Low Fat Diet

Published:March 4th, 2011

Low fat diets were promoted in the United States starting with the 1950s. In 1979, Nathan Pritikin published his book ‘The Pritikin Program for Diet and Exercise’ and low fat diets became extremely popular. Other low fat diets included the Scarsdale diet, the Ornish Diet and Rosemary Conley’s Hip and Tigh Diet.

In order to be able to lose weight while on a low-fat diet, the total fat intake should not exceed 30% of total calories. Lowering the fat content in processed food however, meant raising the sugar content. Fats metabolized in the body provide 9 calories per gram, while proteins and carbohydrates provide only 4.

The Pritikin diet plan required that less than 10% of calories to come from fat. However, the diet was also low in protein but high in whole-grain carbohydrates. Such a diet can cause weight loss and lower risk for heart disease. But staying on such a diet for too long does not allow getting benefits from beneficial fats such as omega-3 fatty acids.

The Ornish Diet is an almost vegetarian diet and can promote heart health. Other low fat diets are designed for people suffering from digestive disorders.

Foods that you should avoid when you are on a low fat diet include whole milk and milk products such as ice cream, cream cheese, chicken skin, fried foods, spare ribs or any meat with visible fat, salad dressing, potato chips and baked cookies, cakes, pies and doughnuts.

Food labels list the nutrition information such as calories, calories from fat, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat. Low fat diets can be an effective way to achieve weight loss but as it is difficult to stay on such a diet for too long, you can gain back weight.

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