5 DITCH THE LOW-FAT AND NO-FAT DAIRY AND DIET FOODS

I can’t wait for you to kiss that jelly belly goodbye. And I’m willing to go out on a limb and bet this category will make more of a dramatic shift in uncovering the secret channels of sugar in your life than any of the others. It’s the giant leap you’ve been waiting for to jump-start fast fat loss and bring you back to life!

Low-fat labels are wicked, aren’t they? They can set off a Pavlovian response that you may not even catch until you’ve got your hand on the carton. It’s because in the 1970s, fat became the villain. Now it’s as if there’s some DNA programming we need to undo to help the truth sink in: a low-fat diet is a high-sugar diet! Period, end of story.

This low-fat brush fire was actually sparked in the 1950s by Ancel Keys, an epidemiologist from Minnesota who convinced us, based on some suspect science, that fat was the villain behind weight gain and heart disease. Poor fat! Just as it got scarlet lettered, high-fructose corn syrup swooped in to steal the limelight. In combination, those two incidents served up a mushroom cloud attack on American health. When we started pulling fat—meaning taste—out of all our food, food marketers had a bit of an issue. High-fructose corn syrup saved their bacon by filling in the taste vacuum to make food super sweet, and cheap. But when fat came out, the fiber did, too, so low-fat foods became sugar vessels without brakes.

IT’S A BIG TENT

Think about the wide swath covered by low-fat and non-fat food products—from dairy to frozen meals and meal replacement bars, to processed boxed and bagged junk food. Low fat is represented on product labels as “fat-free,” “low-fat,” “light,” and “reduced-fat.” That clears everything up, right? According to the Food and Drug Administration and the US Department of Agriculture, here’s what they mean:

“Fat-free” foods have less than 0.5 grams of fat per serving.
“Low-fat” foods have 3 grams of fat or less per serving.
“Reduced-fat” foods have at least 25% less fat than their full-fat counterparts.
“Light” foods have either one-third fewer calories or 50% less fat.

As appealing as they’ve been made to sound, those low-fat labels spell trouble. Low-fat foods don’t help you lose weight—far from it. They don’t give you a pass on developing heart disease or gaining weight; probably just the opposite. And they certainly don’t keep your cholesterol down, either. We’re going to shine a spotlight on anything with a low-fat label and shame it right out of your kitchen.

GOOD FAT: YES, THERE IS SUCH A THING

So the focus here will be to help you identify and eat more of the good, life-sustaining fats that are fundamental to weight loss and a strong, healthy metabolism, and to dump the bad fats that are fueling inflammation and weight-loss resistance. The good fats keep you mentally sharp, your moods stable, and your energy high, and they play a huge role in weight control. They’re the monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids in foods like avocados, olives, olive oil, nuts, grass-fed dairy, and wild, cold-water fish.

Cholesterol is a kind of fat, and it’s not the bad guy you think it is. Cholesterol is essential to so many functions in your body that without it, you’d be dead. So your body doesn’t leave it to chance that you’ll get enough from what you eat. Instead, it goes ahead and makes its own—which is used for everything from hormone production to the manufacture of cell membranes and vitamin D. Yes, there’s a bit of a distinction between kinds of cholesterol particles, and you want to eat foods that raise the number of good particles and lower the bad. More on that coming up. But don’t avoid otherwise healthy foods because they have a little cholesterol.

WHEN THEY’RE BAD, THEY’RE HORRID

Bad fats are a very different story. And your body lets you know that by responding to them with increased inflammation, weight gain, and conditions that raise your risk of chronic disease. One kind of bad fat is the saturated fat found in factory-farmed meats like beef and pork. When animals are fed GMO corn and soy, it changes their fatty acid profile, and not for the better. Plus, that fat is often loaded with hormones, antibiotics, and pesticides, to boot.

Not all saturated fats are bad, though. It’s all about the quality of their source. When you choose butter or meat from grass-fed cows or high-quality coconut oil, sure—you’ll get some saturated fat. But make no mistake about it, it’s not the pro-inflammatory fat you get from those factory-raised animals or potato chips.

The oils sitting on the supermarket shelf have been robbed of their nutrients (which have been sold off to supplement companies) and highly processed in their journey to the plastic bottle you find them in. They’re exposed to heat during travel, light on the shelves, and air every time you open them, all of which helps them oxidize and turn rancid. So the value jugs of vegetable oil are anything but. They’re damaged fats that have an effect similar to trans fats, and you don’t want them in your body.

