Beware Going Too Low on Fat

Not too long ago, fat became the devil in nutrition, low-fat diets were the ideal and manufacturers went crazy coming up with fat-free versions of everyone's favorite treats (remember those fat-free potato chips and cookies?). After awhile, we all began to realize that even though we were eating our fill of our favorite foods without the fat, a) we weren't losing weight and b) we weren't satisfied with what we did eat. The fat-free craze withered and died, and we all settled down until the next big nutrition fad hit.

While there are still some fat-free products on the market, mostly the best ones stuck around: fat-free milk, yogurt and some salad dressings. The rest went to the big nutrition junk pile in the sky. The truth of the matter is, we all need some fat in our diet. If we attempt to eliminate it, we won't be satiated, and we'll continue to have cravings--it may even rebound, causing us to binge on the very things we were trying to avoid in the first place. And that's a crazy, self-defeating cycle to be in.

The trick here, of course, is balance: finding just the right amount of the right kind of fats to have in our diet, and building some wiggle room for the kind that aren't so healthful. If you're a meat lover, maybe you need to eat a steak or a burger every once in awhile--those times when a turkey burger just won't cut it. And if you crave cheese, you're probably not going to be satisfied by fat-free cheese--at least, not all the time.

Remember to include the healthful fats in your diet: polyunsaturated and monounsatured fats from sources like olive oil, canola oil, avocadoes, nuts and fish. But also allow for occasional splurges on things like pizza, ice cream and even (on rare occasions) fried foods. Remember that your diet is like a budget, so you don't want to go overboard on high-fat foods of any kind, but don't be a miser and cut it out completely or it will come back to bite you later.