Dear Lynn:

Is low-fat almost always healthy? Thanks!
Chris

Dear Chris:

No Chris, it isn't. You can eat low-fat foods that are not nutritionally sound. And you can eat too many low-fat foods. As an example, what if you ate only low-fat ice cream, cookies and cake that came to 3,000 to 4,000 calories a day? That would hardly be healthy or nutritionally sound. Plus, you would end up overweight (unless you are well over six feet tall and a heavy exerciser).

Conversely, you can eat a fat-free and nutritionally sound diet. Fat-free foods at home and eating out a few times a week will most likely give you all the dietary fat you need. As most restaurant chefs don't control the fats, serving sizes or cholesterol yet, most of us eat fat-free or low-fat where we can control it and manage the fat and serving size when we go out.

Remember to eat several servings of vegetables without heavy sauces, grains without cream or butter, fruits and much smaller amounts of animal proteins such as meat, whole-milk dairy or fats and oils. Protein should be less than 10 percent of your total intake.

Sincerely,

Lynn Fischer, author of Low Fat Cooking for Dummies

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