The weight loss battle cry was once "fat is where it's at." The premise was that if you trimmed fat from you diet, you would trim fat from your physique. Unfortunately, while thousands of low fat products have exploded onto the supermarket shelves over the last several years, these leaner foods haven't prevented America's exploding weight problem. In fact, reducing fat too dramatically in the diet can actually be unhealthy and also lead to weight gain for some individuals.
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The calories that you eat come from three major sources: carbohydrates (bread, cereal, grains and sugar), protein (meat, poultry and fish) and fat (butter, vegetable oils, cream). (Alcohol also provides calories, however, it shouldn't contribute significantly to your daily calories.) When following a low fat diet, less of your daily calories should be coming from fat as compared to those being contributed by a combination of carbohydrates and protein. Learn more
When shopping for low fat food products, look for these labeling buzzwords: light, reduced fat, low fat and nonfat. The following are some food options that can help you make leaner choices.
Food Groups
Higher Fat Choice
On The Leaner Side
Grains, Bread, Cereals, Pasta and Rice
Bakery muffin, large bagel with cream cheese
Small, low fat muffin, bagel with light cream cheese or low fat cottage cheese
Fruit
Fruit topped with cream
All fresh, canned or frozen fruits
Vegetables
Avocados, baked potato with sour cream and butter, broccoli with hollandaise sauce, creamed spinach, French fries
Use smaller amounts of avocados, baked potato with light sour cream and light margarine, steamed broccoli with fresh lemon, steamed or fresh spinach, baked fries
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