Low-Fat Fallacy

You may have noticed that I never list using low-fat versions of ingredients, and I’ve been meaning to explain why for a while. I cook with real butter, preferably from grass-fed cows making it higher in the cancer-fighting fat conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), and do not buy anything fat-replaced – I mean, fat-free.

In 1976, Senator George McGovern issued a report on the links between diet and disease in a hearing. The economy was booming, Americans were overeating, and eight U.S. Senators died in office of heart disease during the 1960s and 1970s.^[1] Even though the American Heart Association had concluded in 1957 that evidence of dietary fat correlating with heart disease “does not stand up to critical examination,”^[2] the food industry took advantage of the public’s confusion by starting the low-fat and fat-free fad. When naturally occurring saturated fats were removed from foods, the industry made up for it by adding other ingredients — especially sugar, salt, artificial sweeteners, thickeners (emulsifiers), preservatives, and other chemicals.

The low-fat craze caused tens of millions of Americans actually to gain weight, because they were reaching for low-fat but high calorie carbs. Processed white flour and sugar in excess increases the weight gain and development of type 2 diabetes. Simple carbohydrates are even more damaging, especially fructose.^[3] Over half of the adult population in the U.S. is now grossly overweight.^[4]

Let’s look at two foods that were greatly affected by the low-fat gimmick: butter and yogurt. Butter is the best and most easily absorbed source of vitamin A, needed for the health of the thyroid and adrenal glands, which in turn help maintain the proper functioning of the heart and cardiovascular system. It contains a number of antioxidants that protect against the kind of free radical damage that weakens the arteries. It’s also a very rich source of selenium, a vital antioxidant; in fact, butter contains more per gram than herring or wheat germ. If you’re interested in the relationship between butter and arthritis, osteoporosis, cancer, and many other conditions and diseases, please refer to one of the best resources on food-related issues, the Weston Price Foundation.

Margarine, on the other hand, is highly processed and contains unnatural trans fats, which contribute to heart disease, cancer, bone problems, hormonal imbalance and skin disease; and free radicals, the result of high temperature industrial processing of vegetable oils, which may contribute to cancer and heart disease.^[5]

I went to our local grocery store to compare ingredients in low-fat yogurt to an organic yogurt.
Supermarket brand light yogurt (black cherry)
Milk, Black cherry base (water, cherries, fructose, modified corn starch, calcium lactate, natural flavor, sucralose, acesulfame potassium, malic acid, red 40, blue 1), modified tapioca starch, whey protein concentrate, kosher gelatin, tricalcium phosphate.
Brown Cow (blueberry)
Milk, honey, blueberries, pure maple syrup, evaporated cane juice, natural flavor, pectin, locust bean gum, live active cultures. (Note: 10% of our profits donated to environmental protection efforts.)

Yogurt naturally has fat and is slightly tart. You can add berries or a pinch of cinnamon to it while getting used to real yogurt.

All the low-fat foods that crept into our diets have undermined our metabolism,” says David Ludwig of Harvard Medical School. In other words, the high-carb, low-fat pattern of eating “caused us to become hungrier and burn off fewer calories.”^[6] That means people eat more to feel full and then gain weight. I haven’t figured out yet why some cooking TV shows, websites, and magazines are still buying into and promoting the low-fat fallacy.