
Saturated Fats are hurtful for our health. So are low-fat foods which typically replace the fat with added sugar.
We have resilient researchers to thank for opening our eyes to the dangers of total fat consumption limits included until recently in the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Thanks to nutrition experts around the U.S., the all hailed low-fat diets have been exposed as what they truly are: dangerous to our health. The status quo that has been in place since the early 1970s, is now poised to shift towards dropping the total fat consumption limits altogether.
Dietary guidelines should be thoroughly rewritten so as to turn U.S. citizens to choosing food based on quality, not the amount of fat it contains. Especially when we talk about unsaturated fats which are considered ‘healthy’ fats.
Think low-fat potato chips bought super packed and sporting a ton of additives, sugar and salt versus whole dairy. Your bets should go with the whole dairy product.
That is what nutrition experts are telling us in upholding a welcome federal decision that will finally change this status-quo: dropping the limits or restrictions on total fat consumption.
Healthy fats, such as those coming from nuts, fish, olives, avocadoes, whole dairy products are in fact a lot more helpful in offsetting the consumption of so advertised low fat foods which instead contain serious unhealthy levels of sugar, salt or refined grains.
Dariush Mozaffarian, the dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy of the Tufts University has long been an advocate of dropping the limits on total fat consumption. Now, together with a team of nutritionists he is fighting for the federal decision to be upheld in the Dietary Guidelines for U.S. citizens.
He strongly commented on the matter that:
“We really need to sing it from the rooftops that the low-fat diet concept is dead. There are no health benefits to it”.
At the same time, Dr. Mozaffarian strongly condemned the Committee in charge of drafting the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for not being sufficiently specific about the idea of dropping the entire limitation on total fat consumption.
In Dr. Mozaffarian’s opinion, the committee succeeded at quietly ignoring the entire situation without issuing a statement on fats. At the same time, he stated, everyone is aware that this restriction on total fat consumption brought about the epidemics of both diabetes and obesity in the U.S.
Hopefully, with the official overhaul of these limitations, people will increasingly understand that fat is not all that bad. In fact, diets rich in healthy fats are working wonders for everyone’s health.
So drop that bag of low fat but sugar and salt-skyrocketing rich potato and turn your attention to a diet such as the Mediterranean one, which allows a fat consumption of over 35 percent, yet upholds great health scores.