It is unfortunate that the word fat has two meanings: one being the healthy and vital part of our diet that provides us with essential fatty acids and vitamins, and the other being the negative term used to describe someone who is unhealthy and overweight/ the extra and unwanted padding on our bodies.
Because of this double meaning of the word 'fat', many people seem to think that to lose fat from your body you need to have a low-fat diet. In this post I'm going to talk about low-fat vs. full-fat in terms of yogurt. Yogurt is just about the only dairy product I eat at the moment and it can be a really healthy addition to your diet, especially for vegetarians who need a little extra protein, and it contains probiotics which promote a healthy digestive system.
However, if I'm going to eat yogurt I never eat low-fat varieties. The fat that is reduced in low-fat yogurts is usually replaced with lots of refined sugar - trust me.. next time you're in a supermarket pick up a low-fat yogurt pot and compare the sugar levels to the full-fat pot. Sugar is added to make low-fat yogurt taste better, which for me is just more of an incentive to eat the full-fat version - why eat something that needs a load of sugar heaped into it to make it edible when the alternative tastes great naturally?
Although fats contain the most calories per gram, not all of the fat you eat is stored as body fat - but refined sugar is! So if you're going to avoid anything, avoid refined carbs not fat. However, in saying this it is important to remember that saturated fats from animal products (e.g dairy - doesn't mean you should never eat it but probably not all the time) and trans fats (chemically engineered to extend shelf life of products) aren't great for us.. so it's better to stick to plant fats in foods such as avocados and nuts.
Sources: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/truth-about-low-fat-foods
The Body Book, Cameron Diaz
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