[StudentDoctor]

Hi All, I am so excited that I found this website! I just have a general question. I am doing the Original Winning Points Weight Watchers program. I lost almost 100 pounds last time on it about 4-5 years ago. So its been a while.
One of my friends was talking about this the other day and I am wondering what you guys think.
She said that low fat is actually better than Fat Free?!?!
I can't remember why she said it was, but can someone clear this up for me?
Thanks!

[Kelly_S]

It really all comes down to personal preference. However some fat free items have had it recplaced with sugar or sugar alcohols to replace flavor.

Personally there are some things that I refuse to go 'low fat' on like cheese a and stuff I don't mind and actually like better as fat free like cream cheese and sour cream.

There is some research that is being done and sorta shows that lowfat milk is better than fat free due to some fatty acids it has.

[futurepixie]

also, you gotta remember that there is such a thing as too little fat. your body needs some fat to process vitamins, etc. so, going lite on some things may be better for you. and the points difference between some lite and some fat free things isn't really all that drastic if that is your main motivator.

[Sheila53]

My preference is to go fat-free and eat healthy fats (olives, avocado, olive oil) instead of dairy fats. I don't like fat-free cheese, however, but I do like soy cheese.

[walking2lose]

Hi - I also wanted to chime in that you should check ingredients carefully on fat free items. Many of them are loaded with sugars (even worse, with HFCS), so the calories and carbs can be quite high, although it's fat free. Also there are apparently studies out now that say eating HFCS actually stimulates the appetite and especially makes you crave sweets! Supersize Me talks about it (great movie if you haven't seen it). It's just a really serious sweetner that is inexpensive and so shows up in lots of stuff. I was really hooked on Kraft FREE salad dressing, but I realized one of main ingredients is HFCS. So, I've switched to Newman's Own light dressings, which are great and have all healthy ingredients. I'm sure I eat a little HFCS here and there, but I personally try to avoid it if I can.

I also agree with the other posters that you do need a little fat (preferably unsaturated). Your hunger will be satiated better if you have a little fat.

[gma22]

As someone else mentioned, Fat free can contain a lot of sugar to replace the loss of taste. Unless it says fat free/sugar free it is almost assuredly loaded with sugar. You need to look at the label.

My personal opinion is lowfat is better because darn it, it tastes better. I would rather use points and have something taste ok than have something that tastes like cardboard or worse and I never want to eat it so I end up eating something with a total fat count.

The key is balance. Balance your fats and your sugars. It is all about preference and how you want to spend your points. Do try and keep each individual item below 25% fat, 20% is better. The labels tell you what percentage of fat is in the item.

Another key thing, remember when you read ingredients, the first ingredients are what the product contained most of and they get lower as you go down the ingredient list, so if you see sugar like the second ingredient, you know it is loaded with sugar!