Does Fat Free mean Healthier?

I post healthy meals and recipes on some of my social network pages from time to time. I sometimes put fat free cheese in my egg white omelets which raised a question from a martial arts expert I have known most of my life. "Is Fat Free better?" I knew he knew the answer to this question and was wondering if I knew the answer. The fact is most of the time fat free foods are left tasting bland so filler ingredients are added for flavor like sugar, flour, thickeners and salt.(1)  These ingredients are prone to raising the calories in food. Sometimes the fat free foods are not much lower in calories than their regular counter part if any. There are a few products out there like Kraft fat free cheese which is 25 calories a slice compared to a slice of regular Kraft cheese that is 60 calories. Non fat milk is another product that is lower in calories compared to whole milk. Nonfat milk is 90 calories compared to whole milk which is 150 calories. (2) That does not mean Fat Free milk is the best decision. Some of the lower calorie fat free foods block the absorption of vitamins and minerals like milk which is high in vitamin A and vitamin D. They are fat  soluble vitamins. Without the fat found in whole milk or even 1 percent milk they are not  properly absorbed.  If your looking to just reduce calories Fat Free may not  be the best choice. If the calories are not much less than the regular product chances are they have been filled with empty calories like sugar which is counter productive to what you are trying to achieve. Sugar drives up fat storage and makes the brain think it is hungry.  Using these products every once in a while is probably not going to hurt you. Just like most things done in moderation. If your pantry or refrigerator is loaded with Fat Free items, chances are you are lacking good fat, vitamins, minerals or some other necessity the body requires for proper nutrition and function through your diet. This brings us back to why I would have fat free cheese in my egg white omelets? I am not trying to get my A and D vitamin needs or any other nutritional benefit from a twenty-five calorie slice of fake cheese. I just like a little cheese flavor in my eggs and I am saving calories so that slice of cheese is not going to have an adverse affect on my total nutrition plan.   

1 Web MD

2 Popsugar Fitness Jan 2011