Low-Fat Diets: bad for your skin and your waistline?

Get blog updates via email

Abandon your low-fat diet immediately – it might kill you!

A recent study sensationally contradicted years of dietary wisdom: low-fat diets have a 23% higher risk of death than high-fat diets.

How is this possible? Surely fat, especially saturated fat, increases our cholesterol levels, clogs our arteries and increases our chances of getting heart disease? Surely fat makes you fat?

Low-fat diets make you fat and wrinkly

I am not surprised, however – I have been telling my clients this for years, but they never believe me.
Dieters inevitably fall off the wagon (usually with an almighty binge) because low-fat diets are boring and don’t fill you up -dieters really don’t stand a chance. Food manufacturers are diet saboteurs. They sneakily replace the fat with sugar – they have to get the flavour from somewhere. So blood sugar levels rise, and cravings kick in. Sugar also prematurely ages our skin (making our collagen go brittle), so ironically, you get fat and wrinkly.
But that’s not all. Food manufacturers have also added trans-fats (manufactured fats) as preservatives to many processed diet meals. Our body simply doesn’t know how to break them down, so they are dumped on our thighs and belly.

Read More:

Your skin loves fat – but keep it clean!

If a new client’s skin and hair are a bit dry, I always check if they are eating enough good fats. Fats lubricate the skin from within (they strengthen the cell walls to stop moisture escaping), whereas moisturisers can only work on the outer layer of skin – which is mostly dead!


If we ate for fuel, diets would be easy, but most of us eat for pleasure or self-medicate when feeling a bit low/ bored/stressed. I advise my clients to prevent cravings by indulging in a few regular treats, even saturated fats. (Unless you have high cholesterol). Whilst not perfect, saturated fats are real foods: natural and unprocessed. Although fat is higher in calories than carbs, real foods take longer to digest, so you feel fuller for longer. So leave the fat on your meat – it adds much-needed flavour. Also, go back to full-fat milk – skimmed is so joyless!

A little bit of what you fancy stops you from bingeing.

Your skin loves the Mediterranean Diet

I recommend the Mediterranean diet to all my clients: plenty of fruit and vegetables, good fats such as nuts, oily fish and olive oil, and plenty of wholegrains (limit your portion size to 50g to keep blood sugar levels steady), and protein to fill you up: white meat, bean and legumes.
Then a naughty treat a couple of times a week – something to look forward to.
Eat good quality real food, nothing processed, preferably organic.
Eat every three to four hours, so you don’t binge at mealtimes because you are starving.
Place less emphasis on calories (although be aware of them) and more focus on keeping your blood sugar levels steady to prevent cravings.

By using this site means you agree to accept our Website User Terms