Tag Archives: low fat diet

Food Blogger Spotlight: Katie from Chocolate Covered Katie

cck ResizeAhhhh, dessert, the sweet end to a delicious meal. Unfortunately, it can also be the button-popping end to a healthy waistline. That’s why we’re excited to feature Katie from Chocolate Covered Katie as this week’s foodie! Her blog’s motto is “This isn’t just any dessert blog, it’s a healthy dessert blog.” By using low-fat, fresh ingredients, Katie shows how to make delicious, healthier versions of high calorie favorites and some goodies you’ve probably never even thought of.

Chocolate Covered Katie is so vibrant you might wonder if it’s in 3D. I dare you not to try and lick the chocolate dripping from the cone in the Secretly Healthy Red Velvet Ice Cream picture. The site is full of easy to follow recipes but you’ll also enjoy following Katie, as well, since her posts are often accompanied by a personal story or anecdote. Here’s what Katie has to say about her popular blog.

(more…)

Posted on May 26, 2023 by Dani Stone

How Engineering Tasty Low-Fat Foods Makes Things Worse

We recently wrote about the science of mouthfeel and how food manufacturers engineer what we eat to not only taste great, but entice our senses through the texture of the food. Sometimes, food makers face challenges posed by highly publicized campaigns against certain ingredients, one of which brought on the low-fat diet phenomenon.

Demonizing Fat Created a Bigger Problem

One of the bigger problems in human nature, which has manifested itself in the world of diet and fitness, is that we tend to overreact to information. For instance, we hear that saturated fat is bad for us, then instead of simply moderating our intake, we obsessively avoid it altogether or feel guilty when we can’t adhere to unrealistic expectations.

Decades ago, as the public became increasingly weary of saturated fat, manufacturers had to artificially engineer foods to retain their appeal. So what happens? They replace naturally-occurring fats with man-made substitutes that are just as bad, or worse. (more…)

Posted on April 4, 2024 by Jason

Get Back to Diet Basics in 2024 with Low-Fat, Low-Carb, Low-Sodium, and High-Fiber Diets

With a new year comes tons of resolutions. Most people vow to lose weight with lots of exercising, but they forget to change their diet to accommodate their workouts. While a healthy diet can help shed pounds effectively, eating healthy doesn’t mean you have to deprive yourself. A healthy diet should leave you feeling energized and stabilize your mood, not to mention satisfied. With thousands of diets out on the market we recommend choosing from one of the four diets: low-fat diet, low-carb diet, low-sodium diet, and high-fiber diet.


When you combine the primary principles of each of these very basic diet ideals, you get a pretty well-rounded healthful approach to eating that can be summarized as “Paleo-ish,” according to Biggest Loser dietitian Cheryl Forberg, RD. Since you are eating no grains (low carb), no dairy (lower fat), nothing processed (no added sodium), and unlimited fruits and vegetables (high fiber) it becomes strikingly similar to the Paleo, or caveman, diet.

Bonnie Taub-Dix, author of Read It Before You Eat It and nutrition expert in New York, also commented on how all four diets could work well together if one chooses to eat a low–fat, low-carb, low-sodium, and high-fiber diet.

“We have a diabetes epidemic and a high-fiber and low-carb diet can help control blood sugar levels. There is a large percentage of people with diabetes who should keep an eye on sodium and fat intake because eating a low-fat and -sodium diet can control heart disease and blood pressure.”

Learn more about each of these diets and see how one or some might suit your health and weight loss goals. (more…)

Posted on January 3, 2024 by Samantha

Mediterranean Diet More Likely to Keep Weight Off Than Other Diets

Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital have dubbed the low-glycemic index, similar to the Mediterranean Diet, as the best diet to keep off weight without causing harmful side effects. The study was lead by Cara Ebbeling who tested three different diets. The low-fat, low-carb, and low-glycemic index diet were test by 21 participants who are overweight or obese.

Overview of Calories per Diet

Low Fat: 60% of calories are carbohydrates, 20% of calories are protein, and 20% of calories are fat. The foods included in the diet are whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. The low-fat diet reduces the amount of fatty meats, oils, nuts, and other fat products.

Low Carb (Atkins Diet): 10% of calories are carbs, 30% of calories are protein, and 60% of calories are from protein. Types foods included in the diet are little to no carbohydrates, high amounts of beef, chicken, eggs, cheese, and there are some fruits and vegetables in the diet plan.

Low-Glycemic Index Diet (Mediterranean Diet): 40% of calories are carbs, 40% of calories are fat, 20% of calories are from protein. The foods in the diet are whole grains, low fat meats, fruits, vegetables, beans, and healthy fats from olive oil and nuts. (more…)

Posted on June 28, 2023 by Samantha

Carbs are Confusing: Why Atkins is to Blame

As recommended by the USDA, an adult should consume between 4-8 servings of carbohydrates a day, depending on their age and gender. However, according to the Atkins Diet Foundation, there’s a bit of confusion as to how many carbs that actually is and the average person’s ability to determine it.

But is this even important? According to Atkins, the answer is yes.

The food and diet company – founded by Dr. Robert C. Atkins in 1972 – did some research recently to determine how Americans perceived carbohydrates, including how many carbs they were eating throughout the day and how often they considered the contents of their meals. They were hoping to clear up what they’re refering to as ‘carb confusion.’

