When you shop and you have a choice between lowfat & regular, what do you choose?

[Prairie~Phlox]

Another food questions. Dh's family all choose the lowfat versions of things like sour cream, milk, salad dressing, etc. We have always just bought regular, we eat less, exercise more and weight isn't an issue (not that it is with his family either, they just think the lowfat is better for them). We feel that some products, low fat, may not be as good for you. Dh cringes if I bring something home that is lowfat. So if you have a choice, what do you buy?

[Crissy]

Regular.

[cathmom]

usually regular

[CactusPair]

low-fat, unless the regular product is already low in fat. For example, I'll buy reg. soy milk bec. it has no saturated fat and no cholesterol, and is low in fat in general. Yummier than the lower-fat soy milk.

 

If my dh buys american cheese slices (he's the only one who eats dairy) he'll buy 2% instead of no-fat, which is inedible. He buys 2% milk for his coffee instead of skim.

 

The one new exception dh makes is Miracle Whip. He buys the reg. instead of the low-fat now. When I ate MW, I always bought the low-fat.

I ate non-fat yogurt, etc.

 

There are times when I'd love to stick a hunk a feal butter in my mouth to taste pure fat. And a hunk a real blue cheese. And some bacon, too. I've resisted so far.:D

[sleepy]

Regular.

[Karenciavo]

It depends. I've started to use yogurt dressing and olive oil mayo instead of regular. Sour cream? I need the real stuff and would rather do without. Same with peanut butter. I don't do without them though, I simply try to use an accurate portion size or less.

[Kris]

Another food questions. Dh's family all choose the lowfat versions of things like sour cream, milk, salad dressing, etc. We have always just bought regular, we eat less, exercise more and weight isn't an issue (not that it is with his family either, they just think the lowfat is better for them). We feel that some products, low fat, may not be as good for you. Dh cringes if I bring something home that is lowfat. So if you have a choice, what do you buy?

 

Regular -- always. I've taken a lot of flack over the years because I haven't taught my son the "low-fat" way. Didn't seem to stunt his growth. :D

[5Youngs]

Depends.

If there are more (usually weird chemical) ingredients in the low-fat, I'll opt for the regular.

If the ingredients aren't changed, then I usually go for the lowfat.

[milovany]

My "other" is that I *always* try to buy full-fat and to me that means "natural". Whatever is unaltered, that's what I buy. The only "low fat" I buy is milk -- I buy nonfat and then add whole cream to it to make it full fat again (this sort of helps with the whole homogenization thing which I don't care for).

[Lakeside]

Full fat. All the time. :)

 

When living in Germany we even started using what would be comparable to heavy whipping cream in our coffee. :D

[gardening momma]

I buy regular. The fat helps fill you up, and quite a few lowfat products have added sugar in them, which I try to avoid.

[Laurel]

Regular, as in full fat, as in as close to the actual food as possible. Low-fat and non-fat stuff tends to have more fillers and random ingredients to give it the same taste and texture as the full-fat stuff.

[GailV]

My "other" is that I *always* try to buy full-fat and to me that means "natural". Whatever is unaltered, that's what I buy. The only "low fat" I buy is milk -- I buy nonfat and then add whole cream to it to make it full fat again (this sort of helps with the whole homogenization thing which I don't care for).

 

I had the impression (and I'm totally open to the idea that I'm wrong here) that nonfat milk is typically full of nonfat dry milk, which has gone through even more alterations than homogenization would bring.

 

I always buy full fat. Low fat tastes bizarre to me, and I think it's often unhealthier. And then I read in The Schwarzbein Principle that lowfat milk is actually considered a high carb food; not sure if the full fat is considered the same, but I felt pretty virtuous for avoiding lowfat milk.

 

Umm, I'm typing around a cat that's climbing around the keyboard and computer, so I'm just going to "submit" and hope I typed what I meant to say.

[Tracy in Ky]

The fat is good for us. God put it there for a reason :) For example, in milk, you need the fat in order to absorb the calcium. Our bodies need *good* fats (not bad ones), and plenty of them.

 

Sometimes the only option is reduced fat, and I'll choose it then. But for the most part--bring on the fat!

[Stacey in MA]

I used to be more of an Atkins person, and I was eating HIGH fat things - whole milk, regular yogurt, cheese, etc. I was on the GD diet every time I was pregnant, which is basically low carb, high protein. So I did indeed get used to this way of eating. It started to concern me though, over the long run, to eat so much fat. What if Atkins wasn't really right??

 

Now I am reading "Eat to Live" which advocates very LOW fat. I have been calorie counting (before starting to read this book), and discovered how many crazy unnecessary calories I was getting from high fat foods - ground beef, cheese, cream, etc.

 

Anyway, long story short, I want most of my daily caloric intake to be high nutrient. So when I use something like cheese or cream cheese or sour cream as a condiment, I don't want it to add many calories. I want to reserve those for the higher nutrient foods.

