Light — or lite — foods appeared in our supermarkets in the 1990s. These days, there is a huge choice of products, everything from biscuits to soft drinks, ice-cream to soups. Not all of these later spin-offs are genuinely light and consumers are becoming gradually more suspicious of them. Here are five basic truths about light foods:

1) You can’t eat twice as much. Even if a light food has 50 percent less fat, the calorie content only drops by 40 percent at the most. So you must not eat twice as much if you want to lose weight. To use light foods wisely, choose the light version but stick to the same size portion you normally eat.

2) Fat adds flavor. If you take the fat out, you have to put something else in to give light food enough flavor to make it tasty. Often what is added is sugar, fruit puree or starch, which in turn, adds calories. Most people think that when the label says low-fat, they have fewer calories. That is not true; for example, each low-fat Oreo cookie has 50 calories whereas the regular version has 3 calories more. With low-fat food labels, people tend to overeat with guilt-free abandon.

3) Read the label carefully and check what is being lightened. Many foods still have fat when they are advertised with the dramatic words “ FAT FREE “ — yet they are authorized to do so. One serving size is defined as 0.25 gram of product which has 0.05 gram of fat. Because it is less than 0.05 gram per serving, it is rounded to zero and therefore is called fat free! Because of this regulation “loop hole,” many manufacturers have purposely reduced the serving size in order to use the term “Fat Free” legally. If you look at the fat contents per 100 grams, you will realize that the food is actually not totally fat free.

4) Watch how small the serving size is. Many

light products are packaged in smaller sizes which are equivalent to a lower weight of food and you are tempted to eat more.

5) It’s more enjoyable and satisfying to eat a small amount of the “real thing” than lots of a light substitute. The global financial crisis has uncovered the beginning of a new trend: The need for food that tastes good and makes you feel good. In France, a country renowned for its fine cooking and good food, light products are no longer as profitable as they used to be. Since 2004, the market for light food has decreased by 7 percent and a recent survey showed that 42.2 percent of French people are against light products. Furthermore, a study conducted by Consumer Choice, the magazine of the Consumers’ Association of Ireland, reveals that two-thirds of the lower-fat or reduced-calorie foods and snacks contain medium or high levels of fat and sugar. Despite their labels, Pringles Light, Philadelphia Light and McVities’s Light Digestives contain between 7g and 8g of saturated fat per 100g, when greater than 5g is considered high. Kellogg’s Special K contains 17g of sugar compared with 8g in Corn Flakes. Special K also has more fat and slightly more calories than Corn Flakes.

Margaret Brady, the acting editor of Consumer Choice, said: “We would advise consumers not to assume that a product is healthier because it is being marketed that way; always read the labels and look at the sugar, salt and fat content, just so you know exactly what you’re getting.” Moreover, Margot Brennan of the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute, said: “It is important to check the labels. You will quite often find that the calorie difference is very little, because if they do reduce fat, they have to put in things to make it palatable. Quite often you may be better off buying the normal one and eating a little bit less of it.”

Eating less of the real thing is becoming the new trend and big brands are reviewing their marketing strategies. Instead of showing the total fat content, the label highlights the calories per portion. The Mini Magnum which is half the size of the classic Magnum, a vanilla ice cream with chocolate coating, is a big hit in France. Eva Longoria, the diminutive, glamorous actress, chosen by Unilever, is promoting the Mini Magnum with the catchy slogan: “Small is Beautiful”.

It seems also that finally the standards of beauty are changing. Between 1995 and 2007, being thin was synonymous with health and beauty. Even famous people are no longer willing to stay slim. In the United States, the sensuous Tyra Banks and Jessica Simpson who were criticized in the press for having put on weight, answered that they were free to do want they wanted with their own bodies.

Fooding has never been so popular. This trend is all about food and feeling. Alexander Cammas, the founder of Fooding, is allergic to light food: “It’s a return to common sense”. In the United States, as in the United Kingdom, products from the lab are giving way to produce from the land.

Once you start eating more real food, you will experience the difference. You will also notice that once you start changing something in your life, it naturally triggers more changes. Next thing you know, you are examining your relationships. If we are what we eat, then our friends reflect our personality. Isn’t small talk the equivalent of eating foods labeled LITE? Most lite food is fake and lacks substance. Real friends, like real food, don’t drain your energy; they support and nurture you and most of all they are honest, reliable, trustworthy and fair.