Are slimming foods making you fat?
Yes I know I had five skinny muffins… but the people who make them used the latest ‘calorie compression techniques’ so I won’t gain an ounce! - anonymous
I work with a lot of veteran dieters who have been through the slimming clubs and back again more times than they can remember. They all share the same confusion as to how they’ve gained weight, but when I look at their nutrition there is no mystery. Usually it is filled with so-called ‘diet and slimming foods’ - low fat biscuits, low calorie desserts, healthy option cereals and bars, diet ready meals and skinny muffins!
Slimming club members have been taught to follow a low-fat diet. What they’re not told is that these high carbohydrate diet foods are often the underlying cause of their weight gain.
I noticed a certain healthy option yogurt that kept popping up in the nutrition diary of one of my new clients. She showed me the yogurt and to be fair the label looked great!
- Low in fat
- Full of calcium to help stengthen your bones
- Contains friendly bacteria to aid digestion
…all with big tick symbols just to remind you that you’re making the right choice! Sadly for her, what they forgot to mention is the incredibly inhospitable, unfriendly, chin multiplying calories it contains - just over 600, which is about the same as a Big-Mac!
Some of the most well advertised diet foods do actually contain a large number of calories, even the ones that say ‘only 199 calories per pack’. That’s like saying, ‘you’ll only have to run for 20 minutes to burn this off!’. Doesn’t sound quite so appealing though does it?!
So next time you see a diet or weight loss food advertised on TV keep in mind -
- Diet foods are often full of poor quality carbohydrate.
- Slimming desserts are full of chemicals and sugar.
- Low in fat doesn’t mean low in calories.
My advice? Learn how to read the nutrition info (conveniently for the food manufacturers this is tucked away on the back) and ignore all the fibs plastered on the front!
Liam
The Slim Company
personal training and weight management | Baldock | Bedford | Biggleswade | Harpenden | Hatfield | Hertford | Hitchin | Letchworth | Luton | Royston | St Albans | Stevenage | Welwyn