On a fat-free route

Now with more people going for butter without fat or salt, those who actually eat a wholesome ice-cream will become a limited group. Are people becoming more concerned about their health and thinking twice about what they eat? Are shops and restaurants making profit out of their fears?

Many of these shops and restaurants boast of frozen yogurt made from skimmed milk which tastes like iced milk, aspartame on dough-nuts and ghee-free paranthas.

“Slowly, fat-free items are becoming the future, however tasteless they maybe,” says Nachiketh, a professional. And it is true because we often see people who would rather have three tasteless ghee-free paranthas than just one that tastes
perfect.

Many say that labelling products as ‘fat-free’ is a great marketing concept. We have heard so much about fat being bad that anything without fat sounds good. What contributes to this ideology is the sedentary lifestyle that many of us lead.

Says Vivek Kashyap, “We  live in a world where people are tricked into believing that they will lose weight if they go for diet food.”  

Parinita, a student, adds that such diet food is a cool way of fooling oneself.

“People working in well-paid jobs in urban areas have the capacity to spend on fat-free foods and health clubs. When health instructors tell them to avoid fat, they take to fat-free food,” she adds.  

Whatever you are eating, the formula stays the same — consume more calories than you burn and you will gain weight. But does consuming fat-free food actually help in reducing weight? Many dieticians say, the answer is actually ‘no’.

Says Arushi Chandra, a nutrition expert, “People resort to fat-free food as a quick-fix to all weight-related problems. But with this comes a host of other problems like lack of nutrition. Fat is an important component that helps in burning calories. So the concept of fat-free food as healthy food is just an eye-wash.”

Kowshik, an animation student, says that his motto in life is to eat good food.

“Whatever you eat, it is the spacing that is important because it allows converting the fat into energy,” he adds, “People, rather than focusing on a diet which is rich in all nutrients, focus on a diet high in protein and low in carbohydrates and fat. But in reality, a healthy diet should have some amount of fat also.”