Over the past few years the hottest trend in the food industry has been the onslaught of "low fat" and "fat free" foods. They are everywhere it seems.

The cause of their popularity is pretty easy to understand. People think that if they buy fat free foods then they should be able to lose weight because they are eating less fat. That sounds logical, but is it really the case. Do eating low fat and fat free foods mean you'll lose weight fast?

Unfortunately, the answer is no. Here's why. Your body has no connection between eating fat calories and the fat tissue you have inside your body. It can take a calorie of any type and turn it into fat.

Let's take a fat free food like white rice as a good example. Now eating a food like rice should help you lose weight, right? Not necessarily. After a while your body will turn the rice into fat tissue and you'll gain weight.

Take a look at all the different low fat and fat free snacks, cakes, deserts, etc, at the grocery store. Do they make you feel like eating them will be healthier to your body since they are low fat?

The truth is you will still put on weight by eating them if you eat too much. Why is it that we have all these low fat and no fat foods yet as a nation we are fatter than at any time in history? And the trend is only continuing to go higher? That tells you all you need to know about low fat diets and foods.

What happens is that most people hear the term fat free and see it as a green light to eat as much of it as they want and think it will not put on extra weight. And this is exactly what the food companies want you to believe.

The fact is that you really don't need to be so much concerned about fat calories and total carbs as much as you need to about how you combine all the types of foods you eat during a meal. By getting the right combination of carbs and fat calories you will maximize your weight loss.

How do you do that? With the right type of diet plan. While there are several diet plans on the market, one I have found particularly helpful is the Idiot Proof Diet from Fat Loss 4 Idiots. It is not a low carb, low fat, low calorie type of diet; rather it is a unique and totally different concept. You can read more about my results with the diet in my blog below.