Ten Tips to Cut Back the Fat

Thursday, June 09, 2005

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Weight-loss fads come and go. But no matter what you hear, limiting fat in your diet, particularly saturated fat and trans fat — is one of the most important diet changes most Americans can make for optimum health.

The June issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter offers 10 tips to help cut back on fat:

Cool it — Chill soups, gravies and stews, then skim off the fat that floats to the top.

Buy skim — Skim milk may taste thinner at first, but if you use it regularly, your tastes should adapt. Try other dairy products such as fat-free yogurt, reduced-fat or fat-free cheeses and low-fat or fat-free sour cream and cream cheese.

Cook smart — Limit using oils or butter for frying. Instead sauté or stir-fry foods in a small amount of vegetable broth or cooking wine. Try baking, broiling, steaming, poaching or grilling instead of frying.

No yolk — With eggs, it's the yolk that contains virtually all of the fat and cholesterol. Try using egg substitutes. Or, in most recipes, you can use two egg whites instead of one whole egg.

Cut butter and margarine — Use apple, pumpkin or other fruit butters on breads instead. Try fat-free, butter-flavored spreads or sprinkles. For baking, substitute unsweetened applesauce, prune puree or a commercial baking substitute for half of the butter, shortening or oil in your recipe.

Top it off — Use fat-free salad dressing to add zip to salads or vegetables. Plain, fat-free yogurt can be used in sauces for pasta, salads and sandwiches. Top bagels with fat-free cream cheese.

Bean protein — For a meal or two a week, use beans or legumes instead of meat in a salad, soup or as the main dish.

Lean on meat — Use extra-lean ground beef, ground chicken or ground turkey. Instead of bacon, use Canadian bacon or prosciutto, a lean Italian ham. Buy beef labeled "select" instead of "choice" or "prime." Trim all fat from meat cuts and remove chicken skin, before or after cooking.

Meat substitutes — Meatless products, such as imitation hot dogs, bacon, burgers and sausage are available at many grocery stores. They often contain less fat — especially saturated fat — than is contained in an equivalent portion of meat.

Room for dessert — Use fat-free ice cream, frozen yogurt, sherbet or sorbet and top with berries or a fat-free nondairy whipped topping.

Mayo Clinic Health Letter is an eight-page monthly newsletter of reliable, accurate and practical information on today's health and medical news. To subscribe, please call toll free 800-333-9037, extension 9PR1.

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