Chatative
Bluelight Crew
Hey guys,
So, I'm a trifle annoyed / continue to be lost for words with regards to the amount of misinformation about healthy eating & the products that claim to be healthy in our supermarkets. I thought this deserved it's own thread.
I'm fairly interested in healthy eating, always have been, but what with weight training, having had diabetic symptoms, albeit briefly, & having on-going mild IBS cropping up every once in a while, it tends to at the top of my priorities at the moment.
What is pissing me off today, as the title suggests is this fat free nonsense. People are still obsessed with the idea that fats are bad for your health & will make you... fat!
Of course, they are calorie dense & as such it's easier to go overboard but they really aren't all that bad for your health. All you have to do is look at the Mediterranean diet which is high in 'healthy' fats (i.e. not saturated). The reason I put healthy in apostrophes is because no food is inherently healthy or unhealthy... it all comes down to how much you have.
I don't have any links (too lazy) but I believe there have been studies that have shown that even diets high in saturated fats aren't necessarily as bad for the heart as they are made out to be. Also, let's not forget that we actually require a minimum amount of fats for our bodies (hormones) to function properly, which includes a small amount of saturated fats.
So, what is the real problem then? A quick look over the nutritional information on many fat free yoghurts or probiotics will quickly reveal the problem; they are packed full of fast absorbing sugars. We've all heard of having a sweet tooth... well that's because the more you eat, the more your body craves it.
That begs the question - why does healthy eating continue to be marketed to the masses as being low in fats? Simply because for your average Mr. Joe who is overweight & eats McDonalds every day, cutting fats out of his diet is the easiest way to bring his weight under control cutting down the risk the myriad of health conditions associated with that. Also, because your health conscious will instantly snap up your products simply because they are "fat free" & they don't know any better.
The irony is, the people who are health conscious will not only end up eating too little fat, but they will also be ignoring the high sugar content of their foods that claim to be healthy. Thus, it is the health conscious that end up suffering from the misconception that fat is bad for you.
I completely understand why it is sensible to tell the public at large to eat less fat because many people have diets that are high in fat & it's a lot more effective & easier to understand than cutting sugars out your diet. I have noticed more campaigns about sugar but still, it doesn't make up for the years of misinformation with regards to fats that have been ingrained into the public psyche.
Rant over.
A bit more with regards to sugar: Sweet Poison: why sugar is ruining our health
So, I'm a trifle annoyed / continue to be lost for words with regards to the amount of misinformation about healthy eating & the products that claim to be healthy in our supermarkets. I thought this deserved it's own thread.
I'm fairly interested in healthy eating, always have been, but what with weight training, having had diabetic symptoms, albeit briefly, & having on-going mild IBS cropping up every once in a while, it tends to at the top of my priorities at the moment.
What is pissing me off today, as the title suggests is this fat free nonsense. People are still obsessed with the idea that fats are bad for your health & will make you... fat!
Of course, they are calorie dense & as such it's easier to go overboard but they really aren't all that bad for your health. All you have to do is look at the Mediterranean diet which is high in 'healthy' fats (i.e. not saturated). The reason I put healthy in apostrophes is because no food is inherently healthy or unhealthy... it all comes down to how much you have.
I don't have any links (too lazy) but I believe there have been studies that have shown that even diets high in saturated fats aren't necessarily as bad for the heart as they are made out to be. Also, let's not forget that we actually require a minimum amount of fats for our bodies (hormones) to function properly, which includes a small amount of saturated fats.
So, what is the real problem then? A quick look over the nutritional information on many fat free yoghurts or probiotics will quickly reveal the problem; they are packed full of fast absorbing sugars. We've all heard of having a sweet tooth... well that's because the more you eat, the more your body craves it.
That begs the question - why does healthy eating continue to be marketed to the masses as being low in fats? Simply because for your average Mr. Joe who is overweight & eats McDonalds every day, cutting fats out of his diet is the easiest way to bring his weight under control cutting down the risk the myriad of health conditions associated with that. Also, because your health conscious will instantly snap up your products simply because they are "fat free" & they don't know any better.
The irony is, the people who are health conscious will not only end up eating too little fat, but they will also be ignoring the high sugar content of their foods that claim to be healthy. Thus, it is the health conscious that end up suffering from the misconception that fat is bad for you.
I completely understand why it is sensible to tell the public at large to eat less fat because many people have diets that are high in fat & it's a lot more effective & easier to understand than cutting sugars out your diet. I have noticed more campaigns about sugar but still, it doesn't make up for the years of misinformation with regards to fats that have been ingrained into the public psyche.
Rant over.
A bit more with regards to sugar: Sweet Poison: why sugar is ruining our health
Last edited:
