Elizabeth Bailey
Less fat – that is the basic principle of the low-fat diet. Reducing fat in your daily diet is said to help you lose weight and even improve your health without having to constantly count calories. Instead, you get your energy from proteins and carbohydrates. But is that healthy in the long run? That’s what the low-fat diet is all about.
How does the low-fat diet work?
Fat is particularly high in calories. With around nine calories per gram, it contains around twice as many calories as, for example, proteins or carbohydrates (around 4 kcal). If fat is saved during food intake, more protein or carbohydrate-rich foods can be eaten in return for the same kilocalorie consumption. This is exactly what the low-fat diet takes advantage of. With this type of diet, the fat content in the daily diet is reduced to around 30 percent. Radical diets even suggest as little as 10 percent fat in daily food intake.
The best thing about it is: The daily intake of around 30 percent fat of the total amount of calories corresponds exactly to current nutritional recommendations, such as those issued by the German Society for Nutrition.
What and how often can I eat on a low-fat diet?
There are three basic rules for the low-fat diet that you should always follow:
- Only eat when you are really hungry
- Stop eating when you are full
- Take only 30 percent per day, i. H. around 60 grams of fat, to itself
While you should eat less fat on the low-fat diet, you can eat everything else. Recommended foods include fruits, vegetables, lean meats, fish, reduced-fat dairy, potatoes, rice, and even pasta.
What are the pros and cons of the low-fat diet?
For example, the focus of the low-fat diet is in complete contrast to the popular low-carb diet. In this case, carbohydrate-containing foods such as pasta or rice are almost taboo, while fat is not a problem. But what are the advantages and disadvantages of a diet that largely avoids fat?
Benefits of the low-fat diet
- No starvation and no calorie counting
- Almost anything can be eaten
- Complies with current nutritional recommendations
- Promotes conscious handling of food
- Long-term perseverance is possible without the yo-yo effect and cravings
Disadvantages of the low-fat diet
- Slightly increased time required for planning and cooking
- Difficult to control on the go and when eating out
- Less effective than low-carb in the short term, according to studies
Who is the low-fat diet suitable for?
With all its advantages and disadvantages, the low-fat diet is suitable for anyone who wants to lose weight or prevent obesity in a healthy, long-term manner. Would you like to lose weight quickly and in the short term? Then you should rather resort to another form of diet.
Risks of the low-fat diet
Despite the benefits of the low-fat diet, there are also some risks. If you eat too few of the body’s essential polyunsaturated fatty acids, this can hurt your blood lipid levels. These special fatty acids are mainly found in fish and also in vegetable oils. However, these fats can be integrated relatively easily into everyday life and such risks can be averted accordingly.
The low-fat diet has a lot that other diets don’t have: a rich selection of foods, no starvation, and hardly any sacrifices. At the same time, according to studies, it is somewhat less effective than other diet methods. Overall, however, it can be easily integrated into everyday life, since almost everything can be eaten. It also promises something that may be even more important than any weight loss: health.
