Low Fat Cookery

Low fat cookery doesn’t mean no fat. You do need to have fat in your diet. You just have to watch the kinds of fats you eat. Saturated fats are the bad fats because they clog arteries and general ill-health. Unsaturated fats actually help your body fight disease. In the class of unsaturated fats, there are monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats and both help to lower cholesterol levels. Some examples of food containing polyunsaturated fats are cold-water fish, such as salmon and halibut, nuts, oils and seeds and green leafy vegetables.

Low fat cookery doesn’t mean that you have to stop eating all your favorite foods. You can still enjoy red meat and pork, but you have to make sure you trim all visible fat from the meat before you start cooking. When frying the meat, instead of using butter or cooking oil, spray the pan with non-fat cooking spray. This will fry the food just as well as the oil will. However, if you do prefer to use cooking oil, choose extra-light olive oil or heart-healthy canola oil.

When shopping for groceries, choose extra lean meat and skinless chicken. The skin of the chicken does contain a lot of fat and even if you do cook chicken with the skin on, you should remove it before eating. If you like fried chicken with a breaded coating, coat it with seasoned breadcrumbs and bake the chicken in the oven. Chicken and turkey sausages are a better choice than pork or beef sausages and Canadian or turkey bacon contain less fat than regular bacon.

Instead of frying your food, use other methods of cooking, such as grilling, broiling, braising, steaming and boiling. Allow the meat to drain on paper towels before serving.

When preparing desserts use one egg and two egg whites per serving rather than two whole eggs. Egg yolks contain more fats than the whites. Olive oil and low-fat salad dressings will give you the same taste on your salads so you won’t feel deprived.

Fish is an excellent choice of food in low-fat cookery. Vegetables are also essential for your health and do not contain fats. When making recipes that call for milk, such as mashed potatoes, you can achieve the same effect and great taste by substituting the milk with fat-free chicken broth.