The supermarket shelves are absolutely bursting with low fat or reduced fat versions of nearly every type of food imaginable. For the longest time fat has been the enemy, and often when trying to eat healthier the first strategy many people employ is to make the switch to low-fat products. I often have clients who are hesitant to admit that they still drink full cream milk, thinking that I’m going to reprimand them for such behaviour (I’m not!). So, is it really necessary to make the switch to low fat?

Heart health

A key reason why low fat products might be necessary in your diet is for maintaining optimal heart health. Choosing low fat versions of foods that typically contain saturated fats, such as dairy, may help to reduce levels of LDL cholesterol (“bad” cholesterol) and total cholesterol. Incorporating some good dietary sources of unsaturated fats can also be beneficial due to their role in increasing HDL (“good” cholesterol) and lowering LDL cholesterol. Check out this article for more information on healthy eating for optimal heart health.

Does it have to be low fat for weight loss?

There are no hard and fast rules in the world of nutrition. Simply switching to low fat products does not mean that you are going to meet your diet goals, and not incorporating them doesn’t mean that you can’t achieve weight loss either. Recent studies have suggested that if you’re trying to lose weight it doesn’t matter if you eat a high fat/low carbohydrate or a low fat/high carbohydrate diet just as long as your diet creates an energy deficiency. This means that as long as you are eating less calories than what you are burning through daily activity and exercise it doesn’t matter what proportions of fat or carbohydrate make up your calorie intake.

So if you are one of those people who simply can’t stand the taste or texture of low fat foods, then it’s ok to stick to what you love – just be mindful of total energy intake. Fat is more energy dense than either carbohydrate or protein meaning you get more calories from each gram of fat than the same measurement of the other two.

Simple swaps

Changing your eating habits and patterns can be very challenging, so for most people small changes are much more sustainable in the long run. For that reason, it is often easier to make the simple swap of regular fat to low fat in order to help achieve that calorie deficit. This is especially true if you are having a large amount of the full fat version.

For example, a regular latte made with full cream milk has around 651kJ (155cal). A skim latte only has around 270kJ (64cal). If you only drink 1 coffee a day that’s a 337kJ (91cal) saving each day. It’s not huge – it’s around ½ a large banana – so if you didn’t like the taste of skim lattes then it would be easy enough to find another area of your diet to change to achieve that.

However, if you drink 3 coffees a day we’re now talking about a 1142kJ (273cal) deficit. This is the equivalent of around 3 slices of toast, so a decent sized snack. If you wanted to continue to drink full cream milk in those 3 coffees, then you’re going to need to cut out an entire snacks worth of calories to achieve the same energy deficit. So while you don’t have to go to skim if you don’t want to, that small switch is likely to be easier to make than getting rid of an entire snack from your diet.

In the end, it’s important to put any recommendation, like whether you choose low-fat products or not, into the context of your whole diet. Here at The Healthy Eating Hub, we’ll help you make sure that with every little recommendation we’ll look holistically at your whole diet, lifestyle and ensure you achieve good diet quality and reach your goals!

Do you need help getting the right balance of fats in your diet? Or are you confused by the vast amount of contrasting information available? 

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