Getting fat on low fat foods

This is not my opinion but this is a fact! Sounds kinda crazy, but it’s true. The fad of low fat dieting started roughly 30 years ago and a TIMES Magazine article in 1984 didn't help slow down the movement. Since then the obesity rate has more than doubled! For the first time in our lives Diabetes and it’s related illnesses are taking more lives than both Cancer and AIDS combined. Yikes.


The bigger challenge right now is trying to figure out what to do about it. First of all, I think that it goes without saying that eating low fat does not give you the green light to eat MORE!! One of the problems with “low fat” foods are that they aren’t satisfying so you end up consuming more fat than you would if you had just ate a smaller amount of the real thing. Also, when you remove fat from a product you then must replace it with something else which usually includes more sugar, salt and gum along with many other thickeners and random chemicals!?!?!  I think that somewhere along the way Americans got confused. Yes, eating NATURALLY low fat foods such as whole fruits and veggies is good. Eating highly processed low fat packaged snacks are NOT. Believe me when I say that I have fallen victim to these pigs in sheep’s clothing for years. (I think that is how the saying goes but something is telling me that I am wrong) The Grocery store houses almost 50,000 products within their 4 walls and much of it is the same. When all the smoke and mirrors fade away, most of it is simply rearrangements of corn. If you don’t believe me start reading the ingredients list and I promise you will be surprised. The shelves are laden with  products that Michael Pollan calls “edible food like substances” that are packaged to look like food. 


Whether you are no carb, meat free, low fat, dairy free or all of the above I would put money on the fact that you are replacing something real with something fake in your diet. So I challenge you to start looking at your food in a different light. Read labels and ask yourself if what you are buying or eating is real. Chances are if it has more than 5 ingredients, then it is not. 


Let’s make a conscience effort to eat more REAL FOOD. In doing this the need to diet will most likely be unnecessary. Just by eliminating the pretend food you will be a forced to be a much healthier version of yourself. If you do want a special treat you will have to make it yourself and that in its self will help you to lose weight. I don’t know about you but I don’t have the time or the energy to make cookies, brownies or cakes on a daily or even weekly basis.