As you can see, the distinction isn’t small. The wrong fats can make you gain weight and increase the risk of disease, but the rich, good fats you’ll get in natural, organic whole foods offer a ton of benefits for your health and weight, mostly because the fats are in the food. Remove those fats, and everything they offer is turned on its head.

DAIRY

It might never occur to you that dairy should headline the low-fat category. But one of the long-standing nutritional recommendations from the US Department of Agriculture is that we eat 3 cups of dairy a day. When low fat became the rage, it meant nutritionists were recommending only skim or 1–2 percent milk, low-fat yogurt, and low-fat cheese to hit that mark. Everyone reasoned that because full-fat dairy products are higher in calories, their low-fat counterparts would allow kids (and the rest of us) to benefit from their calcium, vitamin D, and other nutrients without becoming obese. It turns out, though, that may have been exactly the outcome they engineered. Not only was the focus on calories completely misguided, we now believe low-fat milk products may actually drive weight gain and the very health risks the low-fat versions were meant to help us avoid.

When the fat is pulled out of dairy, both the flavor and that food’s ability to make you feel full and satisfied are yanked, too. Plus, without the fat, guess what’s left? You guessed it—the sugar! That’s why skim milk is especially wicked.

Skim milk is also highly processed. The high heat used in making skim milk kills all the beneficial bacteria in it. And the skimming process not only strips the milk of essential healthy saturated fats and vitamins, but some manufacturers even add powdered non-fat milk. So it’s got none of the healthy fats you need for hormone synthesis, fewer of the vitamins and minerals essential for a high-functioning metabolism, and more lactose, or sugar, than full-fat milk.

Lactose is made from the sugars galactose and glucose. The enzyme lactase breaks down lactose into those sugars during digestion. Without fat to slow the absorption of glucose and galactose, low-fat dairy spikes your blood sugar and insulin response the same way any high-sugar processed snack does.

Granted, if you’re dairy-sensitive, you can have other things going on, too. You can respond badly to casein, the primary protein in dairy. It’s similar to the protein gluten found in grains, since both can have a drug-like effect on the brain. Casein peptides in dairy products can react with opiate receptors, mimicking the effects of opiate drugs like heroin and morphine. As a result, your brain responds to dairy just like it would to any drug. It’s no surprise that cheese is loaded with casein. Anyone addicted to cheese? Anyone?

When casein breaks up during digestion, the morphine-like compounds it produces are called casomorphins. Dr. Neal Barnard, author of Breaking the Food Seduction: The Hidden Reasons Behind Food Cravings—and 7 Steps to End Them Naturally, says “Since cheese is processed to express out all the liquid, it’s an incredibly concentrated source of casomorphins—you might call it dairy crack.” Here’s a news flash—skim milk contains more casein than whole-fat milk! See, there’s no such thing as a skinny latte. And cheese has an even higher concentration of caseins than milk, so that low-fat cheese on your pizza is not your friend—it’s your fix.

But one of the biggies of dairy sensitivity, of course, is intolerance to lactose. Lactose intolerance is usually a result of not having enough lactase, the enzyme produced in your small intestine that helps you digest the sugar in dairy products. Populations around the world vary in their ability to tolerate lactose, but it seems Europeans are the genetic winners, with the most people able to handle it. It’s believed that many Europeans produce lactase as adults because their ancestors used milk from cows, goats, and sheep as food throughout their lives.

Still, the population of people who can’t break down lactose is huge. If you’re one of them, lactose travels intact to your gut and fertilizes gas-producing bugs, which leads to diarrhea, gas, bloating, and other gastrointestinal distress. The good news is that you’re not doomed to suffer every time you have dairy. You can control your lactose intolerance by being very selective about the kinds and amounts of dairy you consume.

So, if you’re intolerant to dairy and you’re desperate to have a little dairy now and then, I’m about to serve up some great news. There are some really amazing choices out there that won’t wreak havoc on your system. How is that possible? Because there’s a nutrient gulf between the good options and the low-fat dairy from factory-farmed cows you’ve been reacting to up until now.

