You want to lose weight, so you need a low-fat diet, right? Unfortunately, it's not that simple. There are many myths about fats. We are clearing them up today.
You know the saying "fat makes you fat"? We've all heard that before, haven't we? A low-fat diet is supposed to make the kilos fall mega fast.
But really healthy is not the complete renunciation of fat.
Why? We'll tell you today!
Table of contents
What low fat diet means
When you choose a low-fat diet, you massively reduce the amount of fat in your food. There are several proponents of this dietary concept.
For the very strict ones, you can't eat more than 30 grams of fat per day.
This is the difference between saturated and unsaturated fatty acids!
If you look at the dietary recommendations of the German Nutrition Society, you come across other values. They are 66 grams for an adult who needs 2000 calories a day.
That's about 35 percent of daily energy intake.
A low-fat diet should very quickly ensure that the kilos fall off the hips.
Compared to other diets, you can eat whatever you feel like. Chips, butter, cream, sausage. Only in total you can not exceed the daily limit of fat.
But that is quickly achieved with a bite of sausage. You're definitely not full. That's why only foods with a low fat content should end up on your plate.
What are the benefits of a low-fat diet
The DGE says a maximum of 66 grams the diet 30 grams of fat per day. But what does it look like in reality?
The truth is: we all eat too much fat. On average, it's 110 grams of fat per day. That's almost twice as much.
The problem is that high-fat foods are very high in calories. One gram of fat contains 9 calories. And that's exactly what can make you overweight.
Let's just take a delicious croissant. A croissant contains 17 grams of fat and therefore comes to just under 300 calories.
These foods can help burn body fat!
If you eat a lot of fat for a long time, you consume a lot of calories. If you don't burn them off during exercise, this excess energy ends up on your belly, hips, thighs, but also your internal organs. By the way, to burn off the calories of the croissant, you would have to go jogging for about 40 minutes.
The problem is also that especially too many animal fats end up on our plates like butter, lard, fatty meat, sausage, cheese, eggs and co.
This can promote cardiovascular disease or even cancer. And obesity anyway. Eating less fat is also good for your cholesterol level.
1. you reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease
There are quite a few studies that have been able to prove that low-fat meals can improve and prevent heart conditions.
- High cholesterol
- Hypertension
- High C-reactive protein, which is a sign of inflammation
A study from 2014 is particularly exciting. 198 patients with heart problems were closely examined. 177 had a low-fat, plant-based diet, and only 1 patient suffered a stroke.
The other 21 patients were not on a low-fat diet. 13 of them developed cardiac arrhythmias.
It was concluded that a low-fat diet may mitigate risk factors of cardiac conditions (such as High cholesterol or high blood pressure).
2. you can lose weight
People who are overweight can benefit from a low-fat diet. Because they also automatically eat fewer calories as a result.
Also here there was a study. In this study, 106 very overweight people were put on a low-fat rice diet. On average, the weight loss was 63.9 kg. 43 people even managed to achieve normal weight.
3. type 2 diabetes can get better
Researches and Studies could show, that a very low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet can lead to improvement in type 2 diabetes.
Especially when one was not yet dependent on daily insulin spikes, good results could be achieved.
How healthy low fat diet is
For a long time, experts believed that a low-fat diet was the solution for anyone who wanted to lose weight. Fat in any form was frowned upon. But new studies indicate that fat is not as bad as its reputation.
What percentage of body fat is optimal? Find out here!
However, trans fats and too many animal fats are still considered very unhealthy.
That's why it's so important to distinguish between naturally plant-based fats, processed fats, and animal-based fats when eating a low-fat diet.
Processed foods contain lots of fats. They are called trans fats. They are produced during deep-frying and the partial hardening of vegetable fats. The classics are chips, potato chips, fast food and ready-made pastries.
It sounds quite logical when you read that you should not stuff fat into yourself every day. Many sources of fat are also quite obviously recognizable like a fat rim on ham. Others are well hidden like in sausage, convenience food or pastries.
These low-fat foods taste mega delicious!
However, fat is not evil or bad per se. There are vegetable fats that are very healthy. They are found in seeds, grains and nuts. Probably the best known healthy fat is olive oil. The more unprocessed these vegetable fats are, the healthier. Like cold pressed linseed oil, olive oil or nut oil.
