1. Consult a Physician
Before you make any major changes to your diet, you should always consult a physician. A physical examination and a blood test can help you and your doctor determine which foods you should eat, which to avoid and how best to follow a low-fat diet without compromising your overall health. If your family has a history of heart disease or cholesterol problems, for example, you and your doctor can discuss ways to lower your cholesterol with foods such as oatmeal, bran or vegetables high in sterols (chemicals which help block the absorption of cholesterol). Having the data from a recent blood test can tell you what low-fat foods are right for you.
2. Read the Labels on Foods
Read the nutritional labels on the foods you want to buy. Check the serving size and the servings per container to understand just how much fat, protein and carbs are present in each serving. A little simple math will show you that calories add up quickly. Also, be aware that creating a low-fat diet can sometimes introduce other hazards, such as high sodium content, in order to keep foods full of flavor. Even a 12-ounce can of tomato soup can have as much as 40 percent of the daily allowance of sodium. Sure, the soup is low-fat, but by consuming it you're probably increasing your risk of high blood pressure and hypertension.
3. Low Fat Doesn't Always Mean Low Calories
The biggest mistake people make when creating a low-fat diet is to take in more calories even though they remove a lot of fat. People fall into the trap of thinking that just because they're eating a low-fat item, they can eat a lot more of it. Whether you're getting 1,000 calories from lettuce or 1,000 calories from a piece of cake, it's still 1,000 calories. The difference is in the proportions per gram of a substance. For fat, one gram contains nine calories. One gram of protein contains four calories, as does a gram of carbohydrate. Alcohol contains seven calories per gram. It's easy to see that you can eat twice as much protein and carbs as fat and still be consuming fewer calories than you would for an equivalent amount of fat. By volume, you can eat more carbs and protein in a healthy diet, but the amount you eat overall will still affect the development of fat. If you eat more than you burn, you'll still gain weight.
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