Need a good weight loss program and you are considering a low fat diet? Here's something you may not know.

Low-fat diets are routinely promoted as a path to good health. But they haven't fulfilled their promise. One reason is that many people have interpreted the term "low-fat" to mean "it's OK to eat as much low-fat food as you want." For most people, eating less fat has meant eating more carbohydrates. To the body, calories from carbohydrates are just as effective for increasing weight as calories from fat.

In the United States, obesity has become increasingly common even as the percentage of fat in the American diet has declined from 45 percent in the 1960s to about 33 percent today. In South Africa, nearly 60 percent of people are overweight even though the average diet contains about 22 percent of calories from fat. Finally, experimental studies lasting one year or longer have not shown a link between dietary fat and weight.

In choosing which weight loss program is right for you, visit several web sites so you can compare the features and benefits of the different weight loss programs.