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Weight loss chat

A space to talk openly about weight loss journeys and challenges. Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.

Low fat, low sugar or low carbs?

29 replies

mrscardigan · 24/06/2014 08:13

When you diet should you be looking for foods with low fat, low sugar or low carbs?
Can anyone explain the basics please?

OP posts:
specialsubject · 25/06/2014 22:26

not low-fat: low-fat food has lots of sugar added. Just eat smaller portions of normal-fat food.

two types of carbs: simple (basic sugar, sweets cakes biscuits etc) and complex (starchy foods - spuds, rice, pasta, bread) The latter are important part of a normal food intake, the former are low in nutrition and are treats only.

low carb is babble from those that don't know the difference.

you should never diet - waste of time, you'll end up fatter.

, just the correct mix of nutrition; lots of veg, some complex carbs, some dairy, some protein, a little fat. Move around. Eat no more calories than you burn off.

it was all taught in school but judging by what was just on the news, no-one listened.

Doitforme · 26/06/2014 01:05

Just eat when your truly hungry, eat what you want, stop when you are satisfied ( not ) and eat mindfully. No food is good or bad, it's just food but the more real it is the better your body will feel.

Doitforme · 26/06/2014 01:06

not full...meant to say.Smile

Doitforme · 26/06/2014 01:07

True low fat food is just real food with no butter or oils. It has some how become confused with commercial processed foods.

tobysmum77 · 26/06/2014 09:59

low fat processed food has added sugar Hmm

What about:
eggs
pulses
lean cuts of meat
reducing the butter/ oil you add to cooking?

diets dont make you fatter if you actually see them as a change to your way of life but they have to be permanent.

Doitforme · 26/06/2014 11:07

I said that low fat has become confused with processed food. An apple is low fat as are most natural foods. It's the low fat boom of commercial foods like low fat crisps, cakes meals etc that has confused the issue.

tobysmum77 · 26/06/2014 12:10

and actually eggs aren't that low fat but they are lower fat than many other things

JimmyCorkhill · 26/06/2014 12:31

two types of carbs: simple (basic sugar, sweets cakes biscuits etc) and complex (starchy foods - spuds, rice, pasta, bread) The latter are important part of a normal food intake, the former are low in nutrition and are treats only.

low carb is babble from those that don't know the difference.

Actually, "the latter are [an] important part of a normal food intake" isn't true. You don't need to eat these foods at all. I get my carbs from vegetables. You can keep spuds on the list but rice, pasta and bread aren't necessary at all. I'm not going into detail as you can google this yourself. I also eat lots of fat (oils/butter/fat on meat) and enjoy delicious meals of fatty meat with veg whilst getting slimmer. My energy levels are trough the roof too. I eat NO sugar either but don't even crave it as my meals are so satisfying.

JimmyCorkhill · 26/06/2014 12:32

"through" the roof

JimmyCorkhill · 26/06/2014 12:37

reducing the butter/ oil you add to cooking?

Try adding more of these. If you are satisfied from your meals you won't find yourself snacking.

I simply cut out all sugar and wheat from my diet but added back the natural fats. It's been eye opening. I've spent years dieting but this way I don't snack or overeat, and more importantly, I enjoy my food.

This is a great read.

tobysmum77 · 26/06/2014 12:44

I don't snack jimmy because i eat plenty of food. Why would I add random fat to my meals? I was with you up to there but that is utterly ridiculous.

AggressiveBunting · 26/06/2014 12:56

I agree you need to differentiate between naturally low fat food (e.g. some tuna sashimi or a punnet of raspberries and a low fat version of a naturally higher fat food (e.g. an options hot chocolate, a 0.2% fat yoghurt as typically these are bulked with sugar, artificial sweeteners or texturisers.

I also think if you want to lose weight you need to eat like a slim person. You generally find that slim people do not exclude entire food groups from their diet. They eat everything in moderation, they exercise portion control. If starchy carbs were so bad, everyone in Asia would be huge. But they weren't until they discovered processed western style foods like potato chips, pizza delivery etc.

You know that aforementioned tuna sashimi with some sobu noodles and miso soup, or a fresh salad nicoise is a better choice than a 12 inch pepperoni pizza. You don't need some crazy rules to help you make that choice.

