Beginners Guide To Low Fat Cooking

Beginning a diet of low fat cooking, may be as simple as changing your method of cooking to baking, broiling, or grilling, in lieu of, frying.

To begin with, fried foods are going to contain more fat content, than foods prepared by baking, broiling, or grilling, especially when preparing meat. The excess fat is allowed to drain and run off the meat, for example, if you are grilling steaks, instead of frying them. Of course, in a low fat diet, lean red meats, and white meat , may be a better choice, since they don’t have as much fat content naturally..

Skip using the deep fat fryers, since they allow foods to absorb and saturate the grease or oil they are cooking in, resulting in more fat calories consumed. Most of these fats are also trans fats, which are the saturated fats found in animal products, that help contribute to high cholesterol and heart disease.

Next, we need to establish exactly what defines low fat food that is used in cooking.

Low fat food usually means that a particular food product has 3 grams of fat or less per serving. Labels are provided for the consumer on the back or side of food products to list the fat content of a particular food. Try to avoid foods that are listed with higher saturated fat content. Some unsaturated fat oils that can possibly lower your blood cholesterol levels, are olive and canola oils. Be sure to use these sparingly though, since they do add a lot of calories also.

Secondly, make a list of foods that are naturally low in fat and incorporate these foods into your cooking. Here are some of these foods listed below.

 Vegetables
 Fruits
 Whole grains
 Fish
 Soy products
 Chicken

Food products you may want to limit or avoid when wanting a lower fat content in cooking, are cheeses, ice cream, and egg yolks, which have a higher fat content .You can, however, use just the egg whites, low fat or fat free ice cream, and fat free cheeses to avoid this.

Although margarine is lower in calories and fat content than butter, beware of using any margarine, in lieu of butter, since a lot of margarine is high in trans fatty acids. There is trans fatty free margarine now available at most supermarkets.

Another step is eliminating fried foods, and avoiding processed foods, for example, cookies, crackers, and donuts, that contain hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, both of which are high in trans fat. Trans fatty acids have been shown to lower good cholesterol, HDL levels as well as, raising LDL levels.

Remember, learn how to prepare your food in a low fat way. Try to bake and grill your meats, rather than frying them, avoiding the high fat content of oils and grease used in frying.

Finally, generally, to begin low fat cooking, use what nature provides, and avoid frying, processed foods, and oils and you’ll soon be off to a great start in preparing low fat meals.