Are Diet Foods Making Us Fat?

Written by Vonda Skinner Skelton, R.N.

This article is courtesy of Christian Single magazine.

“I’d like the cheeseburger combo with waffle fries — supersized, please. Oh, and a diet soda.”

Although it’s amusing to assume the diet soda will negate all the other calories we’ve piled on our meal (otherwise, we’d never drink the flavorless stuff), the truth is we’re cutting a few calories — and supersizing our girths.

An estimated 50 million Americans will go on diets this year, spending $30 billion on diet programs and products. And yet we’re fatter than ever before. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 64 percent of adults are overweight — a number that’s increasing every year. Since 1980, adult obesity has doubled, contributing to approximately 300,000 premature deaths annually.

How can this be possible when 90 percent of adults have consumed reduced-fat food? With more than 5,000 reduced-fat products available, how can we be getting fatter? The answer may surprise you.

The Good

When used properly, diet food can contribute to a healthy lifestyle. Studies show that overweight adults who reduce their caloric intake by as little as 5 to 10 percent lower their blood pressure and decrease their chances of Type 2 diabetes. Think that’s asking too much? Think again. By simply replacing two 16-ounce sodas with a calorie-free alternative and adding three 10-minute walks a day, you could lose more than a pound a week. That’s more than 52 pounds a year! And all it requires is two small but consistent changes.

Or maybe you’re like Frank Costa, who had almost 150 pounds to lose. “I succumbed each day to the sights, smells, and colors of every food group,” Costa confesses. It took a major lifestyle adjustment, including the use of powdered supplements, to reach his goal. But with regular exercise, nutritional education, and determination, Costa is now living an active, healthy life.

Dr. Lawrence Cheskin, director of Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center, says, “Diet food can be helpful as an adjunct for controlling weight. But intake is only part of the balancing act; if you don’t burn up more calories than you take in, you won’t lose weight.”

The Bad

On the other hand, diet food may inadvertently contribute to obesity. “Since the beginning of the low-fat craze, Americans have been growing fatter and fatter,” says licensed dietician Susan Burke, director of nutrition services at eDiets.com. “One problem is the perception of fat-free as license to eat. Consumers are seduced into thinking the fat in the cookie made them overweight. It wasn’t the fat; it was the calories.”

Over the past 20 years, our fat consumption has gone down, but during that time we’ve added an average of 300 more calories to our daily intake. According to the American Heart Association, fat-free products may actually encourage people to consume more sugar by offering a higher-calorie alternative to fat.
And the problem isn’t limited to reduced-fat food. Remember the diet soda and supersized fries? By giving up the sugar in the soda and increasing the fries, we haven’t gained anything – except 100 calories.

Psychologist and weight management coach Dr. Rachna Jain offers these insights:

• Diet food appeals to that part of us that wants the easy way out.
• Diet food allows us to feel we’re reaching our food control goals.
• Diet food allows us to save a few calories, while reinforcing the concept that “something is better than nothing.”
• Diet food gives a bit of cachet – it’s chic to order a diet soda with lemon.

But Ruth Kava, director of nutrition at the American Council of Science and Health, is quick to point out, “You can’t say diet food is to blame anymore than you can point a finger at fast food, diner food, or any other convenient category. We have to educate ourselves on healthful food selections and appropriate portion sizes and recognize that exercise is a crucial part of a healthy lifestyle.”

The Ugly

Sometimes the truth is hard to find. Even nutrition labels are often confusing. Carefully note “serving size” and “servings per container” and you’ll see that a 16-ounce bottle of soda is actually two servings – twice the calories listed on the label. A small bag of chips may be a serving for three, and many double-packed snack cakes list only one cake per serving.

And sometimes labels lie. When ConsumerLab.com, an independent evaluator of dietary supplements and nutrition products, tested 30 nutrition and diet bars, they found an alarming 60 percent of the products did not meet their label claims. Only 12 products passed the review. Researchers found discrepancies in the reported amounts of carbohydrates, sodium, fat, and sugar.

Neither the Food and Drug Administration nor any other agency routinely tests nutrition bars, over-the-counter supplements, or “natural” products. And just because something is natural doesn’t mean it’s safe. Serious injuries and deaths have occurred from the use of natural products.

Use caution with claims containing words like easy, effortless, new discovery, secret, and miraculous. No product can burn fat or block fat or flush fat out of the body. In a recent study, the Federal Trade Commission found 55 percent of weight-loss ads had false or misleading claims. Like the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Unfortunately, there’s no quick-fix way to lose weight and keep it off. Only by eating less and moving more can we lose those pounds and maintain a healthy lifestyle. In the words of Barbara Tessari, author of The Pizza and Ice Cream Diet, “We’ve got to go back to a simpler time when we ate our veggies and ran out to play.”