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Low Fat Dieting
On the opposite end of the spectrum with popular weight loss approaches, is
low fat dieting. These diets became popular in the past 30 years, or so,
because it was believed that eating fatty foods would cause you to have heart
disease and become fat. Like any diet which tries to go too far to one
extreme, though, this one has inherent problems of it's own, too.
Most people interpret "low fat" to mean "low meat consumption". Some people,
in fact, tried to cut meat from their diets entirely. Now, this is possible to
do, of course, and there are varying forms of vegetarianism which prove it can
be done. Like other extreme eating styles, though, cutting out all sources of
meat and fat in our diets is quite difficult to do, and it's not overly
healthy for us either.
Different types of meat have different vitamins, minerals and essential
nutrients our bodies need to survive. Some of these nutrients cannot be
obtained from any other type of food source.
The other problem with cutting out meats from our diet or cutting down on them
drastically is that we must fill our stomachs some other way, and the only
ways left are with carbohydrates or sugars. Now, there is fiber, of course,
and that can be obtained by eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Fiber
helps a lot by making your body feel full after eating. Most people,
unfortunately, don't eat enough fiber in their diets, though.
Many people they try to fill their stomachs with carbohydrates, which - as
mentioned earlier - are quick fuels which aren't designed to sustain us for
long periods of time. So, eating high carbohydrate meals often leads us to
eating way too much food each day. We eat something at 8 am and we're hungry
again at 9 or 10. If the foods we're eating are simple carbs, with lots of
sugar in them, then we're simply packing on more fat as we go throughout each
day.
This is the primary reason most people are miserable on low fat diets. The
diets call for a certain amount of calories each day, but eating those
calories with primarily carbohydrates leaves us feeling hungry and deprived.
In order to eat enough to feel full and satisfied, we're tripling the amount
of calories we should be eating. Sometimes, we're even consuming five times or
more than the daily amount that's appropriate for us.
Like carbohydrates, though, there are both good and bad sources of dietary
fat. By adding good sources of fat into our daily eating habits, we're able to
keep the worst of our hunger at bay, and add longer term sources of energy and
fuel for our bodies.
Omega-3 Fatty acids are one source of fat that should be included in
everyone's daily eating plans. These come from fish, primarily, but they can
found in supplements, too. There are also saturated fats, unsaturated fats and
trans fats as well. Trans fats and saturated fats are very bad for you, and
should be kept to a bare minimum if you can't cut them out completely.
Unsaturated fats, though, are essential for the proper health and nutritional
balance in our bodies, and will also contribute to your weight loss goals,
because they help you to eat less.
Eating high quality fats in some form of protein is the best dietary choice,
because the protein also helps your body maintain it's energy levels longer,
keeps you from getting hungry too soon, and helps your body build stronger
muscles and bones. All of these are essential to maintaining a healthy body
weight.
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