Cutting down fat

Because fat is packed with more than twice the calories of either protein or carbohydrates, cutting out fat is the least painful way of slashing calories. All fat intake must be trimmed, even unsaturated oils used in cooking. Remember, while saturated fat is not good for your heart, all fats and oils, regardless of saturation, contain the same number of calories.

Reducing fat intake is not difficult, if you avoid foods naturally high in fat contents, use less visible fat and oil for cooking and preparing foods, and remove excess fat and oil produced from meat and other foods during cooking. The following are tips on reducing fat intake.

• Choose more low-fat dairy products, legumes, poultry and fish and eat less red meats which contain more invisible fat. Remove poultry skin and trim all fats from meats.
• Use cooking methods that remove fat. These cooking methods are baking, grilling, steaming, roasting, stewing, poaching, boiling and microwave cooking. Pour off any excess fat produced during cooking.
• To remove fat from soups and stews, cool them in the refrigerator and then remove the solidified fat.
• Avoid deep fat frying; the calories of battered, fried chicken are three times that of grilled or boiled chicken.
• Do not smother your food with gravies, sauces and meat drippings, as they are loaded with fat and oil. Use only low fat ingredients for gravies and sauces. For example, when making curries, use thin coconut milk or substitute with milk or yogurt.
• Stir-fry meats in a non-stick wok or pan using minimal oil. Sometimes, instead of stir-frying vegetables in oil, steam or boil them first before flavouring with a little garlic or onion oil.
• To reduce the intake of saturated fat, use unsaturated vegetable oils such as soya oil and corn oil. Avoid palm oil, coconut oil, butter, ghee and lard for cooking. Replace butter with soft tub margarine.
• Cut down on butter, salad dressings and other oily condiments.

Tags: fat intake, saturated fat