Finally! I can stop eating low fat versions of dairy, yogurt and cheese! For years the food industry has told us that fats were bad for us and caused weight gain. Guess what? The low fat diet habit promoted by government and health experts was a big fat mistake.
Why? Because to make up for the loss of calories, people ingest higher amounts of carbohydrates. I don’t mean vegetables either. Instead, they reach for high sugar content snacks, breads, cereals, pasta and crackers. Carbohydrates, the processed refined kinds, cause many people to become overweight or obese.
It turns out the saturated fat in natural food like dairy and meat is not only not harmful but necessary for good health. When you ingest natural fat that is in your food, it feels more satisfying.
I’ve noticed that the addition of olive oil, nuts and avocados to salads makes me feel more full and satiated. I eat less and don’t crave sugar as much. On the other hand, eating low-fat always leaves me hungry.
Low Fat Diet Is Not Optimal for Anti-Aging
It’s the ingestion of a high carbohydrate diet that leads to weight gain, insulin resistance and diabetes. It accelerates aging. There is nothing inherently unhealthy about carbohydrate-containing foods. The problems come when food companies process foods from their natural state.
When the food industry aims to increase appetite for a certain product, they not only add chemicals to preserve shelf life, but they also increase sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats. Processing fats transforms vegetable oils into fats that contain trans fats, with toxins that have now been well recognized.
If it has a nutrition label, it has added ingredients. Some labels may be worded creatively to avoid actually saying “trans fat,” like “partially hydrogenated.” Foods should be recognizable in their natural state, something that was alive or growing out of the ground. If it comes in a box or a package, it’s been altered.
Low Fat Era and the Obesity Epidemic
The rise of the obesity epidemic coincided with the adoption of low fat guidelines, a fact that many people even the government are now beginning to appreciate. Higher carbohydrates leads to obesity and diabetes, the evil twins of aging. The more body fat a person has, the higher risk of death.
Excess Body Fat Accelerates Aging
Noted anti-aging scientists Luigi Fontana and Frank Hu reviewed all the factors relating to Body Mass Index and concluded that optimal BMI range was 20-21.
Excess body weight and adiposity cause insulin resistance, inflammation, and numerous other alterations in metabolic and hormonal factors that promote atherosclerosis, tumorigenesis, neurodegerneration, and aging.
As we age, insulin resistance and inflammation are characteristics of aging. These two must be kept in check if we want to slow the aging process. If we want to age well, we must aim to stay lean.
Try Low Carbohydrate Eating Instead
Is it time to revise your diet? If you’re a senior like myself and my husband Rob, you’ve never been this old before or had to deal with so many surprising health challenges. Instead of accepting what doctors say (“You’re just growing old, don’t worry!”) take charge of your health.
Take a good look at your diet. Chances are you could improve some areas, maybe lose weight or improve blood pressure or cholesterol readings. You may not be aware of some of the new approaches to healthy eating for seniors. That’s why I read and research what’s new.
Stay tuned for more on this in my blog postings. Subscribe while you are here, and you’ll get updates emailed to you. I’m not a nutritionist or a doctor, just an aging senior psychologist who wants to stay alive and enjoy life as long as I can. What about you?
Recent Comments