The
question that many people struggle with is whether fat should be avoided all together
in a diet? The answer is NO! The human body needs fat for a number of reasons.
It helps to maintain healthy skin and hair; it transports the crucial
fat-soluble vitamins A, D and K; it helps a person feel satisfied after a meal
because it slows down the emptying of food from the stomach and it supplies
some of the essential fatty acids – the structural components of fat that the
body needs, especially for manufacturing of certain hormones.
The
question then is how much dietary fat does the body need? In lay-person’s
terms; the body needs only about 1 tablespoon of dietary fat a day. But
unfortunately, it is not that easy. Most people are taking in way too much
dietary fat. The reason is that much of it is hidden in processed meats,
pastries, other commercial baked goods and prepared foods such as French-fried
potatoes, ready-made dinners, fast-foods, etc.
Taking
into consideration that dietary fat is a necessity, the only objective then is
to simply manage and control the intake of dietary fat by lowering the fat in
your cooking.
Here
are 5 simple steps to lower the fat in your cooking:
1.
Polyunsaturated or monounsaturated oils can help to reduce the cholesterol
levels in the blood and therefore even health specialists recommend the use of
these type of oils as the best choice for salads and for cooking. It is a
proven fact that Safflower oil (family of the sunflower) is the most
polyunsaturated of the many types of cooking oil. Others in descending order
are sunflower, soybean, maize and sesame oil.
Commercially produced salad dressings may be loaded with saturated oils
and therefore home-made salad dressing can be made by mixing 4 parts
polyunsaturated vegetable oil with 1
part yoghurt and 1 part lemon juice; adding seasoning to taste.
2.
The yolk of an egg already contains a day’s quota of cholesterol. Therefore,
limit egg yolks to three or four a week. Contrary to yolks, egg whites can be
eaten as much as a person wants. They are a low-kilo joule source of protein. In
preparing recipes containing eggs, discard every second yolk – this means for
instance, make an omelette with two whites and one yolk. The same with pancake
recipes, French toast, etc. You won’t notice the difference.
3.
Instead of frying food, use low-fat cooking methods such as poaching, roasting
and grilling.
4.
Switch to leaner meats and other sources of protein. Instead of mince, sausages
or fatty steaks; choose fillet, or rump or veal. Include more fish and poultry
without skin in menus.
5.
Select condiments with care. Try to avoid tartare sauce and mayonnaise, which
is high in fat. Replace mayonnaise with mustard or plain low-fat yoghurt with
crushed garlic added.