If you are overweight or have high cholesterol levels, try to avoid all oils and fats. Fat has twice as many calories per gram as carbohydrates or proteins. Extra calories raise blood and bodyfat levels. It can be tough to maintain a healthy weight if your meals contain high-fat foods such as cheese, whole milk, nuts, and fatty meats, or if you use a lot of fats and oils while you cook.

Cooking with oil adds a tremendous amount of extra calories to foods that are otherwise low in fat. For example, a lettuce-vegetable salad may have fewer than 50 calories. Any extra teaspoon of oil is 45 calories and 5 grams of fat. Three tablespoons of an oily salad dressing can add close to 400 fat calories to that salad. Eating baked potato chips instead of regular potato chips can save the eater 10 grams (90 calories) of fat per ounce. Imagine just how many grams of fat French fries have! A large order of French fries can contain a whopping 25 grams (500 calories) of fat.

If you want to lose weight or lower cholesterol, you have to eat low-fat and high fiber foods. This means eating lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans. Reduce your consumption of highly processed foods that are low in fiber, such as pasta, bakery products, and low-fat, low-fiber versions of high fat foods. Use fat-free salad dressing, vinegar, or lemon juice on salads.

Learn how to cook with flavored liquids in rice steamers, crock pots, or on a grill. Foods can be cooked in water, but water does not add flavoring. Instead of using oils use lots of spices and cook with flavored liquids such as bouillon, tomato juice, or wine. Sweeten meals with fresh fruits. To stay on a low-fat, high fiber diet, you have to learn how to make fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains taste good. Your choice of cooking method can make a big difference in the amount of fat you consume. Bake, broil, steam, boil, microwave, or barbecue instead of frying. Use non-stick cookware. It does not need added butter or margarine to cook food. Fat-free cooking sprays work well to keep food from sticking to cooking pans. Many fat-free cooking sprays come in several varieties to enhance the flavor of foods.

Before you cook, remember to remove the skin from fish and poultry and trim all the visible fat from meat. After cooking ground meat, rinse the liquid fat off under running water before you add the meat to the other ingredients in your recipes.

Last Reviewed 2005

Disclaimer: This content is reviewed periodically and is subject to change as new health information becomes available. The information provided is intended to be informative and educational and is not a replacement for professional medical evaluation, advice, diagnosis or treatment by a healthcare professional.

HIL File NUTR3177.RF2 VRS# 6120 Data Version 7.0 Copyright 1999, 2003 McKesson Health Solutions LLC. All rights reserved.

For more information, please call CHAMPS, 319-356-4652