Benefits of Low Fat Diet

Millions of people are for low fat diets because..... One of the major benefits of a low fat diet is the potential for cutting back on calories in an attempt to better manage your weight. Foodnetwork.com says since fat serves up more than double the amount of calories per gram (9 calories per gram) as compared to carbohydrates and protein (4 calories per gram each), cutting back on fat, theoretically, will provide you with more caloric trimming for your efforts. For example, dousing your dinner salad with two tablespoons of an oily Italian salad dressing will glisten your greens with approximately 140 extra calories while the same amount of a low fat Italian salad dressing will cover your salad for a mere 32 calories, a trimming of over 100 calories. With over 5,000 low fat food products available, fat-conscious consumers have a plethora of leaner options available in supermarkets that will meet their needs and satisfy their palates. Since the Nutrition Fact Panel on the back of the food product label must list the grams of fat in a serving of food, it is relatively easy to keep track of your fat intake.The front of the food label can also help you when you are low fat shopping. By law, a food product that is labeled as "low fat" must contain 3 grams or less of fat per serving, whereas a "fat-free" food must contain less than 0.5 grams of fat in a serving. Low fat diets could also help lower your risk of heart disease. Since the total amount of fat that you eat is a combination of both artery-clogging saturated fat and heart-healthy unsaturated fat, reducing the amount of fat in your diet to between 20 to no more than 35 percent of your calories will help you harness your saturated fat intake. A high amount of saturated fat in your diet can raise your "bad" LDL cholesterol levels in your blood. Too much of the "bad" LDL cholesterol in your blood can increase your risk for heart disease. In fact, if more than 35 percent of your daily calories are coming from