The low-fat diet got started in the 1970s. Though this approach was never scientifically proven, it seemed to make sense. Since fat has twice as many calories as carbohydrates or protein, it seemed logical that consuming fatty foods—including fried foods, red meat, cheese, and other dairy products—was the fast lane to weight gain. Low-fat eating became the rage, and an entirely new category of reduced-fat foods filled supermarket shelves. We had no-fat cookies, fat-free ice creams, low-fat pastries, nonfat milk and cheeses, and on and on. Every food manufacturer was eager to capitalize on this new diet craze.
But a curious thing happened. After fifteen years of eating less fat, scientists discovered that Americans hadn’t slimmed down at all. In fact, we had grown progressively fatter. During the years when fat consumption was dropping, the weight of the average American adult increased by about 10 pounds. Why? Because Americans, believing that low-fat foods would help them lose weight, ate more of them. It wasn’t unusual in those days for an individual to consume an entire box of lowfat cookies in one sitting.
As a cardiologist, I bought into the low-fat theory too. Meats and other fat sources disappeared from our dining room table and our cupboards began to fill with low-fat “light” pasta meals and no-fat salad dressings. I even fed our Norwegian elkhound Charlie the same “healthy” food we were eating. Needless to say, while we loved the carbohydrate foods and snacks that filled our bellies, my wife and I were packing on the pounds—and so was our dog!