The Low-Fat Diet
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This plan encourages you to choose low fat food options whenever you can (e.g skimmed milk, lean meat) and fill up on starchy carbohydrates, such as pasta, vegetables, beans and cereals. The average person will lose up to 2lb a week on this type of diet.
How does it work?
Average calorific intake is between 1200-1500 a day, so the claim is you'll lose weight if you reduce your daily intake by going for low-fat foods. You'll also have more energy and be generally healthier.
How long do you do it for?
Indefinitely.
Advantages
- On a low fat diet, you won't tend to get food cravings because the carbohydrate content makes it quite filling, especially if it is also high in fibre
- Carbohydrate is the least energy dense of all the nutrients, providing only 3.75 calories per gram. This compares with 4 calories from protein and 9 from fat
- You lose weight as fat and not as other body tissues
- Dieters on a low fat plan tend to find they have more energy, fewer digestion problems and relatively easy weight loss
- This type of diet is very much in line with current healthy eating guidelines which encourage us to eat more starchy carbohydrates and plenty of fruit and vegetables
Disadvantages
- Weight loss is steady, rather than fast, which might not suit people's lifeplan!
Check out the The Jack Sprat Low-Fat Diet by Bryant A Stamford and Becca Coffin.
