As a St Kilda personal trainer I have come across all the different diets you can think of, the Atkins diet, Zone diet, Anabolic diet, chocolate diet; the pizza diet; the detox diet, even the 'think yourself thin' diet. Anyone trying to lose weight may have heard of these and probably tried a few too. The latest dieting trend will always be heralded by celebrities in the media and magazine articles will continue to make claims along the lines of 'lose 10 kgs in 10 days and eat whatever you like!' Sadly, it's not that simple in reality. One dieting trend that has stood the test of time is the low-fat diet but is fat really the dieter's enemy?
Good fat versus bad fat
Fat is a necessary part of a healthy diet, in fact your diet should consist of about 30 per cent fat. There are 3 groups of fats which should have a place in your diet.
- Saturated fats
These are often claimed to be the bad fats which have no benefits to health and often attributed to heart disease. This is not necessarily the case, in fact some saturated fat can be quite beneficial, common sources are cheese, butter, meat and coconut oil. Try telling your ancestors who survived for millions of years eating these quite natural sources of fat that its going to give them heart disease! Just stay away from anything that is too processed and man made.
- Monounsaturated fats
Common sources are oils such as olive, rapeseed, groundnut and it's also found in nuts and seeds. All of these things are wonderful choices to add to a healthy diet.
- Polyunsaturated fats
These can help to lower 'bad' cholesterol levels in the blood. They are also important because they contain essential fatty acids which the body can't produce by itself. Interestingly, they may also reduce 'good' cholesterol so they must be supplemented with monounsaturated fats in the diet. Common sources of polyunsaturates are vegetable fats and oily fish.
- Trans fats
These are horrible man made sources of fat which have no place in your diet. These are found in things like cakes, pastries and fast foods. Stay away from trans fats!
A diet too low in fat can lead to hormonal and skin problems, inhibit the body's control of inflammation and adversely affect blood pressure so clearly, cutting all fat from your diet would be harmful.
It's not the occasional high-fat food that is the problem, it's eating too much fat every day. Rather than continuing to eat low-fat versions of your favourite processed foods, it would be more beneficial to look at the total amount of fat in your daily diet and then to restrict that intake to no more than 30 per cent, and keep it natural and healthy. If you can't kill it, pluck it from the ground, or pick it off a tree then don't eat it.. It's also worth noting that many packaged foods claiming to be low-fat may actually be very high in sugar!
Healthy ways to cut the bad fat:
Listed below are 6 ways to lower the fat content of your diet without buying a pre-packaged low-fat product:
- Dress vegetables with fresh herbs, lemon juice or yogurt
- Eat more fish and poultry
- If eating red meat, choose lean cuts and trim off all visible fat
- Grill, steam or microwave rather than fry
- Replace cream with plain yogurt in your recipes
Ben Longley has been stkildafitnesstrainer.com.au personal training in St Kilda, Melbourne for over 4 years and runs BGL Personal Training where he specialises in fat loss and overal strength & conditioning for local residents. Bens semi private training sessions have helped clients from St Kilda, Balaclava, Prahran, Brighton, Elsternwick, Caulfield and surrounding suburbs lose their body fat and transform their body's.
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