Low Fat Diets

Fat is the most calorie-dense food group: each gram has nine calories, compared to four calories for carbohydrate and protein. So if the aim is to create a calorie deficit in your diet, then cutting down on high-fat foods is a good place to start.

Reducing fat intake

Healthy eating guidelines recommend that a maximum of 30 per cent of calories in the diet should come from fat; a low-fat diet for weight loss will typically reduce this to around 20 per cent. However, as usual, the total energy intake is what counts on a low-fat diet just by replacing fatty foods with high-sugar, high-calorie foods, so it is important to keep an eye on the overall balance of the diet, too.

What you can eat

As we have seen, some fats are essential for good health while an excess of others can be harmful. The fats in a low-fat diet should primarily be ‘good’ monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats, such as those that are found in olive oil or oily fish, for example. Saturated fats, which are found in foods such as fatty meat and poultry skin or full-fat dairy products, should be kept to a minimum, as should ‘trans fats’- hydrogenated vegetable oils, which are most often found in processed foods.
Low-fats diets will control the amount of fat in different ways- for example, by recommending eating only foods that have 4 grams of fats or less per 100g, or by having a system for counting or measuring foods.

Typical day’s eating

Breakfast

• Wholemeal toast with scraping of low-fat spread 28g cereal with skimmed milk
• Fresh fruit

Lunch

• Jacket potato (no butter) with baked beans
• Large salad with fat-free dressing
• Very low-fat fruit yogurt

Dinner

• Grilled salmon steak
• Mediterranean vegetables oven-roasted with 1 dsp olive oil
• Couscous made up with water
• Large fruit salad with low-fat ice cream

Drinks

• Water, diet drinks, tea/coffee with skimmed milk

Snacks

• piece of fruit
• low-fat cereal bar

Must Know

Pros

1. In line with current thinking on nutrition.
2. Can help heart health and weight management
3. Can be filling
4. Fits in with everyday life so can be followed long term

1. Low-fat labels can be confusing as low-fat dies not mean low-calorie
2. Eating out can be a challenge.
3. It is unwise to cut out fat completely from the diet.