There are many reasons that we as a nation are putting on weight. Some you may agree with and some you may not. Some may feel intuitive and others may seem a little far fetched until you think about them. Many are interlinked.

1. Choice and availability. There is much more choice when it comes to fattening snack foods than there has ever been.

 2. The marketing machine behind the big businesses that promotes these products has been refined over many years so that it has now become very efficient at ensuring we buy.

 3. Big business doesn’t care about how healthy the food is or the nutritional benefit. They simply want us to buy it. That sometimes means apportioning health benefits to foods that aren’t that genuine.

So we need to ask the question: In a consumer led society, who is really leading? Us the consumers or the big business selling us what they make us beleive we want?

One of the biggest food fads in recent years is the Low Fat phenomenon. Manufacturers have been more than enthusiastic to create low fat products for us to cater for this new trend. Since the seventies we have been advised to eat a low fat diet to improve heart health and reduce our waistline. The biggest problem with this advice is that it doesn’t take into account two fundamental problems with low fat foods. The following experiment shows very clearly how low fat food is not the answer to weight control.

Low fat hype

A recent American study involved two groups of people both with free access to cookies. One group was given regular cookies the other were given low fat cookies. What happened? The people with the low fat cookies simply ate more of them. In fact they ate a whopping 40% more of the low fat version!

There are two explanations for this behaviour. One is that because they knew they were low fat they gave themselves ‘permission’ to eat more. The other explanation is that fat actually helps us recognise we have eaten enough. Either or more probably both of these reasons would be responsible for these findings.

So what does this mean for us? Well why not enjoy the full fat cookie? It will probably taste better and quite possibly it is cheaper. And for the cookie manufacturer? It means bigger profits! The low fat version is probably sold for more since it is more desirable due to the low fat hype and we will consume more of that product! Every ones a winner! Except us that is because we are still piling on the pounds and spending more money helping to inflate shareholders wallets.

What is more, the food manufacturers rely upon the fact that in an ever more stressful world, we as consumers don’t tend to question or think too deeply about the claims they make simply because we have too much going on to “think” about everything. As shoppers, we tend to act in predictable ways. One of those ways is that we don’t question too deeply the clams that the manufacturer makes about their food. So for example we have, at some level based upon information in the press or from government agencies accepted that say omega 3 improves brain function, so when we spot the fish fingers with “contains omega 3″ on the box we buy them because we then don’t have to “think” about how to get omega 3 into our kids. It was handed to us on a plate (excuse the pun). The same is true of the statement which often apears on food “low fat”. Firstly the term isn’t defined clearly and secondly there is plenty of evidence to suggest that these processed low fat products don’t help us lose weight anyway. What is more disturbing is the way they are sold, the subtle suggestions in the marketing that make people buy them.  Believe me, I know about suggestions and how they influence us often without our knowlege.  Take for example the McVities “Go Ahead” range. Is this a proiduct name or an invitation? What about Asdas “Good For You” range of low fat products. Is a cake “good for you” jusat because it is lower in fat? You can bet it is still very high in sugar and quite possibly contains artificial sweeteners some of which are now thought to be carcinogenic. These product names act as powerful suggestions that ensure we buy the product without thinking too much. Supermarkets and food manufacturers rely upon us blindly accepting the claims on the packets and for most part that is exactly what we do. I have a simple rule that I instill in everyone who comes on my weight loss course but it is not just applicable to weight loss it is impotant for us to stick to it to ensure our health in general so I will share it with you today.

If a food or drink product has a health claim on the packaging then that product probably isn’t good for you. Genuinely healthy foods don’t claim anything. You don’t see health claims on a bag of apples or on a peice of  fresh fish but you do see these claims on the same fish once it has been cut into rectangles and covered with salt and starch laden batter.

Low fat processed products are not the answer to losing weight and they may even help us gain weight.  In fact all the statistics show that we are eating less fat in our diets than in the 1970’s yet we are still getting bigger. If this worrying trend continues then we face an uncertain future. A future filled with ill health and the restrictions that carrying too much weight will bring us.