Low Fat Dieting
WHY GO ON A LOW FAT DIET?
According to the American Heart Association, added fat in the diet is a
leading cause of heart disease.
According to the American Cancer Society, added fat in the diet is a
leading cause of many types of cancer.
"BUT I DON'T EAT MUCH FAT IN MY DIET!"
Because much of the fat in our diet is hidden, most people think that they
are already on a low fat diet. Everyone is familiar with the fat that can be
cut off meat. Not many people realize that some cuts of meat still can contain
up to 60% fat. Some candies and "sweets" contain up to 70% fat. Everyone know
that most potato chips are salty; not many know that they contain up to 80%
fat. Everyone knows that candy bars contain sugar; not many know that they
contain up to 60% fat.
Overall, Americans eat 42% of our calories as fat. We owe it all to
machinery, because the overall fat content of truly natural foods is less than
10%. For instance, one tablespoonful of corn oil (100% fat), contains the
amount of fat in 14 ears of corn. Many people eat a tablespoonful of corn oil
daily - very few people have ever eaten 14 ears of corn in one day.
The food industry even has us convinced that there are "good fats." After
all, polyunsaturated fats lower the cholesterol, they tell us. (They don't
mention that polyunsaturated fats impair the immune system, lower the HDL
cholesterol (the good cholesterol), and cause cancer the same way saturated
fats do. Fish oils, olive oil, cod liver oil, all are supposed to have
benefits, according to the food industry.
DO WE NEED FAT?
The answer is yes. The requirement of fat in the diet is approximately
4% of calories. Since almost all foods have over this amount of fat, it is
impossible to develop a fat deficiency unless an individual is eating
insufficient calories over a long period of time. (Another words, it is only
possible to develop a fat deficiency if a person is starving.)
HOW CAN YOU REDUCE THE FAT IN YOUR DIET?
You have probably been eating a high fat diet (without knowing it) from
the time you were several years old. Many people find it easier to gradually
reduce the fat in their diet, rather than make sudden changes. What follows
are a number of hints on reducing the fat in your diet. (These recommendations
do not apply to children under 2 years of age. Also, remember, growing
children should not be calorie restricted.
REDUCING FAT
1. Mix regular milk with 2% milk.
Use 2% milk.
Mix 2% milk with 1% milk. DO EACH STEP
Use 1% milk. OVER ONE MONTH
Mix 1% milk with skim milk.
Use skim milk.
Have you ever seen children who will only drink skim milk? Who,
when they taste regular milk, they spit it out, and complaint bitterly
about the taste? I have seen many children like this. This should tell
us something about acquired tastes.
2. Do the same thing for cottage cheese - going from regular cottage cheese,
to 2% cottage cheese, to 1% cottage cheese.
3. Use lower fat cuts of meat and poultry only - such as chicken (white
meat), turkey (white meat), round beef, flank beef.
4. Most people eat one or two fresh fruits a day. Gradually increase that
to 3 fruits a day. Fruit juices don't count - they lack the fiber,
and do not satisfy hunger - in fact, they may stimulate the appetite in
some people. You will probably find that fruit satisfies the craving for
sugar that many people have.
5. Try to eat a salad daily, using a no-fat salad dressing. Over several
months, increase the size of the salad; they promote yourself to 2 salads
a day. You will notice that you are acquiring a taste for vegetables that
you never had before.
6. When an ice cream craving attack occurs, run to the refrigerator and get
out a frozen banana, Put it in the blender with vanilla extract, add
frozen raspberries if you like, and in minutes you have "ice cream" - the
healthy variety.
7. Cut down the margarine or butter you add to bread over 2 months. Use a
no-sugar added jelly; apple butter; or even try eating bread dry.
8. Eat less french fries over 2 months - start eating a baked potato at
least once a week, then twice a week, then daily. For a topping, use
a no-oil salad dressing, instead of butter or margarine.
9. Next time you are at a restaurant, order fish or chicken, baked or
broiled in water - not in butter or margarine. Congratulations - you have
just cut the calories of the main course in half.
10. Time for dessert? Try a fresh fruit cup.
11. Try whole wheat bread, instead of white bread. (I know what some of you
are going to say - if God didn't want us to eat white bread, he wouldn't
have invented the milling machine).
12. Remember - you don't have to eat meat everyday. Try spaghetti,
preferably whole wheat, with a no-oil spaghetti sauce.
13. Scrambled eggs for breakfast? If you make it using 4 eggs, throw away
2 of the yokes. Experiment making egg white omelettes, with tumeric to
give it a yellow color.
14. Don't skip meals. That's the easiest way to get cravings for sugars,
or fats. Eat a cereal for breakfast, with a piece of fruit, and bread.
Snack between meals if possible on low fat foods.
15. Do you like popcorn? Bring it along to work or in the car with you, for a
snack.
16. Are you the cook in your house? Learn to use small amounts of various
spices, to replace fats, in cooking. Recipes are available in various
low fat cookbooks.
"SIDE EFFECTS" TO EXPECT ON THIS TYPE OF LOW FAT EATING:
1. Energy.
2. Lack of constipation.
3. Lower cholesterol and triglycerides.
4. Good health.
5. Relatively easy weight loss (if overweight).
6. Dramatically better diabetes control.
IS LOW-FAT EATING SOMETHING NEW?
Our ancestors ate low-fat food for 100,000 generations. It has "only" been the
last 1000 generations that we have switched to high fat food.
IS LOW-FAT EATING "DRASTIC"?
Eating a wide variety of natural foods, flavored with spices and herbs
shouldn't be looked at as drastic.
The definition of drastic is having people suffer from a wide variety of
degenerative diseases, including heart disease and cancer, that are largely
dietary caused.
This is Volume 1, Issue 4, of the Low Fat Lifestyle Healthletter, written by
Robert C. Baker, M.D., 819 South Broadway, Pitman, New Jersey, 08071.
Return to diabetes