Odd question, but please help

[PattiWagon]

Many of the recipes that I have found in the South Beach Diet Cookbook, Atkins cookbook, and internet low carb recipes have what i consider to be a lot of fat in them. (I have cut my fat grams to 30-35 grams a day.) Can someone please help me understand why this is? Also, it is okay for me to substitute fat free things in instead?

[JAnn]

Because fat keeps you from getting hungry as often. It's also good for your body contrary to medical opinion. Go into the LC studies and research and read some of the studies.:)

[joesfolks]

Actually, the South Beach Diet limits fats. While we are allowed to eat good fats we do not eat them in excess, but some low carb plans such as Atkins encourage the use of fat for its saiety value. It helps to keep you feeling full longer. I'm sure one of the Atkins folks can explain this much better than I can.

[SidC]

I can't explain the chemistry, but JAnn and Joesfolks are correct that part of what goes on is that it is more satisfying, so there is less craving and it is easier to stick to "the plan." There is more to it, though, and you could check out Johnny Bowden's book for the details (see Living the Low Carb Life (http://astore.amazon.com/gp/detail.html?tag=dvogelcomdesign&linkCode=sb1&asin=1402713983)

One other thing, though, is that you should be very careful about low-fat products because they almost always add sugar and/or salt to make up for the loss of taste when they remove the fat. One very instructive exercise is to look at the nutrition labels on full fat, part skim and fully skimmed milk and note how the sugar and salt content increases as the fat content goes down. As an Atkins-type, I have learned that sugar is the enemy, not fat.

[Judynyc]

Many of the recipes that I have found in the South Beach Diet Cookbook, Atkins cookbook, and internet low carb recipes have what i consider to be a lot of fat in them. (I have cut my fat grams to 30-35 grams a day.) Can someone please help me understand why this is? Also, it is okay for me to substitute fat free things in instead?

I agree with the others.....I recently realized that the fat free half and half I was using had corn starch in it....I decided to use real H&H instead. I only use 1 tablespoon per day in my coffee and thats why I chose to switch.

When you see the SBD food lists and meal plan guides, we are using good fats in our menus and recipes. Olive oil, avocados, nuts, smart balance.....are all fats that are part of my daily intake now. I do not use fat free products and do use reduced fat dairy.

I'm curious where you got the guideline to use 30-35 grams fo fat per day?

1-While Atkins allows dark meat poultry, we are encouraged to eat white breast meat only ...ie:no wings, which lowers our fat intake.....

2-SBD allows us 2 slices of turkey bacon per day....while atkins has no limits on real bacon each day.

The above 2 examples show how we are a lower fat plan but not fat free by any means.

We each need to make informed choices when deciding what parameters we will make for our individual plans. :agree: