Dangers of Cutting Fat in the Diet

Written by Sky Taylor, Diet Bites

Why trimming too much bacon from the daily diet can equal disaster.


Restricting your daily fat intake to less than 30 grams per day can generate serious health consequences.

Why so? Isn't fat bad? Doesn't it contribute to weight gain? To obesity? Wads of unwanted bulk on the body? Bad health?

When there is too much fat in the diet - yes, it can create weight gain and all sorts of ills associated with such. However, our bodies NEED some fat for healthy skin, healthy hair, healthy nails, and to assist in breaking down the foods we eat.

Many times, we look at 'fats in the diet' as 'fat on our hips and thighs'. However, dietary fat is an essential part of a healthy diet. Without it, our bodies would be lost.

Without adequate dietary fat we would lose the luster to our hair and nails; our vital organs would be at great risk for injury without some fat to protect them.

So now that we've established that everyone requires some fat to be healthy, how much dietary fat do you require while dieting? That depends much on the amount of daily calories the individual is consuming - in conjunction with the type of weight loss plan being used.

When the weight loss plan is based on the American Food Pyramid the following data chart provides a good idea of how much is necessary for good health.

FAT GRAM GUIDE FOR DIETERS

Daily Caloric Intake Based on Diet Plan

Daily Fat Grams

Total Saturated Fat Grams

Less than 1,200 Diet Plan

Not Recommended!!

Not Recommended!!

1,200

40

12

1,400

47

14

1,600

55

18

2,000

65

20

2,200

75

22

2,400

85

25

Stella's Healthy Weight Loss Plan

To provide a detailed example of adequate fat in the diet let's meet Dieter Stella. She is currently on a 1,600 calorie daily diet.

This is what her diet plates looked like during one particular day of her plan.

As we can see, the meal plates were built using the five food groups: grain, fruit, vegetable, protein and dairy.

There is minimal fat contained in her food and beverage selections which were threaded throughout her day.


She also enjoyed half an hour of shooting hoops with her young son outdoors as her activity for the day.

Breakfast Meal Plate

1 scrambled egg, 2 strips of bacon that was cooked in the microwave, 1 slice of whole grain toast, one cup of reduced sugar orange juice and one cup of skim milk.

Morning Snack

3 fresh apricots; these contain a skinny 17 calories a piece

Lunch Meal Plate: One kangaroo pocket bread stuffed with fresh vegetables, alfalfa sprouts, lean proteins, reduced fat cheese and black beans topped with reduced fat poppy seed dressing. She also enjoyed another serving of sugar reduced orange juice.

Afternoon Snack

1 small banana, fully ripened

Dinner Meal Plate

3 tacos prepared with extra lean seasoned ground beef, corn tortilla shells, salad consisting of chopped lettuce, tomatoes and cilantro; shredded reduced fat cheese and salsa. She also enjoyed a diet soda with her meal plate.

Bedtime or Evening Snack

3/4 cup of skim milk blended with 1/2 cup of frozen berries

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