Cindy has been on a low-fat diet since her early twenties. Her mother had taught her as a teen to drink her coffee black, and ever since, Cindy has been looking for ways to "cut calories" and "cut fat" from her meals. She likes the idea that cutting the hidden calories in fat can allow her to eat larger volumes of food. She stuffs herself with fat-free pretzels, fat-free yogurt, and fat-free cheese which she hides under salsa because it tastes so bad.

She eats her salad with fat-free dressing, but mostly her salad is left half eaten, while she reaches for something more satisfying which she knows she shouldn't eat, such as the delicious eggplant parmesan that the party hostess just brought out.

Cindy was overweight as a child. Then she went on a low-fat diet and lost the weight. This event in her life brought her so much happiness that she has been loyal ever since to low-fat dieting. Yet over time the weight has been slowly creeping back on, and she's been doing battle with it.

She has memorized a list of "good" foods and "bad" foods, but even though she largely sticks with the "good" foods, she is still a few pounds overweight, and seems to need a lot of exercise to keep her weight under control. Her low-fat diet doesn't seem to work as well as it used to, but she's having a hard time believing that the diet isn't good for her.

Cindy has tried reducing her fat intake even further, but she finds herself snacking at night on foods with fat in them. She often feels out of control while this is happening. She has also tried reducing her portions, but she always sticks with the low-fat strategy nonetheless.

The result is that she is even more deprived. She finds herself pigging out from time to time, and tells herself she deserves it. She wishes she had more willpower. She sometimes wonders if the low-fat diet is all wrong, but she can't seem to withdraw her faith in it.

How do low-fat diets help?

Theoretically, the low-fat diet eliminates or reduces the most calorie-laden portion of the meal, which takes the form of fat. The low-fat diet treats all fats alike—they are all thought to be detrimental to one's health and diet. Even the favorable fat in nuts, beans, avocados and salmon, to name a few, are frowned upon. The food pyramid was designed with this theory in mind.

How do low-fat diets backfire?

It is worth noting that low-fat dieters who are prescribed the diet by their physician for medical reasons are not prone to some of these pitfalls. For examples, their bodies do not construe the diet as trickery. This may be the case because weight loss is not the goal and the patient, therefore, is not vulnerable to distorted thinking. It may also be explained by the body's medical need for this altered diet. It does mean do listen to your doctor.

Beliefs and self-talk of low-fat dieters

Here are just a few possible examples of Cindy's beliefs and self-talk. Notice the allegiance to the low-fat diet, the categorization of "good" and "bad" foods, and the black-and-white thinking:

Cindy needs to do some research and find out the truth about fats. She needs to learn that some fats actually lower your cholesterol, for example. She needs to rediscover that fats add flavor to food, the very component of food that brings satiety.

She needs to learn that rapid satiety comes from eating tiny, perfect, delicious meals that contain the exact amount of fats she is craving. It will take some time for her to shed the guilt she feels over eating what she used to believe were "bad" foods.

Where can low-fat dieters go?

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Cindy has some work to do, mostly in her beliefs. She's been misled by the food pyramid, which offers a misguided carte blanche to all carbs, and vilifies all fats, healthy and unhealthy. She could benefit from reading a book or two about low-carb diets, if only to get her perspective back.

In addition, Cindy might be interested in subscribing to the free e-mail newsletter, Diet Survivors™ (View a sample without subscribing.)

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Cindy might also like to buy the book How to Survive Your Diet and Conquer Your Food Issues Forever by Linda Moran. This book will help her with her thoughts and self-talk as they are directly related to using a formal diet. Learn more.

Find a new way of thinking about diets and weight loss!

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What about emotional eating?

Many, but not all, overeaters report that they are "stress eaters" or "emotional eaters." To read more about these, click on Stress and eating or Emotional eating. Stress eating and emotional eating are also addressed in How to Survive Your Diet and its companion newsletter, Diet Survivors™.

To learn more about normal eating, read what is normal eating?

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