Low calorie, sugar free ... magic or liars?

“The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d druther not”, Mark Twain.

How many of us, in our thousands of attempts to lose weight have come to the same conclusion? Who is going to feel motivated after all the prohibitions and sacrifices that apparently are needed to be healthy? The eternal NO, no, no and the food you like the most turns out to be the most dangerous!

For many years, this was the belief that many of us had about food and exercise, until the 90's when miraculous foods called “light” or “low calorie” came along.  

For many of us it seemed the end of dieting, mornings at the gym, and suffering at parties... this was the re-ci-pe for success.  And we changed most of the products we bought and every product that had written "light", "low ..." or "free of ..." was taken into our shopping cart.  They were more expensive but it was worth it.

 

Unfortunately, some time later, came the bad news, we realized that they were not so magical and infallible.  Some of us had ended up eating more and others even gained weight.   Additionally it was discovered that not only did eating these products not guarantee weight loss, but some of them threatened our health. Obesity and weight-related diseases did not decrease but increased after the launch of these foods.

But not everything is bad news; I believe that the key to human welfare is to find a balance.  

Low calorie foods are not the magic recipe, but not all of them are harmful.  Used in moderation they can be a very good tool to achieve our goals.

In the end, what we want is that our efforts to eat well and live better are worthwhile and that we feel better.  The key is to know how to choose the ones that are useful for you (light, lite, low…)... and even which "sinful" (full calorie) ones can be good for us too.

Over the next four weeks we will learn more about low calorie options.  The aim is to know the different types and what they are made of so that you can choose which to include in your diet and which are not convenient according to your goals.  

I do not pretend to tell you what to do or forbid anything, but I think that the informed choice is the best. 

Eating healthy, staying fit and enjoying what you like doesn’t need to be impossible, it is a matter of finding the right path!