But of course, these vegetable oils also contain plenty of calories. One tablespoon of olive oil comes to 127 calories.
This does not mean that you should no longer use fat. You should just use it sparingly and consciously.
Do carbohydrates in the evening really make you fat?
What you need to know
Our body needs fat!
I had already mentioned this briefly before. But it is so important that I would like to devote another paragraph to the subject. If you cut too much fat, you can get a whole range of complaints.
We get vitamin deficiency because our body simply cannot utilize vitamins A, D, E and K. As a result, we get problems with the skin, cooking and the cardiovascular system.
Too little cholesterol is very bad for the cell membrane and our hormones. There are fats that act as antioxidants and have an influence on testosterone and estrogen levels.
For us women, permanently too little fat can even cause us to become infertile.
There are healthy fats!
Not all fat is the same. It makes a huge difference whether you're thinking about the greasy edge of ham or healthy omega-3 fatty acids in Flaxseed*, nuts or fish.
You can also find good fats in olive oil, avocados, Coconut oil*, nuts and seeds.
These are the 12 best omega 3 sources!
For whom low fat food is suitable
If you want to lose weight very quickly, then this diet change is only moderately suitable for you. Because a low-fat diet is not about a quick weight loss diet. Much more about a general dietary change.
Either just to 30 grams of fat per day or to 66 grams. But no more than 100 grams on average.
It's about watching what you eat in the long run. Not only on the fat intake, but also on sugar. Through a balanced diet with lots of vegetables, fruit, little fat, sugar and white flour, the kilos will soon start to fall off themselves.
Eating less fat is worthwhile for anyone who wants to do something good for their health. And would like to prevent the following diseases and symptoms
- Joint pain
- Back pain
- Cardiovascular diseases
- Diabetes mellitus type 2
- Hypertension
- Gout
- Osteoarthritis
- Heart disease
In this case, little simply means that you stick to the recommendation of the DGE. So just stop eating more fat than your body needs!
How you can implement low fat diet
So: Whether you decide to follow this diet or not. One thing is clear: we all eat too much fat. It can be very easy to save a few fats and not have to sacrifice taste.
Small example
Suppose you eat butter every day. One portion of butter = 10 grams. You use it for cooking and spread it on bread. This way you get 20 grams per day.
That is 7300 grams per year. 10 grams of butter contain 6.5 grams of fat. So every day 2 servings of butter is 4,745 grams of fat or 44,727 calories.
If you replace the butter on the bread with cream cheese, you get 10,237 calories and 912 grams of fat. If you use half-fat margarine for cooking, you get 9,190 calories and 912 grams of fat.
- Butter: 44,727 calories and 4745 grams of fat
- Cream cheese + margarine: 19,427 calories and 1824 grams of fat
You'll save yourself 25,300 calories and 2921 grams of fat just by doing this.
If you roughly convert this to body fat, you can save 3.6 kilograms. One kilogram of body fat has 7,000 calories.
Crazy or?
How much can you lose weight in a week?
But there's more.
- Steam, stew or grill vegetables instead of frying or sautéing with lots of oil
- Cooking in a roman pot
- Replace the deep fryer with a hot air fryer
- Use little oil and spread it in the pot with a brush
- Replace cream in cream soups with floury potatoes
- Do not use cream sauces. Use sour cream or cream cheese and mix it with water
- Use baking paper for cake pans instead of grease
- Use oil and fats very sparingly on vegetables. Instead, reach for spices and fresh herbs
- You can replace the oil in the salad partly with high-quality cold-pressed oils and partly with vegetable broth.
- Yogurt and fresh herbs are also good for salad dressings.
- Cook for yourself and use fresh food. Ready meals or powdered sauces contain many calories and fat.
- Replace French fries with baked potatoes
- Top bread with cream cheese and vegetables. Instead of butter and sausage.
There are many healthier alternatives than salami, sausage and tons of cheese. Look beyond the plate when eating :)
Our conclusion
Those who opt for a low-fat diet certainly live healthier than others. However, you should not completely do without fats. Our body needs them to be able to process vitamins. To do this, it needs high-quality oils and not unhealthy trans fats or too much animal fat.
But beware: If you go for a low-fat diet, you also run the risk of eating too few healthy fats!
There are many little tricks to save fat and thus calories in everyday life.
Good luck! :)
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