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What You Really Get When You Buy Fat-Free and "Light" Foods



If you are trying to lose weight then lowering your calorie intake is what counts. In the fight to lower calorie intake we as a society tend to go through phases…the carbs are bad phase…the eat-low-fat-phase and of course with that there is the inevitable push to separate you from your money by introducing low-fat foods. Its great marketing and it attempts to lure you in to buying Brand A vs. Brand B. But eating low-fat products may not be as beneficial as you might think if your goal is weight loss.

First off, there is nothing wrong in reducing (NOT eliminating) fat from your diet. Fat is an energy dense food meaning that per gram, it has a lot of calories (9 calories per gram vs. 4 calories for carbohydrates) and reducing your calorie intake is where the money is when trying to lose weight. But rushing to a low-fat product doesn’t mean you are buying a low-calorie version of that food. Take for example Jif Peanut Butter. That brand offers a regular and low-fat version of peanut butter. The regular version has 190 calories per serving (2 tablespoons) and 16 grams of fat. Their low fat version has a total calorie count of….190 calories per serving! The advertising is true, you are getting less fat at only 12 grams but to make up for the lack of flavour that you’re missing out on, they have to add sugar to their product. So much so that any reduction in calories by removing some fat is made up for by adding sugar. You would not lose a single pound by switching to the low fat version.

Another example is Campbell’s Soup. Their Chicken Soup comes in both a regular and “light” version. The regular is 70 calories per 250mL serving. The “light” version is only 60 calories per serving. There is a difference (not really that much though) but again, by making the product “light” they have added sugar to the product. One of the reasons I choose this example also was to point out that while a serving size is 250mL, the can itself holds 284mL which means if you eat the contents of the entire can (and who doesn’t?) then you are getting more than a serving size thus more than the 60 or 70 calories you may have thought you were getting.

People are going to eat the way they want to and if reducing fat is important to you then by all means pick the low-fat options. However, if reducing your calorie intake is your goal make sure you read the labels on the foods you buy and don’t just automatically throw all the low-fat stuff into your shopping cart!


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