Full fat v Low fat

I got asked this by a new client this week and I also had a chat with Stefan about it.

I know there's a fair bit of confusion around the whole low fat thing now so I'm here to clear it up for you.

So first of all if you are a child of the 80's like me or early 90's then you would have been bombarded throughout your childhood with "low fat" things. 

Your mum was probably on a low fat diet.

And that's just what it was - it was a diet.

Not a sustainable way of living.

So let's set the record straight.

Just because it's called fat doesn't mean that it's more likely to end up o your hips than protein or carbs.

Fat contains 9 calories per gram.

Protein and carbs contain 4 calories per gram.

So 10g's of peanut butter has 90 calories.

Whereas 10g of carbs has 40 calories.

Volume is the difference.

You would probably look at the peanut butter and think that that "won't fill you up".

This is where portion size awareness comes in.

If you eat the same volume of fats as you do protein and carbs then that's going to be the overeating bit that you want to cut out.

But here's another thing.

Full fat things are more satiating.

Means that you will want less.

Because you will feel fuller.

Now if you've lost track of your own physical hunger and your emotional eating is habitual then your mind is going to drive you to eat.

And that's the key bit.

Now if you overeat on low fat things then you will ultimately put less weight on.

However, it's not tackling the root cause.

Which is a lack of trust around food.

Because you've been restricting yourself.

Using every food rule in the book.

So here's the solution - it's about having it in your diet, creating awareness around portion sizes, not restricting it and trusting yourself to have it in your house.

 Have I mentioned the health benefits too - hormones are made from fats so you need them in your diet.

So ditch the low fat yogurt, the light Philadelphia and the lighter than light mayo, work on your relationship with food (which you can do with me) and find joy in full fat greek yoghurt.

If that sounds like something that you want to do then drop me an email on cara@coachingwithcara.co.uk.

You can listen to more of this on this week's podcast Chatting with Cara, which you can listen to it here on Spotify and here on Apple Podcasts.