A Low Fat and Healthy Diet

Example of a diet sheet

Low fat diets and weight loss or weight maintenance

The list of foods above is just a guide as to the best sort of foods to eat that in general contain less fat and calories 'weight for weight' or 'portion for portion'.

If you want to lose weight, you need to eat less calories per day than you have been eating (or do more exercise). In general, foods high in fat contain a lot of calories. However, there are other foods that contain a lot of calories. In particular, sweets and sugar do not contain fat, but are high in calories. Therefore, in addition to a low fat diet, you also have to watch out for other types of foods such as sweets and sugary foods.

There is a separate leaflet called 'Healthy Eating' for a more general overview of food and health, and a leaflet called 'Weight Reduction - How to Lose Weight' which gives advice if you are planning to lose weight.

More about fats

Not all fat is bad! Although all fats are high in calories, we need some fat in our diet, and some types of fat are actually good for our health. The different types of fat include the following.

Saturated fats
These are mainly found in the harder fats such as the fat on meat, lard, and the fat in dairy products such as butter, full cream milk, etc. There are also fats called 'Trans Fats' (Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils). These are oils which come from vegetables but have been processed to make them hard and similar to saturated fats. They are often used in processed foods, and in commercially made cakes, biscuits and pastries.

We should try to limit our intake of saturated fats and trans fats as they contribute to weight gain and a raised cholesterol level.

Unsaturated fats
These mainly come from vegetables, nuts and fruits. They are divided into:

• Polyunsaturated fats such as sunflower oil, and corn oil.
• Monounsaturated fats such as olive oil and rapeseed oil.
• Omega 3 fatty acids. These come mainly from oily fish such as pilchards, sardines, salmon mackerel and fresh (not tinned) tuna. Some omega 3 fatty acids are found in various plant foods and vegetable oils.

Unsaturated fats are 'good fats' as they are less likely to raise your cholesterol level. Omega 3 fatty acids are also thought to help prevent heart disease and may help to improve our health in other ways. There is a separate leaflet called 'Cholesterol' which gives more details about reducing your cholesterol level.

Food labels

Foods that contain fat often contain a mixture of saturated and unsaturated fats. Food labels often list the amounts of each type of fat in the food (or at least how much of the fat in the food is saturated). As a rule, we should aim to limit our intake of saturated fats, and when we use fats and oils, to mainly choose those high in unsaturates. Food labels also show how many calories are in the food. So, it may be a good idea to get into the habit of reading food labels when you shop.

© EMIS and PIP 2005   Updated: October 2005