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Eating a diet which is high in fat content will contribute immensely
to excess body weight and fat, there are twice as many calories per gram
of fat then there are of carbohydrates and protein.
Therefore, if you are trying to lose weight, lower the amount of cholesterol
or simply aim to eat healthier and live a healthier lifestyle but reducing
the amount of fat in your diet is imperative.
Reducing the amount of fat in your diet
Most diets focus on reducing the intake of fat in the diet, fat is what
raises the cholesterol in the blood and increases the risk of heart disease.
Many fatty foods also have a lot less fewer vitamins and minerals than
foods lower in fat.
One single gram of fat has around 9 calories while the same of protein
or carbohydrate has only around 4 grams, this being said you can eat twice
as much carbohydrates and proteins as you can fat for the same amount
of calories.
Losing weight by eating food lower in fats
Eating foods lower in fat can lead to weight loss, however; it takes more
than just eating a diet lower in fats to successfully lose weight, with
the amount of calories playing a major part in any weight loss programme.
Any calories you eat whether they come from foods low in fat or not will
store in the body as fat, an example of this would be if you swapped foods
which are high in fat for something like sweets then you would still put
on weight not lose it, simply because sweets are high in calories.
Losing weight is simply a matter of burning off more calories than you
are taking in and you can achieve this by eating a diet which is lower
in fat and calories while being active throughout the day.
Does this mean I should cut out all fat?
A healthy amount of some types of fat is essential in our diet, the recommended
daily requirements for the intake of fat is around 20% to 35% of the total
daily calories. For example if you were to eat 2,000 calories in a day
then the recommended amount of fat would be 44 to 77 grams.
Recent studies have shown that eliminating another type of fat from the
diet, transfat is essential, this type of fat gathers during a process
called hydrogenation and converts healthy unsaturated liquid fats into
a solid one.
Health experts now recommend removing as much transfat from your diet
as possible as it is thought to make the fats stored in the body act like
saturated fats and is the possible cause of heart disease.
Tips for reducing your fat intake
* Always read the labels on food - always choose low fat, non-fat and
reduced fat products. When choosing foods balance them out against your
daily fat requirements to stay within your budget.
* Choose only lean meats, poultry and fish - aim to include around 5 to
7 ounces of these in your daily diet, other excellent sources of protein
which are low in fat include peas and dried beans, low fat yogurts, low
fat milk, low fats cottage cheese and cheese and tuna fish.
* Eat low fat or fat free - you should eat no more than 3 grams of fat
within a serving by trying low fat or fat free versions of your favourite
spreads, margarine, salad dressings and cream cheese.
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