It seems like it is impossible to buy any food item without a fat-free or low-fat label on it. For years we have been told that eating foods high in fat will make you fat, so it only makes sense to avoid them, right?
Not so much. The thing about low fat foods is that they are generally not very healthy for you at all. Below are the top 3 reasons low fat foods will harm your health that you probably have not heard from most health experts.
1) Low fat foods can be loaded with sugar
Have you ever eaten a food that is high in fat? How did it taste to you? Was it creamy and delicious, or did it taste like a shoe with salt on it? As humans, we are programmed to love the taste of fat, which is really pretty helpful since we need it to survive. Dietary fat gives you energy and if it is the right type of fat can actually improve your health quite a lot. Generally when thinking of fats, it is helpful to think about where they come from to determine if they are going to be healthy.
Fat from a ripe avocado is a healthy fat that your body can use in a lot of different ways. The fat from the bottom of that bucket of french fries is not the same for your body. It’s not that it causes fat cells to form, but that it doesn’t serve any purpose in your body. But what happens when you take the fat out of a food? Food manufacturers figured out a long time ago that once you remove fat from food it starts tasting like a salty shoe.
About three seconds later they figured that if they added enough sugar, you wouldn’t notice. And here we are, with a global obesity problem and a whole lot of experts still telling you to avoid dietary fat. The amount of low fat or fat free foods on the market that are loaded with sugar is staggering.
2) Eating low fat foods makes you focus on the wrong foods
What do I mean by this? If the only thing that is important to you is eating foods that specifically have less fat, that means that there are many other properties of that food that may be missed. It’s the same as when you only eat low calorie foods. If you eat a food that has no nutritional value but is low fat, then are you solving any problems, or making them worse? The human body does not want low fat foods, it wants foods that are going to fuel it and nourish its hundred trillion cells with pure nutrition.
Eating some microwave pocket meal with 33% less fat is not going to to do that. The truth is, that food manufacturers are trying to confuse you by labeling their “foods” with labels such as low-fat or fat-free. But after today you are going to be aware of these tricks, and you just may think twice about eating that low fat food that has very little vitamins, minerals and nutrients that your body is really looking for.
3) Low fat foods can negatively impact your blood cholesterol
I know this is the opposite of what you have heard a million times, but that old advice really isn’t working anyway, so let’s ditch it. Eating foods loaded with healthy, natural fats, actually helps to raise the “good” type of cholesterol in your body (HDL) and lower the “bad” cholesterol in your body (LDL). But where are these so-called healthy natural fats? Lucky for you, our planet is loaded with great sources of these healthy fats and as a really great bonus most all of them taste incredible.
Here is a short list of some of my favorite “fattening” foods that are absolutely great for your health.
- Olive Oil
- Avocados
- Almonds
- Cashews
- Flax-seeds
- Walnuts
- Pumpkin seeds
- Pecans
If you have been eating a low-fat diet, I highly recommend you try eating fresh foods that have natural fat in them. Not only are they very delicious but they are satisfying to your body. Since fat keeps you full much longer than sugar, the urge to overeat them is not something that you need to worry about for a single second. Another great thing about eating foods with natural fats in them is that it gives you a new freedom. Imagine eating without guilt, knowing that you are feeding your body properly and it is going to reward you with better health.
Sources:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/fats-full-story/
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/fat/art-20045550
