How To Reduce Fat in Your Diet

There are numerous ways to reduce fats in your diet while eating most of the foods you like.

Steps:

1. Eat a lot of fresh vegetables and fruit. Eat them raw whenever possible. At least once a week, eat a low-fat vegetarian main dish.

2. Decrease or eliminate the consumption of animal products as they are high in fat. This includes poultry, red meat and some dairy products, such as butter, whole milk and cream. If you do eat meat, prefer the leanest cuts of meat, poultry and fish. Remove the skin from turkey or chicken.

3. Change your cooking method. Bake, broil, steam or microwave vegetables or stir-fry them in a small amount of vegetable oil

4. Season vegetables with spices and herbs rather than margarine, butter or sauces.

5. Separate eggs and use only the whites whenever possible.

6. Try lemon juice or fat-free dressing on salad, or use a yogurt based dressing in place of mayonnaise or sour cream dressing. Use olive-oil-based salad dressings rather than those with cream or cheese. Instead of bacon bits, add nuts or sunflower seeds to salads.

7. Avoid fatty cream sauces and desserts. Pick fat-free or low-fat dairy products. If you love desserts, purchase or learn how to make low-fat, high-fiber treats such as oatmeal cookies, granola bars, fruit crumble or cakes made with whole-wheat flour and unsaturated fats. Substitute vegetable-based oils or Becel for butter in recipes.

8. For cooking, utilize a nonstick pan so added fat will be unnecessary. Rather than fat or oils, use vegetable cooking sprays. If you are sauting or frying, use olive oil rather than butter.

9. When possible, use vegetable oil or tub margarine instead of butter or stick margarine.

10. Eat low-fat cheese and drink skim milk. Substitute whole milk with skim or low-fat milk in soups, puddings, and baked products. Replace with plain nonfat yogurt, low-fat sour cream, blender-whipped cottage cheese, or buttermilk in recipes that need sour cream.

11. Chill broths from meat or poultry until the fat become solid. Before using the broth, remove the fat.

12. Snack on fresh fruit, chips that are baked rather than fried, or air-popped popcorn.

13. For tasty new recipe ideas check healthy cookbooks.