Trawling along the supermarket shelves, you can probably find a ‘low-fat’ version of 
practically anything – even cheese. But are these low fat alternatives all they are made out to be ?
Beware that most fat free products replace fat with extra sugar. For example, a major high street chain produces two versions of its Blueberry muffin:
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Low Fat version = 430 calories = (98g carbs, 6g protein, 2.5g fat, 1g fibre)
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Normal version = 360 calories = (64g carbs, 6g protein, 10g fat, 2g fibre)
The ‘low fat’ version has replaced fats with sugars which will go quickly into the bloodstream and has even more calories !
Fat contains twice as many calories as carbohydrates (starches and sugars). However, the low-fat versions have usually replaced a proportion of the fatty content with additional sugar and starches.
Calorie-counting tells us how much energy there is in food.
This doesn’t distinguish between the effect those foods will have on our insulin response and how we store fat in the body.
When we eat a sugary or starchy food the body takes this in as glucose. Blood sugar rises and the body releases the hormone insulin in response. This conveys the glucose to our natural storage in the muscles and liver. When these are full, it gets converted into fat.
Unlike protein, and foods mixed with fibre which turns to energy slowly and requires energy to break it down, sugars and starches turn to energy quickly and efficiently. This is fantastic if you intend to run a marathon, but how many of us are doing that ?
Over time, repeated intake of high concentrations of sugars and starches can actually result in putting on additional fat as the surplus is stored. In the worst case overproduction of insulin causes insulin resistance and eventually Type 2 diabetes.
Cutting out fat can also make the body reduce its fat burning rate and so it takes longer to loose it !
The key to a healthy diet is making sure that the energy is released at a lower rate, by having a healthy mix of protein, fats, fibre and slow release carbohydrates.
