LOW FAT - NOT NO FAT

Eating less fat (and less saturated fat,in particular) is one of the best things you can do for your health and your body shape. Cutting back on fat makes it easier to maintain a healthy weight. Gram for gram, fat packs in more calories than either carbohydrate or protein. So 10 grams of pure carbohydrate or protein have only 170 calories.
Low-fat foods such as potatoes, rice, pasta, vegetables, fruit, breads, cereals and beans are the basis of sound weight loss programmes for this reason. They are filling, nutritious foods that won't add weight. However, take care if you add extra fats such as butter or margarine, sour cream, or cook by deep-frying, etc.
Years ago, people often avoided starchy foods, such as bread and potatoes, in the belief that they were "fattening". But metabolic studies over the past years have shown that carbohydrates are not readily converted to body fat, but are burnt off (oxidized). On the other hand, fats are not oxidized but are efficiently stored as body fat. It is chemically easier for the body to turn food fat into body fat than to break down carbohydrate and re-form it as fat.
Fat also appears to give less satisfaction than carbohydrate. Because we need carbohydrate as a fuel for the brain, liver and muscles to function, eating enough carbohydrate at each meal to meet the needs of these vital organs helps to satisfy our hunger, yet not put on weight. So a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet - the opposite of the western way of eating - is now considered the secret of better weight control.