FERMENTATION

Fermented dairy products are also known as cultured dairy. Fermenting has been around for thousands of years, and traditional cultures, including some in Russia and Europe, still rely on it heavily. The fermentation process increases the shelf-life of dairy products, makes them much more tasty (no comparison, truly), and makes them a whole lot easier to digest.

Once Americans enthusiastically embraced pasteurized dairy products over raw or fermented forms in the early part of the twentieth century, we lost a lot of powerful, immunizing probiotics and enzymes right along with any potential pathogens. Too bad, because fermentation, in particular, has some near miracle drug-like powers—it can make food that was once inedible or even dangerous not only edible, but nutritious.

Raw milk is fermented either by allowing it to sour naturally or by adding the milk-loving bacteria lactobacillus to it. Lactobacilli are generally benign and exist naturally in small amounts in our gut. They feed on the sugar and starch in the milk, creating lactic acid and preserving the milk in the process. They also beat back bad bacteria and release beneficial enzymes, vitamins, minerals, omega-3 fatty acids, and various strains of fabulous probiotics. And remember the protein casein? These good bacteria also help break down casein so we can digest it. Wow, right?

But back to the big headline—the bacteria also feed on sugar. The fermentation process eats up the lactose, so it takes that problematic sugar right out of the equation for anyone who’s lactose-intolerant. In doing so, it also decreases carb content. And since labels are made before fermentation, fermented dairy actually has fewer carbs than you see on the label. Win!

So exactly how does fermenting dairy products improve their nutritional content and digestibility—and ability to detoxify? By preserving the enzymes lactase and lipase, which help you absorb more of fermented dairy’s (increased) nutrients. Fermenting dairy tends to increase B vitamins including folic acid, important in the fight against heart disease and cancer. It also boosts the detoxifying powerhouse amino acid glutathione and many essential amino acids, and, of course, probiotics, the healthy bacteria in your gut.

Probiotics balance the ecosystem in your gut and earn fermented dairy a gold-star reputation for improving digestion and strengthening immunity. There’s evidence they can also slow or reverse some diseases.

So, as you can see, if you aren’t dairy-intolerant, I’d have you get some raw, grass-fed, fermented dairy into your diet. That’s the trifecta. You don’t always have to have all three, but check off as many of those boxes as you can. It will allow you to enjoy the richness of dairy again without the guilt, or the proteins and sugars that make you suffer with the symptoms of intolerance and extra pounds. Imagine!

Here are some sources I recommend:

Crème fraiche
Cultured buttermilk
Cultured cheeses (especially goat cheese)
Cultured cottage cheese
Cultured sour cream
Grass-fed butter (such as Kerrygold)
Grass-fed ghee
Kefir
Yogurt

I find that even people who react to dairy can often eat some of these foods, especially the nutrient powerhouse grass-fed ghee. It doesn’t have any dairy protein particles, so it’s safe even if you’re dairy-intolerant, like me.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

As I explained in Chapter 3, you are what you eat, ate. That doesn’t just apply to protein—it applies to dairy sources, too. If you reach for dairy that comes from factory-farmed animals, you’re increasing your risk of ingesting all the hormones, antibiotics, and stress in those horribly treated cows, goats, or sheep. And those animals are fed corn or soy-based feed, which is likely to be genetically modified, so they also produce more inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids than pastured animals.

Go for raw, grass-fed, full-fat dairy. It’s so much better for you and for the animals that produce it. It’s a win-win: happy cows, happy humans. If you can’t get your hands on raw, grass-fed, high-fat dairy, at least make certain to choose full-fat, organic and hormone, and antibiotic-free.

FULL-FAT, FULL-TIME—AVOIDING LOW-FAT SNACKS AND DESSERTS

The low-fat dairy umbrella covers its processed cousins, like frozen desserts and those little alien sticks in plastic. If low-fat milk, yogurt, and cheese are no good, low-fat packaged cheese wands are worse, since they can have preservatives and anti-caking agents as well. (To be fair, there are full-fat versions, but it’s unlikely they’re from grass-fed cows, and they’re certainly not raw or fermented.) How about other dairy treats like reduced-fat cheese cubes or low-fat fro-yo? I’m hoping I don’t have to cover Cheese Whiz Light here, but the appeal of “low-fat dairy” goodies cannot be underestimated.

