According To Doctors, This Is What Actually Happens To Your Body When You Follow A Low-Fat Diet

Including fat in your diet can help to provide your body with ample energy, improve your immune system, make it easier for you to absorb other vital nutrients, and even support healthy hair and skin. Therefore, removing this food group from your diet can come with an onslaught of side effects such as poor brain function, hormone imbalance, and even vitamin deficiency. 

“The human brain is made up of mostly fat and requires a constant flow of fatty acids to perform optimally. Notably, cholesterol has a significant role as an essential brain nutrient and as a source of fuel and energy,” notes Guzman. “Inadequate cholesterol intake due to a very low-fat diet may lead to negative cognitive effects such as poor performance in abstract reasoning, concentration, and executive function.” Not only this, but removing fat from your diet can affect your mood and energy levels, leaving you feeling lethargic and exhausted.  

The other issue with removing fats from your diet is that these calories will often be replaced by other food groups that do not necessarily support your weight loss goals. When you deprive yourself of one food, cravings will likely crop up as a way of your body telling you what it needs. You will then work to satisfy those cravings by filling in other food items in the place of high fat ingredients which can end up negating the calorie deficit you hope to achieve. 

Instead of simply cutting out fat and expecting that to give you the results you want, you must make holistic and healthy changes, tempering your intake of foods such as processed items which are typically at the crux of weight gain. “Not just reducing added fats – but also eating a whole foods – non-processed diet will improve your health. The biggest changes people can make for health is to reduce or eliminate packaged, processed foods – laden with salt, fat, and sugar,” suggests Gomer. 

If you are struggling with your weight, reducing the amount of trans fats in your diet can help to regulate your heart health, minimize the risk of diabetes, and even aid with weight loss. However, this does not refer to fat across the board, including the healthy variety that comes from foods such as olive oil, avocado, and certain fish. “Not all fats are created equal and thus it is important that the focus be on healthy fats versus unhealthy fats—saturated and trans fats,” warns Guzman. Instead, if you plan on cutting back to a lower fat diet, foods such as margarine, baked goods, and fried food should be the first ones to go. 

It’s also important to remember that following a low-fat diet does not mean turning towards foods advertised as “low-fat” as this can bring about a whole slew of health issues as well. “Although low-fat diets may be effective for some weight loss, many “low-fat” products consist of processed foods that promise a lower fat content but are also filled with many artificial additives that may be harmful in the long-term because they cause inflammation,” Guzman adds.

Ultimately there is no one size fits all diet to follow for surefire weight loss, and you will most likely be better served simply working to include more whole foods in your diet while limiting processed items instead of cutting out valuable nutrients like fat. 

Eliminating or severely reducing fat in your diet may help you to achieve short term weight loss, but it can also cause unnecessary health complications in your body, as well as spark cravings that may make it more difficult to achieve the necessary deficit for healthy weight loss. You can still consume healthy fats in the form of avocado, olive oil, and even nuts and seeds as you work to achieve your fitness goals, and avoiding a diet that hinges on deprivation will award you with the most sustainable approach to weight loss while still including every food group.