Fat free, Sugar free,"Diet" food. Do you use it?

So I admit I became obsessed with Fat, calories, and just nutrition in general and I may have gone to extremes on the low fat thing. I felt like if I ate "normal" food like regular yogurt, cheese, and pretty much anything with a fat gram in it that I would become fat again myself. So thinking I was making the right decision I cut it out almost completly.

I did not realize what I was doing to myself until I went to see my doctor for a few problems

1: I was tired, always, I mean exhausted all day I had labs done iron and hemoglobin all was ok but my cholesterol was super low like way too low both the good and bad

2: My skin was broken out all of the time  everywhere! to the point I had tried everything prescriptions, over the counter, stuff I bought on TV...it was desperate.

So the doc asked me about what I eat and I told her. and after saying that I took a hard look at the food I ate everyday I thought I was the most healthy eater walking this earth except I had praticaly eliminated all fat from my diet and was "replacing" it with all of this over processed fat free/sugar free stuff most days I was getting around 5-10 grams of fat.... wow not enough.

So my doc told me to stop it and buy regular dairy, meat, cheese, even salad dressings, and to cut out artificial sweetners, and overprocessed stuff.
 eat peanut butter, walnuts, almonds (what! 25 grams of fat for 1/4 cup walnuts) I thought I would rather chop off my arm than eat that!

You would have thought I was giving up my first born! Seriously I BELIEVED in living this way afterall that 130 pounds didn't magically fall off! It was me obsessing and being super focused on my nutrition right?

But I did it and I felt like I was jumping off a cliff at the grocery store when I put that Whole milk cottage cheese in my basket!

So its been 3 weeks since I made the change and you know what? I feel better! my mood has improved, my skin has cleared up and I am not nearly as tired as I was just a few weeks ago. and my weight has stayed the same. I don't feel hungry all day and after I eat dinner I am not in the kitchen 30 min later hunting down a snack.

(I dump on sugar so I still use splenda instead, I tried stevia and just didn't love it)

So what do you guys think? Anyone else gone through something like this?

Very interesting. I'm glad you listened to your doctor and that you're feeling better. I believe it is best to eat "normally" as much as possible. All of the processed foods that take all of the fat and other "evils" out of our diet are not good for us, IMO.

I dump easily, but I still try to avoid a lot of artificial sweeteners. I would rather have one small piece of dark chocolate than a whole bag of the fake stuff.

 I think we should eat whole foods.  Diet foods are often not real food.

I'm glad you're feeling better.

I am still new at this so this was very eye opening for me!! Thanks for sharing!!  I still have sooo much to learn and I just love this place!!

I feel this exact way. I'm only 7 weeks out, and I am following my doctor's recommendations, but I am aware that highly processed foods are bad. Plus, in many foods, removing the fat means higher sugar content. I am slowly moving to minimize the fake sugars and super low fat content. I don't eat a whole lot right now, in general, so I'm not going to sweat low fat cheese.

I'm glad you are feeling better and you confirm exactly what I always felt. Normal foods in restricted quantities is better than fat free foods in larger quantities.

I know then when I don't get enough fat, my skin becomes super dry and scaly. I do use no sugar added things though.

I try hard to stick with minimal processed foods, and have recently drastically cut down on artificial sweeteners. I need to work on getting in a more varied diet though.

I am glad you are feeling better!

 i drink 1% milk, use splenda and some sf things. but mostly everything else is full fat or part-skim, i rarely buy the fat free versions of things. i live in the puerto rican neighborhood in nyc, and the grocery stores are super tiny and don't carry a lot of "diet" items, so i usually don't have much of a choice.

I do not eat the overprocessed "diet foods". I believe it is better to eat foods in their "original" state.....

I'm glad that even though you thought you were doing the best thing for your body, you were still wise enough to at least try the doctor's suggestion.

Happy whole eating!

I used to be a big believer in Frankenfoods (diet foods). But what I found is that the body works best with foods that are as close to the way Mother Nature made them as possible.

Unfortunately it is our appetites that are out of whack, not food. Whole foods, unaltered foods, are exactly the way they are supposed to be, the way nature intended them to be and they all have purposes in our body. We began tinkering and that's when calamity ensued.

Fat is used for energy. It's also good for our cardiovascular systems and brain functioning.

Carbs are quicker burning forms of energy. Simple ones help us with immediate energy while complex ones sustain us and help clean out our digestive tracts with fiber.

Protein is the building block of muscle development and a bunch of other things.

There is nothing wrong with natural foods. These days, I only eat Frankenfoods for things that will elicit a negative reaction. For instance I make my pancakes from Atkins mix because it doesn't elicit a blood sugar drop when flour, even whole wheat, will.

I personally prefer low fat in some things, like Greek yogurt. full fat Greek yogurt is WONDERFUL (really if you've never tasted it give it a try as a treat some day) but not for everyday use. It's too rich! And since I don't drink a lot of milk, I have actually gotten used to skim and drink it.

But I eat butter. I eat full fat (albeit canola) mayo. I eat nuts. For carbs, I eat quinoa, farro, barley, all in their whole grain forms. I eat tons of vegetables and fruit.

And I've maintained my current weight (and even managed to lose a few pounds here lately) for the past two years (I am nearly 5 years post-op).

So I get the gravitation toward Frankenfoods. It takes a while to learn HOW food works to be able to decide how it SHOULD work for you.

In the end, it's a decision you have to make for yourself though. I don't think it is necessarily detrimental to eat Frankenfoods, but like I say with breast milk vs. formula, if you have the ability to pick one, I'd go with the nature made plan.

I eat as cleanly as possible ... full fat everything except dairy but I do eat lower carb than most because I am diabetic and I am trying to control it the best I can with diet and Metformin. I have had no RH symptoms since I adopted this change!!!

I eat my protein (shakes and bars are often full of chemicals) and don't substitute ingredients - so I really am pretty much a meat and two veg girl ... with dairy for extra protein (and carbs obviously)

Blowing my own trumpet here, but I look and feel better now, at 50, than I did in my 30s (when I wasn't MO!) Every decision I make about food and exercise is with an eye on my health and the weight maintenance just seems to follow - win/win!