I’ve always been someone who likes to stick to eating whole and unprocessed foods (you’ll pick up on that if you read my other blog posts!) so like my low down on sugar, I want to explain a bit about fat!
There are so many mixed messages out there these days, its no wonder people don’t know what they should/ shouldn’t be eating! And one of the latest food confusions is with fat!
So here goes… the reason the press has suddenly turned to saying full fat is better than low fat is because often low fat foods have been stripped of fat and instead the fat has been replaced with sugars and starches and this is said to be ‘bad’ as it increases insulin levels and then leads you to feel more hungry. This is because insulin stimulates appetite and makes it hard to digest nutrients, consequently you will most probably end up snacking more and this is likely to make you gain weight. Whereas if you are eating full fat products such as full fat dairy, they are said to make you feel full and can be nourishing.
The next thing I want to point out is that Fat, does not make you fat!! Exceeding your total calorie intake is what will make you put on weight!
If you think about the French people, you rarely see a French person who is overweight, yet they typically eat a high fat diet, consuming a lot of full fat cheese, dairy and meat products. I think the way by which they eat can also be a contributing factor because they tend to all sit down together and have a meal over a couple of hours whereas we often eat on the go, meaning that we may not realize we are full and that causes us to over eat.
My advice is next time you think about buying a low fat product, think twice! Read the list of ingredients on the product to check it hasn’t got a load of hidden sugars or ingredients you don’t recognize. And try and stick to a foods that are as unprocessed as possible !