Published on : 10 July 20213 min reading time

 

Hidden Fat could be piling on the pounds saturated Fats can be villains as can “Low” Fat foods.
Drugs had piled on weight, so I finally got depressed, blew my diet out the window – and ditched anything that said Low this or ‘Free from’ that.
I didn’t even bother to do the daily hop onto the scales – so when the Nurse at the Clinic told me my weight, I was sure she had made a mistake.

But then I found I could do up waistbands, and one day a skirt slipped off my hips. So I had to believe that I was losing weight.

How did this happen ?

Writing about trends in supermarket shopping – yes really boring, but it goes to a trade magazine – I started to get press releases pointing out ‘hidden’ sugars in our food, and suddenly things clicked. Most of the Low / Reduced Fat products were cutting out fat, but substituting sugars to replace taste

Weird – but by me ditching all the so-called diet products, I was doing my weight a favour.

Then an American Government Food Agency sent me a list of no-nos, and suggested they were bad for u as they piled on weight :

  • Shortening (lard)
  • Milk solids
  • Cream
  • Palm oil
  • Coconut oil
  • Palm kernel oil
  • …any other kind of oil

Many of the oils on this list are saturated fats. Those are the fats that raise blood cholesterol and when consumed in significant amounts can increase your risk of heart disease. But the most dangerous oils are those listed as “partially hydrogenated.”

Partially hydrogenated oils are liquid fats that have been modified to remain solid at room temperature.

The process causes them to contain trans-fatty acids, or trans fat. Trans fats raise cholesterol higher than saturated fat and can have a significant impact on your health. If you see the words “partially hydrogenated” on the label, then the food contains trans fat even if it says “trans fat-free” on the label.

Will this work for you ?

So have a look at the ‘diet’ foods – and take time to work out what they actually do contain. I can’t be bothered to do this, but go by my rule of thumb – if the list is a long one – back it goes on the shelf.