Packaged dairy snacks and desserts branded “low-fat” are meant to appeal to anyone who’s been brainwashed to believe fat is the enemy (namely, everyone!). Once those addictive foods get their hooks in you, your brain works you over, telling you they’re healthy and to give them a free pass because, hey, if they don’t have fat, you can’t gain weight. Sorry to break it to you, but there’s no such thing as a healthy ice cream sandwich. These snacks are loaded with added sugar (usually high-fructose corn syrup) to make up for their terrible, low-fat taste. The added sugar contributes to their addictive quality, making you come back for more and more, when all they are doing is sabotaging your efforts to trim down and feel better. Frankenfood isn’t the answer. I’ve got plenty of delicious Sugar Impact Swaps for you (see here) that will help you cut the cravings for low-fat dairy and lose fat fast.

You can see that pulling the fat out of dairy snacks does a lot more than just kill the taste. It also removes a very important pathway that protects you from weight gain. When you eat healthy fat with low Sugar Impact, naturally occurring sugar—think full-fat Greek yogurt with raspberries versus a candy bar—you slow down the release of food from your stomach, which mitigates blood sugar spikes and the insulin surge that goes with it. It helps you feel full and get by for longer periods of time without eating again. Sugar in non-fat yogurt hits your bloodstream a whole lot faster than the sugar in full-fat yogurt, and you’re scrounging for another snack before you know what hit you.

FAT AND HAPPY

I don’t want to mince words here. Low-fat diets—or rather, high-sugar diets—raise triglycerides through fructose metabolism in the liver. Those elevated triglycerides, which get stored as fat, are a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and an indicator of metabolic syndrome, a precursor to obesity and diabetes. Many studies on the effect of low-fat diets on the risk of heart disease show they not only don’t lower risk, they contribute to it!

Low-fat diets actually lower your large HDL particles, or what’s known as “good” cholesterol, the one you’re trying to keep high. High levels of large HDL particles are associated with a reduced risk of heart disease. Essential fatty acids, especially omega-3s, can elevate large HDL particles, improve cholesterol levels, and protect your heart.

A diet without good fats also increases small, dense LDL particles—the part of cholesterol that’s considered “bad.” A high level of LDL particles puts you at greater risk for heart disease. Studies show that low-fat diets contribute to an increase in these harmful LDL particles.

Healthy fats are also essential for testosterone levels, and this is not just a guy’s thing. It’s important news for everyone. Testosterone is made from cholesterol. A drop in testosterone can lead to decreased muscle mass, increased body fat, osteoporosis, and low libido.

Eating a diet without enough fat can also create issues with the absorption of the critical fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. Your body needs healthy fats to help those vitamins get absorbed; otherwise, they’re excreted. And you need them to keep your immune system strong and repair your cells.

Besides, a diet without delicious, healthy fats is just depressing. It’s not just a bummer to eat food that’s only edible because it’s been drowned in manufactured sugars. Worse, when essential fatty acids are missing—and those are fats your body can only get from food—it might truly impact your mental health. Omega-3s and some 6s are necessary for hormone synthesis and brain chemicals, and play significant roles in mood and behavior.

Healthy fats like eggs (if you’re not intolerant), avocado, olive oil, coconut oil, sustainably raised palm oil, wild salmon, and organic, grass-fed dairy are sources of healthy, brain-feeding fats that keep your blood sugar stable and regulate the amount of insulin released after you eat. In other words, these delicious foods tee up fast fat loss by making you feel good, filling you up, and helping you keep a handle on your cravings.

It’s time to put that old low-fat chestnut to bed and embrace the light of the new full-fat day. Taste and nutrition, welcome back.

YOUR SUGAR IMPACT SWAPS: LOW-FAT AND NO-FAT DAIRY AND DIET FOODS

We love our swaps, and there’s no end to the list of delicious (and more nutritious) choices to replace your low-fat crutches. Here are a few tasty treats to try:

Swap Your Butter substitute for Coconut cream

Swap Your Cool Whip for Full-fat coconut milk (whipped)

Swap Your Fat-free pudding for Mousse made with avocado, coconut cream, and coconut milk

