Low-fat foods are supposed to help you lose a few kilos. But are they really an alternative? We'll tell you what's behind a low-fat diet.
A balanced diet consists of fats, carbohydrates and proteins. But if you eat very fatty food for a long time, you consume a lot of calories.
If you don't burn it off while exercising, the fat will deposit on your belly, hips, thighs, and even your internal organs.
Animal fats in particular promote cardiovascular disease and even cancer.
Table of contents
When you reach for low-fat foods, you'll not only get a few pounds lighter, but you'll also do your cholesterol some good.
To get rid of one kilogram of body fat, you need to cut 9000 calories.
This is the difference between saturated and unsaturated fatty acids!
What is low fat diet
A low-fat diet greatly reduces the amount of fat in your food. Depending on how extremely you implement this nutritional concept, you may eat just 30 grams of fat.
In a healthy and varied diet, 66 grams are recommended for an adult who needs 2000 calories a day.
Compared to other diets, there are no forbidden foods here. So you can eat whatever you feel like. Only the daily limit of fat is reached quickly with some foods than with others.
These foods can help burn body fat!
If you eat only low-fat foods, the pounds will tumble and the fat will no longer accumulate on your hips.
Low-fat foods: the healthiest alternatives
Fat provides vital fatty acids. The body needs these to be able to process vitamins A, D, E and K in the first place.
However, an increased intake can lead to obesity. Saturated fatty acids in particular are unhealthy.
They increase the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and cancer. These include butter and chocolate, among others.
Low-fat foods can prevent this. However, there are many foods with hidden fats.
To make your low-fat diet as uncomplicated as possible, we have created a list for you.
What percentage of body fat is optimal? Find out here!
| High fat foods | Low fat alternatives |
| Butter | Margarine, cream cheese, sour cream |
| French fries, fried potato, Croquettes, potato pancakes |
Baked potato, baked potato, baked potato |
| Duck, goose, pork belly, roast sausage, lamb chops | Veal, game, turkey, pork cutlet, chicken, |
| Sausage: bacon, salami, lyoner, mortadella, liver sausage | boiled ham, salmon ham, turkey breast, roast cold cuts |
| Fish sticks, tuna, salmon, mackerel, herring | steamed and steamed fish, pollock, cod, haddock |
| Fat cheese: butter cheese, gorgonzola | Low fat cheese: Edam, Harz cheese |
| Milk, yogurt | Low-fat milk, buttermilk, low-fat yogurt |
| Creme fraiche or cream | Sour cream |
| Mascarpone | Grainy cream cheese |
| Mayonnaise | Yogurt salad cream |
| Nut nougat cream | Fruit jelly, jam |
| Croissants | Milk crescents, buns, yeast pastries |
| Shortcrust | Yeast and sponge dough |
| Cream ice | Frozen yogurts, water ice, sorbet |
| Chocolate | Dried fruit, fruit jelly |
| Snacks: nuts, flips, chips, crackers | Salted sticks, salted popcorn |
| Black olives | Green olives |
Gummy bears
Snacking and dieting? Usually not a good idea. But gummy bears are one of the low-fat foods. They have 0 grams of fat per 100 grams.
Sounds good. Doesn't it?
But watch out: Of course, gummy bears contain lots of artificial additives and are therefore anything but healthy.
Potatoes
You love carbohydrates? Then we have good news for you. Potatoes also contain 0 grams of fat per 100 grams.
Do carbohydrates in the evening really make you fat?
However, it depends on the preparation. Fried potatoes, French fries and croquettes naturally do not fit into a low-fat diet.
However, boiled potatoes are a good choice.
Rice
You can also eat rice without a guilty conscience. It has just 0.4 grams of fat per 100 grams.
But be careful not to combine it with a greasy sauce. Otherwise it will be difficult to lose weight.
Harz cheese
Cheese is usually very fatty and does not go well with low-fat foods. Harz cheese, on the other hand, may be consumed with relish.
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It has only 0.5 grams of fat per 100 grams. It also contains a lot of protein and is therefore ideal for athletes.
Pasta
Attention pasta lovers! Pasta contains just 1 gram of fat per 100 grams. So you can't really call it a fattening food. Nevertheless, you can quickly increase the fat content of your meal with unhealthy sauces.
Prepare a light tomato sauce instead. That way you are usually on the safe side.
How much can you lose weight in a week?
Sorbet
In summer, a cooling down is really good. Sorbet is with 1 gram of fat per 100 grams a really tasty alternative to cream ice cream.
Low-fat foods can be really delicious. It's best to make your own sorbet. In the purchased is usually a lot of artificial additives that do not exactly promote weight loss.
Rice cakes
Do you like to snack in front of the TV? For a low-fat diet, you should replace chips with rice cakes. They have just 2 grams of fat per 100 grams and taste really delicious.
Popcorn
Low-fat food also includes popcorn. The salted variety is particularly figure-friendly. Popcorn contains 4 grams of fat per 100 grams.
Attention: sugared or doused with butter, it quickly becomes a calorie bomb.
Salt sticks
Salt sticks are great for a low fat diet. With 5 grams of fat per 100 grams, they are a great alternative to high-fat snacks. So nibbling is still allowed :)
Oatmeal
You can also save fat at breakfast. Oatmeal has only 6.5 grams of fat per 100 grams and is better than chocolate spread or sausage bread. Oatmeal tastes best with low-fat milk or a low-fat yogurt.
Cooked ham
Actually, sausage is very fatty. If you don't want to do without your cold cuts on your bread, you should go for cooked ham. This has 3 grams of fat per 100 grams.
How to save fat when cooking
You can save fat not only on food, but also on its preparation. For this we have a few kitchen tricks.
- Steaming, stewing or grilling are the best cooking methods for a low-fat diet.
- You can prepare food without fat in a roman pot or special stainless steel pots, as well as in coated pans.
- Fill a spray bottle halfway with oil and the rest with water. Shake the bottom and spray your cookware with it before frying. If you don't have a spray bottle at home, you can also use a paint brush.
- Replaced cream half with milk.
- Let soups and sauces get cold, then you can scoop the fat from the surface.
- When preparing sauces, avoid oil, sour cream and milk as much as possible.
- You can also thicken roasts or vegetable stocks with pureed vegetables or potatoes.
- Use gelatin to bind cream foods.
- Place baking paper on the baking sheet instead of greasing it.
How healthy low fat foods really are
For a long time, experts were sure that low-fat diets were healthier and supported weight loss. Fat was considered unhealthy. However, it was discovered that fat is not as bad as its reputation.
However, trans fats and too many animal fats are still unhealthy.
It's important that you distinguish between vegetable, processed and animal fats when it comes to low-fat foods.
Processed foods contain a lot of trans fats. They are mainly produced during deep-frying and the partial hardening of vegetable fats. You can find them in chips, potato chips, fast food and ready-made pastries.
That you should not stuff fat into yourself sounds logical. But there are also vegetable fats. These are very healthy. You can find them in nuts, seeds and kernels. Probably the best known healthy fat is olive oil.
The less vegetable fats are processed, the healthier they are. Nevertheless, they contain a lot of calories and you should be conscious with them.
If you eat mainly low-fat foods, make sure that you eat healthy fats. Your body needs them to process vitamins.
Our conclusion
If you focus on low-fat foods, you'll live a little healthier overall than others. However, do not completely forgo fats. Otherwise you will miss out on important vitamins. Reduce unhealthy trans fats and animal fats and rely more on vegetable fats.
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