Are Health Foods Making Us Fat?

Posted on Sep 18th 2007 9:54AM by Martha Edwards

Filed Under: Diet & Weight Loss, Nutrition & Supplements

You can bet that when our parents and grandparents were growing up, the grocery store wasn't full of low-fat, omega-3-enriched, antioxidant-infused foods. In those days, 100-calorie packs would be seen for what they are -- a rip-off. Things were what they were, without flashy labels and empty promises. And yet, with all the low-fat food in our grocery stores, the population as a whole is much heavier than we were even a few decades ago. These so-called health foods aren't doing much for our health, it appears. Which brings up a very interesting question: Are they what's making us fat?

A new study shows that if you view an item as healthy, you tend to overeat said item. So while it might not be the item itself that's making you fat, it's your perception of it. This is understandable -- when I have butter in the fridge, I don't use it nearly as liberally as I would olive oil, even though the two items probably have roughly the same amount of calories.

So here are some things to keep in mind: Fat-free doesn't mean calorie-free. Healthy fats are better for you, but they have just as many calories as unhealthy fats. And just because the commercial says it's a healthy choice, chances are it's not. Be your own diet detective.

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Tags: food, health foods, HealthFoods, healthy, labels, low fat, LowFat, obesity, overeat

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Crickett 9-22-2007 @ 9:35PM

You can lose weight if you just eat right I took 300 lb's off my husband in 6 months or less and he had all his fav.food from bisket and gravy to fried chicken .the trix is not to make big serving and dont cook more that that no leftover and have a salid befor the ninner as big as you like but make your own dressing very little oily jellow or small ice cream or cake slice on some days jus eat good food with out eating to much and you will lose.

Nicolis 9-22-2007 @ 9:15PM

what the problem is, it's not the food, cause healthy food don't nearly have the calories as unhealthy foods, the problem is we're eating too much junk food and not healthy foods. Plus, everything has preveratives in them. If we take out the preveratives, and all eat organic we would be alright, plus get out and excerise!!

CS 9-22-2007 @ 9:56PM

300 pounds in 6 months? Do you realize you are asking us to believe your poor hubby lost about 12.5 pounds a week for 6 whole months? that is astounding. Could not possibly be healthy.

Melissa Gross 9-22-2007 @ 11:29PM

There is no way that a person can lose 300 lbs in 6 months or less. He or she would have to workout a minimum of two hours a day and eat very few calories. You can't eat fried chicken and beef with gravy, and expect to lose weight. Did he have grastic by-pass? Even people who have had that surgery do not lose that much weight that fast. You are feeding us a bunch of crock.

Blondie 9-23-2007 @ 12:22AM

I don't know. I'm weird when it comes to my attitude toward food and diets. I AGREE with Martha Edwards, the writer of the article. Back then, food was the real stuff. It was more filling. When all fat or calories are taken out of foods, it leaves our bodies starving for something to FILL US UP! So we run for more snacks and binge just to catch up with our appetites--we are MISSING something and our bodies are crying out. I witnessed someone who was dieting on protein and refused to ever eat carbs and got very sick. As for myself, I kept skinny and healthy all my life, and I eat ONLY the real thing in sugar and include regular bread and mashed potatoes which, yes, I DO need, in my diet. People eat too much meat. The proportion needed in meals (except for the requirements for small children's growth) is far less than what some people demonstrate by their eating habits. I also NEVER buy "Lite" anything. Additionally, I believe each person gains and loses weight differently. Listen to your body. Geez Louise. There is NO SUCH THING as a one-fits-all diet! Until people learn this, we'll be an obese and unhealthy world.

barbara 9-23-2007 @ 1:23AM

In the forties and fifties we ate at home a lot. We kids managed to eat fast food in spite of that good cooking. I went to the original McDonald's in San Bernardino, CA. We went to the drive in restaurants and ate the junk while sitting in our cars and looking around to see who was there. We walked downtown after school and ate junk before we went home. Downtown was our "mall" in those days.

Ida 9-23-2007 @ 1:41AM

Yup, I agree with writers one and two here. Eating smaller amounts of servings and the right type of food is definitely correct. It makes your stomach smaller by eating smaller portions with out having the stomach surgery. Try Nutri System, it works!! Yeseree!!

Ariel 9-23-2007 @ 4:54PM

A potentially valid concept, but not applicable to truly healthy diets, such as raw foods. This is more filling, and it is satiety that makes us stop eating, no matter how delectable something is. The only people who eat until they vomit, whether they're sated or not, are bulemics.

laprns 9-23-2007 @ 5:51AM

If comments 1 & 2 were not so ridiculously worded, I would worry that people would buy into that garbage. People want to believe that they can lose weight fast and that they can eat whatever they want and still lose weight. It doesn't happen. As far as nutri-system and jenny craig, the food portions are smaller (hence, less calories) but they are full of preservatives and salt. I had to slowly reduce the amount of food I ate each day while increasing my activity level. A sudden, drastic reduction works for a short period of time but can not be maintained. I know that each person is different but common sense needs to figure in people. You don't get fat overnight and you can NOT lose it overnight. As far as #2's husband losing 300 pounds in 6 months-isn't that the average time it takes for a divorce? Was that a pun?

Charles Ivey 9-23-2007 @ 5:27AM

It's time to do a search on "Arsenic and Chicken".
Meat industry news gets stranger at every turn,
First there's mad cow disease and the revela-
tions of the meat packing industry which
engages in frightening aseembly line practices
that allow spinal material to be sold as "beef."
Now, in the story below, you'll read about the
poultry industry and the rather bizarre fact
that chicken ranchers feed arsenic to their
chickens to help prevent intestinal parasites.
It also allows the bird to grow to a greater size.
It's a growth promoter! That means when a
Human eats the chicken, pork, beef, or fish he
is also being fed a growth promoter. You only hear results reporting in the news "America is Facing a
Fat Epidemic". The Mills Brothers once recorded a
song that contains the following Lyrics "Don't Eat
Meat!" and the title of the song was Take Good
care Of Yourself. It's almost impossible to avoid
this stuff! We're talking Meat, Dairy, Eggs, Rice,
Mushrooms and who knows what else? Rice and
Mushrooms are now grown on land that was once
used for poultry production. So is Tobacco!

In my view, it isn't just the cows that have
gone mad: it's the ranchers and meat packers
who have lost their minds and, apparently, any
sense of decency when it comes to producing a
food product that doesn't harm consumers.
Didn't it occur to these people that maybe
arsenic shouldn't be fed to chickens that are
going to be eaten by humans?

You know, the bottom line is that too many
corporate meat ranchers, in both the chicken
and cattle industries, will do practically
anything to their "product" if it helps reduce
costs and boost their financial return. The
health of the consumer is apparently the very
last thing on their minds. They'll add anti-
biotics, hormones, and poisons... they'll feed
chicken litter to the cows, and dead cow parts
back to the chickens. And they'll proudly
label their product, "100% American beef!"

No thanks, I'll take some tofu instead,
thank you. Or, perhaps, some organically
produced meat grown by responsible ranchers
and farmers who don't shoot up their cows and
chickens with chemicals and drugs. Because if
it's true that we are what we eat, then most
Americans who are eating beef are, technically,
walking chemical timebombs. Maybe this is part
of the reason we're seeing such skyrocketing
cancer rates, do ya think? (Arsenic is a Human
Carcinogen) If it can cause Death, don't you think
it can produce a few side effects along the way?

Has the "Pro Life Party" brought this to anyone's
attention? So now Abortion is okay anytime after
birth? They certainly put their rubber stamp on it
at 18! The body bags from Iraq continue to prove
it!