Gracefoods

A s we enter the new year, many of us will embark on a new round of resolutions about diet, health and fitness.   We at Gracefoods invite you to consider incorporating healthy eating habits as part of your year-round regimen.     In this article we look at Fun Eating with Less Fat.  

Fats 101

Fats in the diet can be divided broadly into three categories: Saturated fats, monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. Saturated fats are found mainly in animal products example meat, milk and milk products.   Whether derived from animal or plant sources, fat contains more than twice the number of calories of an equal amount of carbohydrate or protein.   

In plain English this means fat is…fattening, although we all agree it tastes great.   So how do we continue to enjoy the taste of our favourite foods while reducing our fat intake?

Here are some hints for low fat meal preparation.

Low fat cooking methods

Steaming   - steaming is fast, fat-free and causes minimal nutrient loss. It is the most suitable method of cooking for fish and vegetables.

Boiling is an alternative to steaming, though the nutrient losses tend to be greater.

Poaching is somewhere between boiling and steaming. It is a method that is often used to cook fish. Many nutrients are preserved by this method.

No-fat Roasting or baking can be used to cook large cuts of meat and poultry. No oil or fat should be added before or during the cooking process, and the meat should be put on a rack so fat has the opportunity to drain properly.

Grilling and broiling are low fat methods of cooking thinner cuts of meat, poultry, fish and certain vegetables such as tomatoes and peppersⁱ.

To Fry or Not to Fry?

Cut back on shallow and deep fat frying.

This method adds significant quantities of fat to foods. Fat not only coats the outside of foods, it is also absorbed into the food. Of all the frying methods stir-frying is the least harmful because the amount of oil use is really very small.  

Use non- stick kitchen utensils

If you need to stir-fry food use a non- stick skillet/ frying pan to cut down on the amount of oil or fat used. Remove the food from the pan as soon as it is cooked.  

Other Low Fat Tips:

• Remove excess skin and fat. Trim the fat from meat and remove the skin before cooking. Removing as much fat as possible before cooking helps to ensure that as little fat as possible ends up on the plate.

• After cooking, chill meat stews and soups to allow the fat to rise to the top and solidify. Spoon off fat and discard before re-heating and serving.  

• Use low-fat dairy products in recipes. Include skim milk and low-fat yogurt in recipes, which call for whole milk. Some recipes that call for butter or other fats can be successfully altered to use 1/3 less of the stated amount of fat without affecting the texture and taste. 
  

• Serve smaller portions of high fat foods such as meat and dairy while increasing the portion size of low fat foods such as steamed vegetables, potatoes, pasta and rice.

• Sauté vegetables in stock and wines instead of oil or butter. Mix mayonnaise half-and-half with low fat yogurt. This mixture can be used as a dressing for salads. Include more limejuice, low-fat yogurt and vinegar when preparing salad dressings. Mustard is a good alternative to mayonnaise in sandwiches.

• Replace pastries with fresh fruits.