How to Eat and Cook With Less Fat

Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Overall, you should attempt to eat a diet that is low in total fat, and as low as possible in saturated fat. To do this in your kitchen is not too difficult if you follow our tips below.

First of all, you should become more aware of what exactly you are feeding yourself and your family. You should look at labels of foods and see how much cholesterol and fat are in them. Also, you will want to look closely at fats that are hidden in many processed foods. These include crackers, cookies and snack cakes.

Next, you will want to make some substitutions in your cooking. A great way to get rid of fat at dinner time is to choose cuts of beef that are leaner. This will usually involve choosing ‘select’ or ‘choice’ cuts, and not ‘prime.’ Also, you will want to consume higher amounts of poultry, fish, fruit and vegetables. Also, you may want to add more beans to your diet. You will want to choose foods with more complex carbohydrates, such as whole grain pasta and also vegetables, and make these the main dish. Make red meat and cheese the smaller side dishes. You also can do a mixed dish of stew, casserole and pasta and mix them with meat and vegetables.
 
Below are some other great and useful tips to help to reduce the fat in your meals:

• Trim away all of the fat on any beef or poultry you serve. You also will want to take off the skin from any chicken that you use in your meals. Doing these things can really reduce the total fat that you consume.

• Rather than deep frying your meals, you should broil, roast or bake. It is much healthier to prepare you meats in this way. If you want to make sure the meat does not get dry, you can baste it with wine or lemon juice.

• A great way to spice up a lower fat dish is to experiment more with spices. Try cilantro, dill, tarragon and basil to give your low fat meat dishes an unusual kick.

• If you are doing any pan or stir frying, you should try to use small amounts of oil. Make sure you use oils that are low in saturated fat, such as olive oil or canola oil. You should not use butter for frying anything, and you should limit your intake of butter overall.

• Do not use margarine. While many people once thought that margarine is healthier than butter, the fact is that it contains partially hydrogenated oil, and this is bad for your heart.

• Try to not use whole milk products in your cooking. You should use 1% or skim if the recipe will allow for it. Most people discover over time that they can get used to low or no fat milk, and they actually think that whole milk is too thick and rich. You also should try to use low fat types of cheeses, including cottage, ricotta and mozzarella. Look for cheese that does not have more than 26 grams of fat in each ounce.

• In any of your recipes, try to cut down on the amount of fat by 1/3. You will often find that the recipe tastes just as good with less fat.

If you follow some of these simple steps in your cooking, you will find that you will be able to reduce the fat in your meals.

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