However, relentless avoidance of fat – even of healthy unsaturated fat – is creating a troubling scenario for many individuals. Instead of losing weight when they go “fat free”, they are actually gaining weight.

Many people on road to weight loss forget – or simply do not know – that words “fat free” do not also mean “calorie free”. As a result, many people ingest far too much “fat free” food, believing that it will not add weight, since, alas, it is dubbed “fat free”. Yet it is calories in these fat-free foods that cause weight gain; not fat grams themselves[iii].

A single gram of fat contain nine calories, which is more than double amount of calories in a gram protein or carbohydrate. Therefore, mathematically speaking, an eater can consume twice as many protein or carbohydrate grams than fat grams, and achieve same caloric intake. Since many high-fat foods contain an excessive amount of fat grams – such as onion rings – it has become a staple of dieting wisdom to reduce fat intake and avoid such oily, greasy foods[3].

Yet it bears repeating that reason to avoid fat-rich foods is not because of word “fat”; it is because each fat gram contains a scale-tipping 9 calories. In other words: weight-conscious reason for avoiding excess fat grams is because it leads to a higher caloric intake.

Dieters who neglect to realize this basic nutritional fact – that weight gain is about calories and not about fat grams themselves – fail to realize, and often at their eventual dismay, how body actually gains and loses weight.

The typical adult male American diet calls for 2000 calories per day because this is how many calories are collectively use and burned (i.e. converted into energy) by body each day. As an example, an average male dieter who consumes 1800 calories a day will “save” 200 calories per day. As there are 3,500 calories in a pound, dieter in this scenario will “save” 3,600 calories over course of 18 days (18 x 200 calories). This translates into a loss of one pound. Similarly, if this dieter consumes an excess 200 calories per day, a pound of weight will be gained in 18 days.

A dieter who is not aware of this mathematical formula may indeed avoid fat altogether and consume, for example, 6 tablespoons of “fat free” caramel topping per day; believing that this is not a part of weight gain equation, because it is labeled as “fat free”. This is not false advertising, as fat free caramel topping contains no fat grams. However, fat free caramel topping delivers 103 calories per two tablespoon serving[iv].

If this dieter is adhering to a diet regimen of 44 fat grams per day -- and does not count calories -- then he will simply not know that in these 6 mere tablespoons are a substantial 309 calories; or 15% of total daily caloric intake for a 2000 calorie/day diet.

In fact, a dieter could subsist entirely on “fat free” foods, and easily exceed their target daily caloric intake by their second meal of day. These excess calories are obviously not deriving from fat grams; but they are coming from another source, most probably carbohydrates.

Proteins are natural choice of body when faced with diabetes. In uncontrolled diabetes, muscle protein is broken down into amino acids to be converted into glucose by liver. If left to fend for itself, this can create a commotion within body. Since proteins have to supply enough energy to substitute for carbohydrates, proteins are broken down faster than they are made. The body ends up with a protein deficit, a situation with subtle, yet far-reaching effects on normal body functions. Importantly, for diabetics, a protein deficit has been shown to impair resistance to infections (Ganong WF). Replenishing depleting protein stores is a vital requirement of all diabetic diets.

Importance of proteins in a diabetic has been well documented. The American Associations of Clinical Endocrinologists have made it clear that not much evidence exists to indicate that patients with diabetes need to reduce their intake of dietary proteins. The AACE recommends that 10-20% of calorie intake in diabetes should come from proteins (AACE Diabetes Guidelines). It is in fact believed that this is one nutrient that does not increase blood glucose levels in both diabetics and healthy subjects (Gannon et al).

Nutrition therapy for diabetes has progressed from prevention of obesity or weight gain to improving insulin’s effectiveness and contributing to improved metabolic control (Franz MJ). In this new role, a high protein diet (30% of total food energy) forms a very pertinent part of nutrition therapy. One of most important causes for type II diabetes is obesity. Excess body fat raises insulin resistance and higher levels of insulin are required to bring down blood sugars as weight increases (Ganong WF). Another problem with excess fat is clogging of arteries with atherosclerotic plaques that is responsible for a wide range of diabetic complications. Any mechanism that reduces body fat decreases insulin resistance and improves blood glucose control. Parker et al have also shown that a high protein diet decreased abdominal and total fat mass in women with type II diabetes. Other studies by Gannon et al. and Nuttall et al have verified that blood glucose levels and glycosylated hemoglobin (a marker of long term diabetic control) reduce after 5 weeks on a diet containing 30% of total food energy in form of proteins and low carbohydrate content. It is speculated that a high protein diet has a favorable effect in diabetes due to ability of proteins and amino acids to stimulate insulin release from pancreas. Thus, a high protein diet is not only safe in diabetes, but can also be therapeutic, resulting in improved glycemic control, and decreased risk of complications related to diabetes.