• Question: is low fat food healthy or fattening ?

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      Asked by baller to Andrew, Dilip, Emma, John, Ruth on 13 Nov 2015.
      • Photo: Andrew Quigley

        Andrew Quigley answered on 13 Nov 2015:

        I think the first thing to mention is that not all fats are bad for you. Our bodies actually need some fat to function properly (Omega 3 for example), so if you eat a food that contains lots of omega 3 you would be eating a fatty food, but the food is full of good fats – so no problem. An example of this kind of food would be fish. Or if your parents made you eat cod liver oil, mine did and I still think it tastes disgusting to this day!

        If the fatty food you are eating is full of the bad type of fats (unsaturated fats) then eating a low fat option is definitely healthier. Eating lots of food that contain high amounts of saturated fats can lead to high cholesterol, that’s only one example of what could happen.

        So eating low fat foods is probably healthier once you make sure you’re getting enough of the good fats from elsewhere in your diet.

      • Photo: John Gleeson

        John Gleeson answered on 13 Nov 2015:

        Also be sure to remember it’s not all about fat when it comes to health. High sugar is not good either nor is high sodium. Have a gander in the supermarket at two frozen ready meal lasagnes, a low fat one and a regular one. You’ll see that the low fat one will indeed have less fat but generally have much more Salt and often equal if not more Sugar. And unused sugars in your body are stored in fat deposits!

        So don’t get tricked into thinking low fat is always the best choice. A balanced healthy meal is the right route 🙂

      • Photo: Emma Feeney

        Emma Feeney answered on 17 Nov 2015:

        Just like the guys have said, low fat foods can high in other things, such as salt and sugar.

        However, the truth is that most foods can be ‘fattening’ of you eat enough of it!! Its true that some foods are higher in energy than others, and because fat is the highest-energy nutrient, the high-fat foods will have the greatest energy content.

        But its also important to remember that the amount of that food is the really key thing. So if you have have a balanced diet, with lots of fruit and veg, and wholegrain foods, you can still have room for small amounts of the higher-energy foods without going too far wrong!

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