
    carld256 Posts: 855 Member
    Options
    Well, we probably aren't getting obese from eating low-fat milk or fat free cheese.
  • melsinct
    melsinct Posts: 3,512 Member
    Options
    In my opinion, which is based on common sense and I will not be citing scientific papers, low fat diets are bad when your food isn't real. For instance, if you are routinely using fat free salad dressings, fat free cheeses, spray butter, etc. That's not real food, not even close. If you eat a balanced diet of real food and watch the fat grams in order to reduce calories, I don't see the big deal as long as you are getting some healthy fats.

    I do not watch fat grams and routinely go over MFP's allotment. When i do go over it is from eating fats from nuts, healthy oil (olive, walnut), avocados and the like. Not from eating SnackWell cookies and Fiber One bars. I have lost 30 pounds and maintained the loss for 4+ months. Fat is good and nothing to fear, but I think that statement needs a footnote.

Categories