Many people believe that light and diet products are the same, but between them there are basic differences that it is convenient to know since this terminology lends itself to confusion. Join us to analyze this topic to understand the differences between them.
If you do not know what type of food is best for you, and you ask yourself, “light or diet?”, we clarify that diet products are those that do not contain some nutrients, or have them in very small amounts. These nutrients are sodium, salt, lactose, sugar, carbohydrates and fats, hence the term diet is used, associated with weight loss diets. In the case of light products, this reduction is at least 25%, which includes, above all, sugar, sodium, fat and calories.
We could infer then that diet foods are a stricter version of light products, so the doubt about the choice between light or diet is clarified by knowing that the former are dietary and the latter are light.
It should be considered that in the elaboration of diet products, their composition is modified to benefit those people who cannot ingest specific elements such as sugar for diabetics, gluten for celiacs or those who are gluten intolerant, fats for those with high cholesterol, and sodium for those who are hypertensive; but components such as fibers are also added for people suffering from constipation.
Among the diet products are, for example, diet cookies that do not contain sucrose or conventional sugar. However, sometimes these have more calories due to other components added to them in the manufacturing process; hence it is advisable to read the labels very carefully to review which ingredients are used in their manufacture, as well as the nutritional information and the amount of calories they contain since, whether light or diet, such data must appear.
As previously stated, ligth foods reduce the number of components mentioned by at least 25% compared to non-light homologous products, so the amount of calories consumed is theoretically reduced by that percentage as well. But don’t be fooled; this can be deceptive.
A clear example is light mayonnaise, containing 30 percent fewer calories than normal mayonnaise, but it’s still a high-calorie product because the light product contains 326 calories in 100 grams, while the conventional one has 710.6 calories; therefore, it should be consumed in moderation, so you cannot believe everything that is said about light or diet products.
Another quite cited case is cereals that are generally eaten for breakfast or dinner and are supposed to contain fewer calories. But many people fall into the trap and consume higher amounts of the product because the labels make it clear that only 30 grams of cereals in a 125 ml glass of milk must be eaten, which represents a third of a normal glass, which leads the person to serve himself in a larger glass with a higher milk content, and therefore to add more cereal, which on average is about 150 grams. So forget it; this way you will not lose weight with this type of product.
So, when the question of choosing between “light or diet” arises, keep in mind that the basic difference is “the quantity”; while “diet” products eliminate some specific nutrients in their entirety, the “light” ones reduce components by a minimum of 25% compared to conventional food.
On the question of what to eat if you want to lose weight, if light or diet, it should be clarified that replacing conventional food with one of these products is not a guarantee that weight loss will be achieved, since the nutrients eliminated or reduced could be replaced by others that contain even more calories. So it is recommended reading the labels very carefully to know all the necessary information, in addition to not consuming amounts greater than those suggested according to each product.
Finally, with reference to the issue of whether light or diet foods can do any harm, it is important to highlight that both can be harmful only in those cases in which people consume them excessively or have allergies to some of their components. So the most important thing when consuming light or diet products is to be cautious, and above all to consult with your doctor to guarantee your health and life, especially in case of suffering any disease that puts you at risk.
ALFA