Five simple steps to lower the fat in your cooking

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.

Healthy Eating for You: Examples of healthy fats

Fat is an essential part of a person’s diet, necessary to the health of people and a principal source of energy for the body. 

Dietary fats supply the fatty acids necessary for many of the body’s chemical activities, including growth in children, and provide the membrane linings of cells. Fats carry the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Fats lend flavour, texture and aroma to food, and they satisfy hunger.

Fat is not bad for the body. Moderate amounts of body fat, 18-24 per cent for women and 15-18 per cent for men is consistent with good health. Stored fats regulate body temperature, provide a protective cushion for organs and assist with hormone production and regulation.

The fat people consume come from many sources, both visible and invisible. Visible fats are ingredients such as sunflower oil or olive oil. Invisible fats are an integral part of foods, including the fat found in meat, nuts, fish or cheese. 

All fats consist of two types of fatty acids, which are distinguished by their chemical structure and the relative amount of hydrogen they contain. Saturated fats are loaded with all the hydrogen they can take whereas unsaturated fats contain less than the maximum amount of hydrogen. Unsaturated fats can further be divided into two categories, namely monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats.

 Fats naturally found in in foods are made of mixtures of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. Fats containing mainly saturated fatty acids are found in animal foods such as beef or lamb, butter and other dairy products. These are not healthy fats.

Healthy fats are fats containing polyunsaturated fatty acids and include sunflower, cottonseed and maize oils. Exceptions here are poultry and fish oils, which come from animal sources but are high in unsaturated fat whilst coconut oil, is high in saturated fatty acids. Coconut oil is about 90% saturated fat, which is a higher percentage than butter (about 64% saturated fat), beef fat (40%), or even lard (also 40%). Too much saturated fat in the diet is unhealthy because it raises "bad" LDL cholesterol levels, which increases the risk of heart disease. So it would seem that coconut oil would be bad news for our hearts. But what's interesting about coconut oil is that it also gives "good" HDL cholesterol a boost. Fat in the diet, whether it's saturated or unsaturated, tends to nudge HDL levels up, but coconut oil seems to be especially potent at doing so. Nuts, olives and avocados are the major sources of monounsaturated fatty acids, and are also healthy.

The dietary role of fats is not simple. Although a moderate amount of fat is needed for everyone’s diet, many people go overboard. Eating too much fat, and unhealthy fat for this matter, is normally linked to two big health problems; obesity and cardiovascular disease. 

Essential fatty acids as needed by the body are polyunsaturated fatty acids, mainly linoleic acids but it is these fats that are mostly neglected.

Studies have indicated that diets high in polyunsaturated fat lower the blood cholesterol level compared to diets containing large amounts of saturated fats.

The body’s fat intake can be regulated by cutting down on visible fats, shunning fried foods and choosing lean forms of meat and fat-free or low-fat dairy products.

Danie