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There’s a common misconception that a low fat diet means no fat. In reality, fat is needed to transport nutrients and other valuable materials through the body. Therefore, it’s good to ingest some fat, but most overweight people wind up taking in double the amount of fat they need. As a general rule, your total fat intake should not exceed 20% of your daily calories. To break it down, less than 7% should come from saturated fat, 1% or less from trans fat and cholesterol should not be more than 300mg.

When you hear the term “low fat diet,” the fat that is being referred to is saturated fat or trans fat. A trial of 3,000 men found that those who took 664mg of omega-3 supplement each day for 10 years had a 50% lower risk of heart disease, 45% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and 27% lower risk of death from all other causes. Fish oil supplements are said to be one of the best-known secrets to longevity.

“Bad fats” are trans fats: fries and fast foods, baked goods, margarines, hydrogenated vegetable fat. The reason they have such a bad wrap is that they’re known for lowering HDL cholesterol, which is the kind your body needs to function, as well as increasing triglycerides and LDL cholesterol, which is the bad cholesterol that leads to heart disease and diabetes. Saturated fats found in chocolate, butter, cheese, red meats, coconuts, ice cream and full fat milk should also be limited for the same reasons. Fat from these sources should be 16 grams or less for a 2,000 calorie low diet. For those looking for a weight loss cure, the saturated fats should be less than 12 grams.

A low fat diet doesn’t have to taste gross. Think of your new diet as a “detox” program for the heart and body. Like with alcoholism or drug abuse, you’ll experience some initial discomfort as you attempt to wean yourself off the sugar, the salt, the cholesterol and the calories your body was so accustomed to getting. With such an abundance of junk food and “convenience” foods on the market, it’s understandable how many Americans can fall into this trap. However, you’ve made the right decision to control your eating before it kills you!

Always make sure you go with a recognized diet plan rather than just the latest diet to hit the market. A good place to find a quality diet is at the Top 10 Diets chart where the diet plans have already proved that they work and ranked in the order users rated them.