The study concluded that Americans typically don’t monitor the food on their plates – as shown below – with six in 10 reporting they didn’t know how many carbohydrates they eat on a daily basis. Findings revealed that: (more…)

Posted on May 10, 2023 by Dana

Celebrate Rosh Hashanah with a Healthy New Year

Rosh Hashanah marks the start of a new year in the Hebrew calendar. The Torah defines Rosh Hashanah as a day-long celebration, however on the Hebrew calendar, days begin at sundown. This year, Rosh Hashanah begins on September 28 at sundown and continues through the following evening.

While some Jewish people only observe on one day, others observe both holidays with religious services and a traditional holiday dinner. Like many holiday meals, a Rosh Hashanah dinner is very symbolic, but can be on the indulgent side, with carb-laden kugels and challah.

This year, have your honey cake and eat it too, with some of our low-fat, low-calorie and low-carb holiday recipes.

(more…)

Posted on September 27, 2023 by Maris

SnackWell’s Introduces New Higher Calorie Treats

Remember SnackWell’s snack cakes? Think back to the mid 90s and you might remember the distinct green packaging and popularity of their Devil’s Food Cookie Cakes. Nabisco SnackWell’s came along in 1992 and grew enormously popular as the go-to brand for low-fat snacks. Unfortunately, other brands caught on to the low calorie snack craze and forced SnackWell’s to stop advertising in 2005.

Now SnackWell’s is reintroducing the brand with several new snacks that are higher in calories than the popular 100 calorie portioned snacks that are widely available. The new offerings from SnackWell’s will have a very different packaging and will vary in calories but range from 130 to 150 calories per serving.

Although these snacks offer a low calorie count, all calories are not created equal. This product line is still very highly processed. The new products from SnackWell’s include Cinnamon Raisin Cereal Bars, Peanut Butter Cereal Bars, Chocolate Cereal Bars, White Fudge Drizzled Caramel Popcorn, Fudge Drizzled Caramel Popcorn, Vanilla Crème Brownie Bites, Fudge Crème Brownie Bites and Fudge Drizzled Double Chocolate Chip Cookies. A closer look at the ingredients on these new products reveals that most of them have brown sugar, sugar, maltitol syrup and corn syrup listed in the first five ingredients. They also include things like fructose, which is also a form of sugar, and partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil which is trans-fat. The products are still allowed to make the claim of being trans-fat free if they contain less than 0.5 grams per serving, which is the case with the SnackWell’s products. This new product line proves the importance of reading nutrition labels.

(more…)

Posted on June 12, 2023 by Descygna

Yo-Yo Dieting is Better for Your Health Than Nothing at All

You have undoubtedly heard how important it is to maintain weight loss to avoid health problems. You’ve also heard that losing weight and gaining it back continually through fad diets or any other means just isn’t good for your health. Well now there is a study that shows that losing weight and gaining it back is better than not losing weight at all.

This study was done on mice, but it shows that yo-yo dieting isn’t as bad as it was once believed to be. There were three groups of mice in the study, placed into a low-fat, high-fat and yo-yo diet groups. The mice that were placed on the yo-yo diet alternated between a low-fat and high-fat diet.

The mice on the yo-yo diet were healthy when they followed a low-fat diet and had higher body fat, blood sugar and body weight when they were on their high-fat rotation. Another surprising detail of this study was that the yo-yo diet mice lived just as long as the mice that maintained a low-fat diet the entire time. This amounted to about six months longer than the mice that followed only a high-fat diet.

(more…)

Posted on June 11, 2023 by Descygna

How Diabetes Risk Drops Without Weight Loss

If I told you that eating less would cut your diabetes risk, you would think I’m stating the obvious. However, if I told you that the reason for this wasn’t due to weight loss, then I’d probably get your attention.

According to a new study, small dietary changes, even if they don’t result in weight loss, can reduce your risk of diabetes.

The researchers took 69 people who were at risk for diabetes and overweight and fed them a diet of only slightly reduced fat and carb intake for eight weeks. They were split into two groups: one with lower fat, the other lower carbs.

The study concluded that limiting one’s daily fat intake to about 27 percent of your diet can lower diabetes risk long-term. (more…)

Posted on May 27, 2023 by Jason

“Dropping Acid” Chef Demonstrates Reflux-Friendly Foods

Dropping Acid ChefThe French master chef behind the recipes in Dropping Acid: The Reflux Diet Cookbook & Cure, demonstrated some of his creations at The French Culinary Institute in New York. Jamie Koufman, M.D., and Jordan Stern, M.D. also discussed the creation of their book.

As someone who suffers from acid reflux, I know how depressing eating right for reflux can be. Not only must you cut down on many things we know aren’t healthy (like fatty foods, soda and chocolate), there are also a number of healthy foods you also should restrict, like tomatoes and citrus. However, Bauer’s dishes prove that there are many delicious things that won’t trigger your reflux.

(more…)

Posted on January 27, 2024 by Margaret

Simple Fat Swaps to Better-for-You Baked Goods

If you’re like me and have a serious sweet tooth, sometimes baked goods are just too hard to resist. But with many baked goods being high in trans fats (especially the processed ones or recipes with shortening) and low in nutrition, they’re really best eaten rarely- very rarely.

There is a loophole, though — making your own! When you bake at home you know exactly what’s in your food, so you can nosh guilt-free. In fact, there are tons of tricks to turning a regular recipe into a low-fat recipe! All it takes is a little ingredient experimentation and some time in the kitchen. (more…)

Posted on October 26, 2023 by Jennipher