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The food industry has responded to this demand by creating low carb foods.
Low carb foods are not necessarily low fat or low in calories or higher in nutritious value. They may be low in just carbohydrates. In fact many of these foods are high in fat and calories. In other cases, the portions are smaller. For example, some low carb breads when compared on a weight basis, are as carbohydrate dense as the regular bread, but per slice or piece, they have less carbs because the slice size is smaller.
Net carbs
This is a term that makes a lot of sense to the Atkins diet followers. It indicates the content of carbohydrates that do not come from sugars. If you are not following a diet, such as the Atkins, this does not mean anything.
Which is better?
This is a question only you can answer. Most nutritionists recommend having small or normal portions of the original foods, and in the case of calorie dense foods such as cheesecake or French fries, have small portions sporadically only.
In the US, we tend to take things to the extreme and when we read that a food is low fat, diet or low cal or has any similar terms attached to it, we interpret it as "We can eat more and as often as we want. It is good, it is healthy, and it is not going to make me fat." This is simply not the case, and in reality, if we are trying to control or maintain our weight and/or health, it may have a totally opposite
effect.
Should I eat diet foods?
In some cases you should, in others, it is better not to. The term diet or light in processed foods indicates that somehow that food has lower calories or lower fat content that the regular processed food. In many cases, the portions are smaller; in other cases, the foods are in reality diet foods.
In some cases, as we know, some foods are inherently not meant to be diet foods. One of these foods is pizza. You may put some fat free cheese, but pizza is still a lot of calories with few nutrients. This is the reason most nutritionists recommend that you have less and less often of your favorite foods and have the real thing.
Just because a food is diet, it does not mean it is healthy. Unhealthy foods full of empty calories, diet or not diet, should be avoided if you are trying to eat healthy. An example of this is candy. Candy should be a treat. Junk food is junk food, diet or regular.
In some cases some foods make sense to some people. This is the case with sodas. Regular sodas have a lot of sugar, and therefore, the best choice should be not to drink them, but this could be difficult for some people, so diet sodas can save them a lot of calories. The same is the case with milk; regular milk has fat, and therefore, fat free milk is a good option. In the case of cheese, it is better to eat less or choose a variety of cheeses that are naturally lower in fat and calories, such as feta.
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Introduction
Low fat
and Fat free
Foods
Online
Diets
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