Sixty-six percent of adult Americans are obese or overweight, mainly because of an increase in caloric consumption above their needs, according to a January 2008 study published in the journal "Obesity." The study indicates that eating too many total calories causes weight gain, and a diet high in fat may contribute to weight gain. The study also found that low-fat diets can help with weight maintenance.
Identification
Low-fat diets fall within the lower limits of the fat intake recommended by the United States Department of Agriculture's 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which suggest a fat intake of between 20 and 35 percent of total dietary intake. Some diets, such as the Ornish diet, advocate only a 10 percent fat intake, which Dr. Ornish indicates may prevent and possibly repair heart disease in high-risk patients. A low-fat diet should include the right amounts of healthy fats, such as omega-3 fatty acids and monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, because your body needs fats for satiety and energy.
Benefits
Low-fat eating is an easy, low-tech way to control the amount of fat you eat each day. Each gram of fat you eat contains nine calories, while alcohol contains seven calories per gram, and protein and carbohydrates contain each four per gram. Limiting your fat calories allows you to eat more of the healthier, low-calorie foods such as lean proteins, natural fruits and vegetables, fat-free dairy and complex carbohydrates. Low-fat eating that focuses on avoiding unhealthy saturated or trans fats, and relies mainly on healthier fat calories may help you avoid cardiovascular disease and improve the amount of healthy high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in your blood, according to a November 2006 report in the American Diabetes Association journal "DOC News."
Important Information
One of the most important things to understand when following a low-fat healthy eating plan is that low-fat foods are not calorie free, making it possible to gain weight through eating too many calories even if your overall fat consumption is low. For example, 1 cup of low-fat cottage cheese has 163 calories, while full-fat cottage cheese has just 53 more calories. Reduced fat sour cream has just six fewer calories than full-fat sour cream per tablespoon. Read the label to verify the serving size and calorie amount in low-fat foods to ensure you do not inadvertently gain weight by eating too many low-fat calories.
Considerations
Use your total caloric intake to determine the fat calories and grams you should eat. If you are limiting your fat calories to 20 or 30 percent of an 1,800-calorie diet, you can have between 360 and 540 calories from fats. Choose foods with healthy fats, such as fish, which is high in omega-3 fatty acids; avocados, which contain mainly monounsaturated fats; and skinless chicken, which contains little fat. Other low-fat healthy foods include yogurts made with low-fat or fat-free milk, cereals, fresh produce and whole grain breads.
References
- "Obesity"; Alteration of Dietary Fat Intake to Prevent Weight Gain: Jayhawk Observed Eating Trial; Joseph E. Donnelly, et al.; January 2008
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010
- "Eat More, Weight Less"; Dr. Dean Ornish; 2001
- University of Maryland Medical Center: How Many Calories and Fat Grams Do You Need?
- "DOC News"; Differentiating Food Fats; Joene Hendry; November 2006
- USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 17: Energy
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