When you start analysing net carbs in the raspberries you're in trouble. No-one got fat eating too many raspberries.

lottieandmias · 26/06/2014 12:57

Low carb is very, very effective IME. And gives you a better shale as well as weight loss.

lottieandmias · 26/06/2014 13:03

Tobysmum - for low carbing to be effective you need to add extra fat to meals for it to work. We grow up being told low fat is best but it isn't. On a low fat diet I can't lose weight. On a high fat low carb diet I can easily get down to 8 stone.

lottieandmias · 26/06/2014 13:04

Shape not shale!

JimmyCorkhill · 26/06/2014 13:20

But fat is so satisfying. Not the fat in a cream doughnut but the crispy rind on a lamb chop or the crackling on a pork roast. Or olive oil drizzled all over my salad. So I actually don't eat 'plenty' of food, I eat satisfying food.

On Slimming World (low fat) I ate tons of pasta, rice and fruit and was always hungry. I also thought about food all the time and constantly failed/got back on the wagon

tobysmum77 · 29/06/2014 08:16

I have no idea how tall you are so 8st is rather meaningless, at my height my bmi would probably be about 13 at that weight. Adding additional fat to meals cannot be healthy, any more than putting sugar onto cornflakes. Being thin is a separate issue.

I am a healthy weight (10st9lb and 5'10) btw and am eating a balanced diet. I watch carbs and try to get the majority of my energy from lean protein. That works for me, fills me up and allows me some leeway for other stuff.

CharlieSierra · 29/06/2014 08:36

What tobysmum, putting an olive oil dressing on a salad cannot be healthy? Of course it's healthy, what isn't healthy is the fake fats and sugar in cheap mass produced baked goods, low fat 'fruit' yogurts which are full of sugar, artificial sweeteners and fillers. For my parents and grandparents a 'diet' meant cutting back on the cakes and bread and potatoes. They were healthy and the population as a whole was not experiencing an obesity epidemic. OP you will get far too much conflicting advice on here from people who don't necessarily know what they are talking about. Google and make up your own mind, then come back and join in one of the support threads. Have a look at clean eating, it stands to reason it's got to be better not to eat crap. And stay away from slimming world, any organisation which promotes eating instant noodles, pasta snacks and muller lights has to be morally suspect.

Sleepwhenidie · 29/06/2014 08:54

Mrscardigan come and look at the Eating Better threads in Food section. We are trying to make healthy sustainable changes. Any 'diet' (in the generally accepted sense of a weight loss plan) is a bad idea, hence 95% of dieters regaining the weight they lose. Changes you make to your way of eating need to sustainable, otherwise you 'fall of the wagon' at some point and it's all a waste of time.

On Eating Better we try to eat mindfully, there is a general avoidance of sugar and white or processed carbs and processed food generally. So carbs come from sweet potato, beans, lentils, chickpeas and veg most of the time but nothing is banned - the sky will not fall in if you have a bowl of pasta, piece of cake or plate of chips from time to time Smile. Fat (except trans fat) is freely available, we choose full fat dairy etc, but we don't make any extra effort to add it. There is a lot of emphasis on really enjoying food, no guilt allowed and there are some amazing recipes. There are people on the thread who joined for health reasons and have weight to lose and their health is better and weight is being lost - painlessly, even enjoyably.

tobysmum77 · 29/06/2014 11:46

charlie sierra we agree on one thing ..... asking on here anything about food is utterly pointless.

olive oil on salad is clearly not going to kill you or alone make you fat. But equally it won't kill you to have balsamic vinegar either Wink . Different things also work for different people. And the great past when everyone was slim was when people didn't have cars.

I thought sw was like ww h&f and mainly about cooking from scratch using healthy ingredients. That's what someone on it told me the other day.

tobysmum77 · 29/06/2014 11:47

Oh sorry we also agree on fake fats and low fats yogurts with sweeteners and 'reduced fat' biscuits etc.

ShellyW40 · 29/06/2014 12:37

What you should be looking for in your food is to have a healthy, balanced diet. Plenty of veg and fruit, starchy foods such as bread, rice, potatoes and pasta. Some meat (keep red meat to a minimum and white meat as a staple), fish, eggs, beans and other non-dairy sources of protein.

