When you're trying to lose weight, does a low fat diet plan make more or less sense? Surely eating less fat will make you, well, less fat? Why not check out our diet plan guide for the facts.
There is a lot of evidence to support the assumption around eating less fat in the first place. Although there are also some arguments against it.
People choose to follow low fat diets for various reasons that include weight loss. This includes the prevention and treatment of diseases such as heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, cancer, and diabetes.
In addition, very low-fat, high-fibre, vegetarian diets such as those developed by Nathan Pritikin, and Dean Ornish are proven to reverse coronary artery disease.
If you are considering a low fat diet it's important to understand the role that fat plays in your diet. The bottom line is, we need some fats, such as monounsaturated fats or omega-3 fatty acids have numerous benefits including lower risks of heart disease.
Foods that contain fats, such as meat, are good sources vitamins E and B12 and zinc. Finally, if you have too little fat in your diet, your body will not properly absorb fat-soluble nutrients, such as vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin K.
As we need to have some fats in our diet, choosing the right ones to consume or use for cooking is ever more important.
Better choices are vegetable oils like corn oil, sunflower oil, and safflower oil, which have been shown to lower cholesterol levels in most studies. Also fish oils and olive oils are both associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and may play a role in the reduced risk of certain cancers.
There are certain fats and fat sources that shoudl be avoided.
These can raise blood cholesterol levels and increase the risk of heart disease. They are found in meats, whole milk products, butter, cheese and cream.
TFAs are found in processed foods look for the term partially hydrogenated oil and also in many fast foods. Consumption of TFA greatly increases the risk of heart attack.