Feeling "Guilty" About Full Fat Foods

[mizski]

After so many years of automatically looking for and choosing reduced fat or lower fat foods, it feels so strange to be eating "the good stuff" again. Even when I switched over to a whole foods eating style last autumn, I would sometimes choose the real version of a food but just eat a little bit of it. I found that a lot of reduced fat foods have other stuff (starches, sugars, sodium, chemicals) so I would opt for a tiny amount of the full fat food or more often, just go without. It was a sad time in my culinary life.

Today while grocery shopping, I picked up some items that I hadn't had in years. Things like creme fraiche, a nice Irish butter, full-fat real cheese AND most wonderful of all: the original Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing. I am in heaven!!!

All the years that I tried to eat low fat and calorie count never made me any thinner. In fact, I've g-r-o-w-n in size. And a lot of the food was lousy tasting. But as I look at my numbers in FitDay, I am a bit uneasy to see those high fat and cholesterol numbers. So I sit here with my fingers crossed hoping that what everyone says about Atkins is true. I've really enjoyed my foods during Induction...just feel a little guilty about them.

[ShannonK]

Dh and I just got our cholesterol checked. While he is quite fit and eats a very "healthy" diet, my numbers were lower than his. As we speak, (morning here) he is having aV8 juice and I just fried two eggs, a bit of bacon, dollop of sour cream, bit of cheese and tomato and olives... who is laughing this morning?

[Labarum]

Dont feel guilty.

Many find cholesterol levels fall on Atkins. Mine fell marginally, but it was not an issue to begin with.

Something wrong with orthodox medical opinion?

[LageNomAi]

I really struggled with this at first, particularly since I got the Induction Flu in the beginning and couldn't help but wonder if it was because I eating such high fat, "bad" foods. I remember talking to my mother, who had also done Atkins, early on and making the comment that I couldn't believe I was supposed to lose weight while eating cheese and turkey as a snack.

It truly requires a seismic shift in thinking about food and I don't blame anyone for having doubts in the early stages, before the weight loss kicks in.

[chinadoll]

Get rid of the guilt! But word of caution--wait about 6 months before checking cholesterol oince it tends to hop up in the early months on Atkins before stabilizing at a lower level. Also exercise is a huge factor in getting good numbers. So, get out for a nice long walk and enjoy your creme fraiche!

[MrsChesterDogg]

What Chinadoll said has certainly happened to me. My A1c was down to 6.2 and all my other test results were great. However, my cholesterol went up slightly, and my doc, being the traditional kind of doc that he is started me on a statin. I'm thinking of going off of it soon. I really don't like the idea of taking it in the first place. Any how, just get used to all the really great tasting food. It is a far cry from what we are told is healthy today.

[not2late]

Well, milk doesn't come out of the cow "low fat" or non-fat". If nature had intended it to be low fat or non-fat, it would have made cows that way long before genetic modification/alteration.

The more I read, the more convinced I am that "real" foods are the best foods for us. Afterall, we are "real". So why should we feed our real bodies with artificial junk?

So don't feel guilty about eating real food. It's more healthful and it's actually more environmentally friendly than eating the artificial stuff.

[JulieB]

It is tough to ignore the advice (brainwashing) that we've gotten from the so-called experts for so long. I find the more I lose, the longer I do this WOE, the more I see full-fat as being the healthy alternative to the modified/manufactured low-fat/low-cal versions...a real reversal in thinking takes time

[Labarum]

Originally Posted by LageNomAi

I really struggled with this at first . . .

Not me. Took to it like a duck to water. "Real" man's food (good for girls too!).

My wife is (was) a biology and domestic science teacher. She knew her stuff, and if it didn't fit the syllabus I got nagged.

But I couldn't live on "insubstantial" food, and finally paid the price.

"Real" food got me back on the straight and narrow, and I couldn't be nagged because I was under doctors orders. "Do Atkins" he said. "It works". She was sceptical at first, but as the pounds fell away . . . so did the looks!

I live on cleanly cooked meat and fish, lots of green stuff, olive oil, eggs full fat Greek yoghurt and berries. Latterly I have been having some porridge oats - slow release, low gylcimic index carbs; and I have always had some flax in my diet. My treats are full fat ice cream (the expensive stuff) and dark chocolate (the expensive stuff 70%).

Works for me, and has for a few years.

[liv]

I know the feeling. I certainly had it too but I don't anymore. I have since started to read labels and think about foods and I have realized how much crap I was eating all in the effort of being healthier. I cannot believe I was so gullible. My food choices are so much better now.
My good cholesterol did go up, my bad down so it has evened up. The doctor is pleased.