Swap Your Frozen “light” dinner for Lentil soup

Swap Your Frozen yogurt for Sugar Impact Shake

Swap Your Fruit on the bottom yogurt for Plain full-fat Greek-style yogurt ^*

Swap Your Fudgesicle for Homemade protein Popsicle

Swap Your Ice cream for Monk fruit–sweetened coconut ice cream

Swap Your Light cream cheese for Avocado

Swap Your Low-fat crackers for Bean chips

Swap Your Low-fat pita chips for Olives

Swap Your Low-fat potato chips for Kale chips

Swap Your Margarine for Grass-fed butter

Swap Your Microwave light popcorn for Crudités

Swap Your Pretzels for Roasted Brussels sprouts

Swap Your Protein bar for Wild salmon jerky

Swap Your Skim milk for Full-fat grass-fed milk

Swap Your Snack packs for Baggie of low-roasted nuts

Swap Your Sweetened creamer for Coconut milk creamer (unsweetened)

Swap Your Sweetened soy milk for Unsweetened coconut milk

YOUR VIRGIN SUGAR IMPACT SCALE: LOW-FAT AND NO-FAT DAIRY AND DIET FOODS

When I discovered I should be eating more healthy fat and ditching low-fat diet foods, it was like being set free. I wanted to “Mmmm” out loud with every rich spoonful of organic, plain, full-fat Greek-style yogurt—and I can’t wait for you to feel the same way! Without the added sugars of low-fat foods, these delicious low-SI choices won’t spike and crash your blood sugar… they’ll just leave you satisfied and smiling.

Flax milk (unsweetened)

Full-fat cheeses (avoid blue cheese due to gluten)

Full-fat cream cheese

Full-fat grass-fed milk

Full-fat organic milk

Full-fat plain cottage cheese

Monk fruit sweetened coconut ice cream

Mozzarella

Coconut creamer (no sugar added)

Coconut, cashew, or almond milk (no sugar added)

Cultured coconut milk (no sugar added)

Nut cheese

Organic creamer

Organic, plain full-fat Greek-style yogurt

Plain cultured coconut yogurt (no sugar)

Plain dairy or coconut kefir

Protein powder (following my parameters)

Ricotta cheese

Cream cheese spread (low-fat or full-fat)

Half-and-half

Low-fat cheese

Neufchatel cheese

Organic low-fat or non-fat plain Greek-style yogurt

Part-skim mozzarella

Part-skim ricotta

Plain coconut yogurt (sweetened)

Soy cheese

Sweetened coconut milk creamer

Unsweetened rice milk

Whipped cream cheese

94% fat-free microwave kettle corn

94% fat-free microwave popcorn

Almond milk ice cream

Blue cheese

Breakfast bars

Carnation Instant Breakfast

Coconut milk ice cream

Creamsicles

Dried fruit snacks

Ensure

Fat-free baked chips

Fat-free muffins

Fat-free pudding

Fat-free, sugar-free Jell-O

Fat-free Twizzlers

Flavored almond milk yogurt

Flavored coconut yogurt

Flavored kefir

Frozen yogurt

Fruit-added cream cheese

Fudgesicles

Gelato

Granola bars

Hot cocoa

Ice cream

Ice cream sandwiches

Lite Cool Whip

Low-fat and fat-free cookies

Low-fat graham crackers

Low-fat or fat-free ice cream

Low-fat or fat-free ice cream bars

Low-fat or light frozen dinners

Low-fat Oreos

Low or reduced-fat crackers

Mousse

Nestlé’s Quik

Non-fat cheeses

Non-fat cream cheese

Pineapple cottage cheese

Pretzels

Protein bars

Pudding

Reduced-fat macaroni and cheese

Reduced-fat peanut butter

Reduced-fat Pringles

Snack packs

Snackwells low-fat and fat-free cookies and treats

Sorbet

Strawberry cream cheese

Sweetened coffee creamers

Sweetened cow milk (vanilla, chocolate)

Sweetened dairy-free milks

Sweetened whipped cream

Unsweetened soy milk ^*

Yogurts with sugar or artificial sweeteners

Whey Protein Powder

Now that we’ve all finally emerged from the haze of the low-fat/no-fat craze, we can once again take pleasure in the brain-fueling, fat-burning food nature has given us—guilt-free. Removing low-fat and no-fat diet foods goes a long way in reducing the hidden impact of sneaky sugar. The fact that it’s also tastier is just an awesome bonus!

5

DITCH THE LOW-FAT AND NO-FAT DAIRY AND DIET FOODS