Most individuals understand that it is smart to restrict the grams of fat of their daily diet. The dietary reference intake amount for an adult ranges from 20% to 35% [i] of daily calories; or about 44 to 55 grams per day [1]. Since a single slice of pecan pie carries with it 27 grams of fat, and a mere tablespoon of thousand island salad dressing contains 8 grams of fat [ii], it isn’t shocking to see more and more individuals checking food labels and passing over an order of onion rings [2] as they try to lose, or maintain, inches and pounds. However, the relentless avoidance of fat even of healthy unsaturated fat is creating a troubling state of affairs for many individuals. Rather than having the ability to drop some pounds when they go on a “fat free” diet, they gain weight instead. ”Fat free” is not essentially “calorie free” and most people trying to shed weight either overlook this fact or are just simply unaware of this. Expectedly, many people drop their guard and ingest far too much “fat free” food as a result since they assume that they won’t gain weight because it is labeled as “fat free”. Yet it is the calories in these fat-free foods that trigger the weight gain; not the grams of fat themselves [iii]. More than double the amount of calories in a gram of protein or carbohydrate is the 9 calories in a single gram of fat. Therefore, mathematically speaking, an eater can consume twice as many protein or carbohydrate grams than fat grams, and achieve the same caloric intake. A snippet of dieting wisdom states that you should reduce fat intake and keep away from oily, greasy foods like onion rings because many high-fat foods contain too much fat grams. Yet it bears repeating that the reason to avoid fat-rich foods isn’t because of the phrase fat; it is because every fat gram contains a scale-tipping 9 calories. In other words: the weight-conscious motive for avoiding excess fat grams is because it results in a higher caloric intake. Dieters who fail to discern the fundamental nutritional fact that gaining weight is about calories and not about fat grams themselves additionally fail to appreciate how the body really gains and loses weight, with outcomes often resulting in their eventual dismay. The typical adult male American diet requires 2000 calories per day because that is how many calories are collectively used and burned (i.e. converted into energy) by the body each day. For instance, if 1800 calories are consumed by a male dieter, then this means that he actually saves 200 calories per day. Since there are 3,500 calories in a pound of fat, in this situation, the dieter will save 3,600 in just 18 days (18 x 200 calories). This translates into a loss of one pound. Concurrently, a pound of weight can be gained in 18 days if the dieter consumes an average of 200 calories over his daily limit. A dieter who is not aware of this mathematical formula may indeed avoid fat altogether and eat, for example, 6 tablespoons of fat free caramel topping per day; believing that this is not part of the weight gain equation, because it is labeled as fat free. Since fat free caramel topping really contains no fat grams, this isn’t false advertising. However, fat free caramel topping delivers 103 calories per two tablespoon serving [iv]. The dieter will simply be unaware that a mere 6 tablespoons add up to a substantial 309 calories; or 15% of the whole daily caloric intake for a 2000 calorie/day diet, even when this dieter sticks to his diet routine of 44 fat grams per day but fails to account for the calories. In fact, a dieter may subsist solely on fat free foods, and easily exceed their target every day caloric intake by their second meal of the day. The fat grams are obviously not the source of those excess calories; but most likely it might be from another source such as carbohydrates. Again, the point here that the majority of dieters are not getting from the advertisers and marketing messages, is that fat grams are not necessarily the “cause” of weight gain. Rather, fat grams form a part of the whole caloric intake, and they need to be monitored along with carbohydrates and proteins. Adding an unnecessary layer of complexity here is that many healthy foods, such as energy bars, contain an excessive quantity of calories. For example, a chocolate chip Power Bar already carries 230 calories which is actually just a mere 40 calories less than that of a Butterfinger candy bar. Unfortunately, because the Power Bar contains 2 grams of fat and is therefore low fat, some dieters eat several per day; and pack on 230 calories each time, even though nearly none of those calories come from fat. It’s irrelevant, because the dieter will still pile up the pounds if and when he surpasses his or her limit for every day caloric intake. Dieters who count on yogurt-coated bars to be healthier are additionally misled; the yogurt-berry Balance Bar contains 200 calories per serving, despite the fact that only 25% of the calories come from its 6 grams of fat. However, there are nutritional supplements available in the market that are responsibly engineered to be both low fat or fat free while additionally being low in calories. These foods are of benefit to dieters when they’re losing weight, and also in the susceptible period after the weight has been lost. Regrettably, many very well intentioned dieters who have made tremendous strides and sacrifices to lose weight regain it within the first few post-diet months. One of the foremost causes is that dieters aren’t given the low-fat, low-calorie, tasty food sources after they have achieved their weight loss goals and so, with the influence of many other components which include environment and genetics, the dieters manage to regain the weight back They consequently return to previous eating habits, and the unwanted weight returns within weeks. However, as previously mentioned, there are intelligent nutritional supplements on the market that do fill this void, and ethically serve dieters and post-dieters with foods that they need to stay healthy, and fend off weight gain. It is hoped that intelligent and ethically accountable companies like these, and their products, will become the norm in the future rather than being the exception that they’re today, for the benefit of current and future dieters who continue to battle with misleading “fat free” advertising of some questionable companies. [1] Fat grams contain 9 calories each. [2] 3 grams of fat per onion ring! [3] As briefly noted above, many dieters fail to realize that there are healthy unsaturated fats that the body requires; the body cannot produce fat on its own, it must receive it through diet. Yet even unsaturated fat grams contain 9 calories each, and so the understanding that fats should be severely limited holds true.
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