Combine the above with a cardio workout 4-5 times a week (30 minutes will do) and you will have a very healthy lifestyle.

lottieandmias · 29/06/2014 16:33

The problem is that for a lot of people on low fat eating plans, they feel hungry and exhausted all the time - I certainly did.

Why do you think it's unhealthy to eat a high fat but low carb diet? I find that starchy foods make me bloated. I personally don't think any adult needs to eat a diet high in carbs foods.

Doitforme · 29/06/2014 18:30

The ideal balanced diet changes every few years or so. Starches are considered by many to be totally unnecessary and indeed downright dangerous to health and the cause of may modern day illnesses.

Eat real food as in veg, fruit and meat and fish protein and you cant go too wrong. I myself believe in eating whatever I want as long as I am truly hungry. I find I tend to eat veg, fruit and meat and fish as I love them and feel good on them. But I will eat cheeses, chocolate, good quality cakes etc if I really want them.

Sleepwhenidie · 30/06/2014 08:47

As I said upthread, I don't believe in dieting in the weight loss sense of the word, but it is confusing to know what do do OP - all of the diets you are considering can 'work' for weight loss...

Starchy/white/high GI carbs, such as bread, rice and pasta generally have only one purpose to serve for our bodies - they give us energy. If you are planning on doing something very active shortly after consuming them then all is fine. But most of us don't and most of us consume far too large portions of these foods (usually with fatty/sugary accompaniments). These carbs are effectively converted into sugar once digested and if we don't use them for energy more or less immediately, they get stored as fat. In addition, eating them as the main part of a meal (white toast and jam for breakfast for example), our body screams hungry fairly soon after because although you have consumed calories, you haven't had any nutrition and you body recognises this. So there is a good chance you will reach for more food and mid morning, a good chance that it will be more carbs and sugar and the cycle continues.

On a low carb diet you are forcing your body to use fat as its source of energy, also, as a matter of course you are reducing the amount of processed foods and sugar you consume so it is by its nature a low sugar diet. Many people find it easier to stick to than other diets because you still get to eat delicious things that we have been conditioned (by low fat thinking) to think of as treats. You can feel very satisfied eating this way and sustain it for lengthy periods. However other people find they get brain fog, feel ill and over time, miss the carbs. It can be difficult to stick to in situations where meals are out of your control. It also involves cutting out lots of high carb veg, and most fruit, which others struggle with. People falling off the low carb wagon often do so in spectacular style and regain weight very quickly, your body will grab on to the carbs it suddenly starts getting and build its fat reserves back up asap.

On a low fat diet, you are invariably taking out the high calorie foods that form part of your diet and it is this that leads to weight loss. However, fats (unlike carbohydrates) are essential for efficient repair and function of our bodies. Over time,on a low fat diet, health will suffer - it is likely to be evident in your hair, your skin, your nails, your mood, your digestion and concentration levels. This is mainly to to a lack of essential fatty acids - the good fat you get in oily fish, avocados, nuts, seeds, olives etc, but there is mounting evidence to show that saturated fat also isn't as bad for us as we once were told. Also, very importantly, you are taking out a source of food that provides high levels of pleasure and satiety, which creates a strong sense of deprivation, making it a hard diet to stick to for long. On the sugar front, if you are eating low fat foods that in their natural state are high fat then you are likely to be consuming more sugar or sweeteners and less nutrients.

A low sugar diet depends on how strict you want to be - technically, a full on low sugar diet would eliminate fruit and starchy carbs so, as I said, isn't so different from a low carb diet. However there is a scale - you could just cut out any food with added sugar, including minimising processed/starchy carbs and this would actually be a change we could all do with making - it will lead over time to weight loss (if someone is overweight to begin with). Not as quickly as a 'diet' but more slowly and effectively. It would also provide lots of health benefits, given all we are learning about the negative effects of sugar. You could then still eat things like root veg, beans, pulses, fruit, a drizzle of honey or dried fruit, which in practice is much more manageable than strict no-carb. It doesn't force your body into ketosis (the fat burning mode) that true low carbing does, but it gives more satisfying, nutrient dense food and - providing you don't regularly overeat (key on any of these diets that don't count calories), less calories.

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