Can low-fat diet make you fatter? Answer: Uh-huh

By Hklbrries

If fat is the most concentrated source of calories, isn't a low-fat diet less fattening than a high-fat diet?

Not necessarily. A low-fat diet is less fattening only if it is also lower in calories. This is the important lesson learned from our large, ill-fated national experiment with reduced-fat products.

When low-fat foods began to flood the market in the early '90s, we ate them as if there were no tomorrow and no such thing as calories, lulled into a false sense of security by their low fat counts.

Looking back, experts say that the overuse of low-fat foods - particularly treats - is one reason Americans are fatter than ever.

Calories from fat-free cookies, cakes, candy bars, ice cream, frozen yogurt and granola bars slide into the diet all too easily. Their fat is usually replaced by refined carbohydrates, and the fact is an empty calorie is an empty calorie, whether it comes from fat or sugar.

But there are those low-fat products that are truly useful.

Low-fat mayonnaise, for example, is reduced in both fat and calories and is far more likely to be used as a one-for-one replacement, rather than an overindulgence. (Polishing off an entire container of low-fat ice cream may be be a problem, but a jar of low-fat mayonnaise poses no such temptation.)

And to make a real contribution to a healthful diet, low-fat products should also have some redeeming nutritional value.

Most reduced-fat dairy products meet both goals. Not only is a person unlikely to overdo drinking nonfat milk in place of whole milk - more would be better anyway, because hardly anyone gets enough calcium - but the daily savings of saturated fat and calories can have a big effect on health.

Drinking two glasses of nonfat milk in place of two glasses of whole milk saves the equivalent of four pats of butter a day. Over the course of a year, that adds up to more than 12 pounds of highly saturated fat and 46,000 calories. Switching from 2 percent fat to nonfat saves 7 pounds of fat and 25,000 calories.

Here are some of the best fat-conscious items to shop for, and why:

Low-fat yogurt: As a stand-in for some of the fat in baked goods, a substitute for sour cream, or just for eating, low-fat yogurt can't be beat. But stay away from flavored yogurts, which are loaded with sugar. Look for yogurts made with a variety of friendly bacteria strains, such as thermophilus and bulgaricus. Those yogurts are slightly sweet and good enough to eat plain or with cut-up fresh fruit or a dab of fruit preserves.

Reduced-fat cheese: Even though you might have to try quite a few low-fat cheeses to find the right taste and "meltability," the savings in saturated fat and calories are worth it if you eat cheese on a regular basis. But keep in mind that for many recipes, strongly flavored full-fat cheeses such as feta, Parmesan and Roquefort are OK because a little goes a long way.

Reduced-fat mayonnaise: A tablespoon of regular mayonnaise has 11 grams of fat; reduced-fat products are as low as 1 gram. The products containing 5 grams of fat taste very close to the real thing. If you like mayo on sandwiches and you switch from regular to the 5-gram version, you can painlessly cut about 45 calories from every sandwich you eat...

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