The FastDay Forum

Can someone explain to me how a low fat diet or a low calorie diet can both help you lose weight but most low fat foods are high calorie and visa versa? I eat a low fat diet.

Hello @Maximilianjohn -

most low fat foods are high calorie and visa versa

Although that may be true of processed foods and ready meals, I doubt it's wholly true of most foodstuffs. E.g., vegetables, are typically low fat and low calorie (tho' it depends what you mean by the latter).

High-fat food is calorie dense because fat is 9calories per gramme as compared to the approx. 4 calories per gramme of protein or carbohydrates.

Low-fat commercial products such as yoghurt tend to have sugar added to them to improve the 'mouth-feel' or flavour because stripping the fat from some products leaves them with an unpalatable taste or texture. It's unusual for a low-calorie food to be high-fat and offhand I can't think of an example. All will depend on the quantity that is eaten.

However, overall, this is an odd way to look at food tho' it can be useful to know some of this. How you feel when eating particular foods, how they nourish you, satisfy your appetite, affect your hormones/insulin/health etc. are all relevant. E.g., how you feel after eating a breakfast of (say) orange juice and cereal with toast versus poached eggs with a little cheese. They might have the same calories - after which one are you most likely to eat more during the day.

Some people never feel as if they reach the point of satiety on a low-fat diet because they're the sort of people who feel full after eating fat. Consequently, they can eat substantial amounts of carbohydrates or similar that are palatable - the sheer quantity can add up to more than someone's daily calorie needs quite quickly.

If a low fat diet is medically important to someone then it might be useful to experiment with eating the sort of carbohydrates that don't stimulate hunger and over-eating for that person.

I look forward to learning more about you in your introduction post.

Hi and welcome to the forum!
We're a friendly bunch so please introduce yourself in our introductions board: introduce-yourself-f1/

I am not exactly sure what you are asking, but I will attempt to answer.

Low fat foods are not necessarily high in calories (e.g., vegetables) but may be high in carbohydrates (e.g., cornflakes). High carbohydrate foods are high in calories and are generally not a good choice if you are trying to lose weight or even prevent weight gain. High carb foods stimulate insulin release from your pancreas. Insulin's job is to store the glucose released from the high carb food in the form of fat. While insulin is high your body is in fat storing mode. To lose weight you need to get into fat burning mode. Foods that are low in carbs whether high in fat (e.g., nuts) or not (e.g., vegetables) will allow your insulin levels to fall and so your body can start releasing the stored fat to burn to give you energy. When you fast, of course you are not eating any calories whether from carbs or anywhere so again your insulin levels can fall allowing the fat you are storing to be used for energy.

Fats are essential nutrients and so eating a very low fat diet can result in several problems. Carbohydrates are not essential nutrients and humans can exist quite happily without them.

For a more detailed discussion of nutrition, please read the article here: https://www.fastday.com/fasting/the-bas ... hy-eating/

I hope that helps.