 

HOWEVER, I know it always annoyed me when my family growing up would buy skim milk, lowfat cheeses, sour creams, etc., but yet have the cupboards loaded with potato chips and cookies - geesh! Makes no sense...

 

Anyway, I'm a newly converted low-fat everything person!

 

- Stacey in MA

[mommylawyer]

Regular - all the time. I figure, you only live once... I guess I just won't live as long as all you non-fat folks! :D

[Amy in NH]

I don't buy low fat products if I can help it. I think eating a moderate amount of fat is much more healthy than eating all of the fillers and junk that are put into lowfat products. And I think that growing children need more fat than a low fat diet gives (kinda like fetuses/infants needing fats for brain development). My kids are all tall and skinny, so I figure it won't hurt them if I'm wrong.

[Janet in Toronto]

The only lowfat thing I buy is skim milk because the boys like it better than regular. Otherwise, we buy unadulterated yogurt and cheese, salad dressing, butter, etc. We buy local organic full fat plain yogurt and the Danone (Dannon in US) Naturalia yogurt which is full-fat, natural ingredients. One of my beefs during our five years in Atlanta was that it was very difficult to find full-fat yogurt in our local grocery stores.

 

Oh, I also buy frozen yogurt as a substitute for ice cream because my older son prefers it. But it's not really a low-fat product, just a lower-fat replacement for ice cream.

[StaceyinLA]

I use lowfat sour cream (not NON-fat, but I find lowfat makes NO difference when mixed with REAL butter on my baked potato).:tongue_smilie:

 

I use lowfat cottage cheese, skim milk, the neufchatel vs. cream cheese, etc.

 

I will NOT eat a low-fat salad dressing. I say that but I do buy Newman's Own Lite Honey Mustard. Other than that, I eat his olive oil and vinegar, and I make my own vinegar/oil or creamy dressing with Vegenaise (which we LOVE).

 

As far as cheeses, I never buy processed cheese AT ALL. We eat real cheese slices. I buy swiss, provolone, occasionally muenster or cheddar (ds' faves) and the part-skim mozzarella.

 

I can't think of anything else where I use lowfat, but then again, most of the other things we eat are just veggies, beans, meats and grains, which really wouldn't have that option.

[chickenpatty]

Regular, because it tastes better. :D

[chaik76]

Always regular. I think that some products lose their benefits when they are lowfat (as well as taste!)

[melmac]

Regular. Low-fat is just so icky:ack2:. I watch calories closer than fat content.:)

[newbie]

We buy low or nonfat always, cant tell the diff. and neither can kids anymore.

 

They would probably spit out regular milk.

[PariSarah]

Especially when "low-fat" means "fat has been replaced by some unnatural and probably toxic non-food product like HFCS or guar gum."

 

I'd rather eat less of a real product than eat more faux food.

[Reya]

Another food questions. Dh's family all choose the lowfat versions of things like sour cream, milk, salad dressing, etc. We have always just bought regular, we eat less, exercise more and weight isn't an issue (not that it is with his family either, they just think the lowfat is better for them). We feel that some products, low fat, may not be as good for you. Dh cringes if I bring something home that is lowfat. So if you have a choice, what do you buy?

 

DH wants full fat for anything mainly for him.

 

For kids, I choose full fat.

 

If I can't taste the difference and it's for the whole family, I choose low fat. I'm not a person who gets full from "telling" how much fat there is in something, so I really do consume fewer calories that way.

[Parrothead]

Regular, except milk which is 2%.

[TXMomof4]

Another food questions. Dh's family all choose the lowfat versions of things like sour cream, milk, salad dressing, etc. We have always just bought regular, we eat less, exercise more and weight isn't an issue (not that it is with his family either, they just think the lowfat is better for them). We feel that some products, low fat, may not be as good for you. Dh cringes if I bring something home that is lowfat. So if you have a choice, what do you buy?

 

I always buy regular. I'd rather it taste really good and just eat a little than to eat more of something not so yummy.

[Peela]

I like fat- to eat- personally- so does dh. He is a bit overweight but it isn't going to stop him.

Sometimes I buy low fat cheese, but I am not really kidding myself :)

My understanding is that eating fat helps you feel satiated, full, nourished. When I eat low fat I just eat more because its not filling that hole.

[Rosie_0801]

Depends.

If there are more (usually weird chemical) ingredients in the low-fat, I'll opt for the regular.

If the ingredients aren't changed, then I usually go for the lowfat.

 

Same here. Except cheese. Cheese was never meant to be low fat. Ergh. If I wanted to eat soap I would. When I first had skim milk I thought it was revolting, but we buy a different brand of low fat milk now, and it's perfectly alright.

:)

Rosie

[keptwoman]

We buy lowfat milk because it froths better for making lattes and hot chocolates :rofl: It's unhomogenised though.

Other than that, all regular/full fat. I think fat is necessary and healthy and we are all healthy body weights.

[Jennifer in NH]

full fat stuff all the time, and as little sugar as possible!

 

And I am still laughing at the low fat cheese tasting like soap!:lol: too funny!