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Low Fat Diet Farce Part II

July 25, 2007 | 1 Comment

Today’s entry is a continuation of yesterday’s post so go here to read the first part if you haven’t already.

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In all this low fat craziness did anyone actually look at the governments recommendations? Or did we just look at what the food labels were saying? The answer to this one is no. Do you know how I know? Because in 1992 when the U.S Government released the Food Guide Pyramid the cover of the booklet they created said “Limit Fat to 30% of Calories.”

Limit fat to 30% of calories???

That doesn’t sound like low fat to me. You? That sounds like moderate fat if anything. That sounds like the fat intake that I recommend to people in Your Naked Nutrition Guide. The message was to reduce your fat intake to 30% of calories because the average American was taking in between 30-40% of their calories from fat. So who was really pushing the low fat diet and all those low fat diet foods?? The same people that are now insisting that you eat their crackers because they contain “healthy fats.” I’m talking about the food industry. Not the USDA.

Don’t you feel kind of taken advantage of?

There is a very good lesson here. When someone uses a qualitative term like “low” or “high” to describe a nutrient intake, find out what they really mean. “High Protein” to some people is 25% of calories. To me that’s low-moderate. Low fat do someone like Dean Ornish is <10% of calories. Low fat as defined by the Women’s Health Initiative was 20% of total calories.  It is always different depending on who you ask.

In regards to fat. Have some at just about every meal. Eat a variety of fats all of them in moderation. A major focus is on reducing saturated fat but too much monounsaturated fat is also potentially detrimental to your health.

This article was written by Mike Roussell.
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Written by Mike Roussell · Filed Under Blog 

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One Response to “Low Fat Diet Farce Part II”

  1. Dave on July 25th, 2007 9:07 am

    Hi
    Great blog! in reality ‘a diet’ is simply about making sustainable changes for life, eventually ending up with a healthy balanced diet (one that includes all food groups!). It doesn’t mean buying supplements or following the latest fad. The diet industry is is highly unregulated so be wary of anyone whose advice includes you buying their products, if they do want to sell you something then their advice isn’t objective.

    Hope you find this of interest
    Thanks

    Dave
    http://www.eatatease.com

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