While a small amount of fat is essential in your daily diet, it is easy to consume more fat than needed. A daily diet high in fat increases caloric intake, which can cause weight gain if it exceeds energy expenditure. Obesity increases risk of developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer, making it important for your health to avoid weight gain. As part of a healthy diet, reduce total fat intake and avoid foods that contain trans and saturated fats.
Snack on Fruits and Vegetables
Fresh fruits and raw vegetables, such as apples, pears, oranges, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes and celery, make for healthier snacks than chips and cookies. In addition to being naturally free of fat, they also provide you with many vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals.
Cook at Home
Cooking at home gives you more control over the amount of fat you eat. Steam, boil or microwave vegetables to prepare them fat-free, or saute them in a small amount of healthy fat, such as olive oil. These fat-free or low-fat vegetables make a healthy accompaniment to your main entree.
Choose Lean Meats
Lower intake of fat by purchasing lean cuts of meat and meat that is not heavily marbled. Remove the skin from poultry, as well as all visible fat from meat before cooking to reduce fat intake. You can also use lean ground turkey instead of ground beef or pork for making meat loaf or spaghetti Bolognese.
Remove Excess Fat
Cook chili, gravies, soups and stews a day or a couple of hours before the meal and cool them in the refrigerator. Remove the layer of fat that solidifies on top to reduce the fat content of these dishes. To decrease amount of fat in cooked meats, place the meat on a rack in a roasting pan. Discarding the fat that drips into the pan as you bake, broil or grill the meat helps decrease your fat intake.
Avoid Processed Foods
Limit foods such as luncheon meats, hotdogs, bacon, sausages, cakes, doughnuts, pastries, ice creams, cheesecakes and pies to an occasional treat, as they are often rich in fat.
Read Food Labels
Read food labels as you shop, and do not purchase foods that list fat among the first ingredients on the food label or if calories from fat are high. Additionally, avoid foods that contain less fat, but make up for it with large amounts of sugar.
Beware of Hidden Fat
Fat is present in many foods such as mayonnaise, cheese, yogurt, sour cream, milk and salad dressings. Go for the low-fat, skim or fat-free versions of these foods to limit your fat intake. You can make salad dressing at home using herbs, spices, vinegar and fresh lemon juice instead of oils to add flavor to your food.
Order Low-Fat Foods
When eating out, order grilled, baked, broiled, roasted and boiled foods over deep-fried crispy foods. Avoid dishes with creamy, hearty sauces that are rich in fat. Opt for a salad, but ask for dressing on the side rather than on your salad. For desert, pick low-fat or fat-free ice cream, frozen yogurt, fresh or frozen fruit or sherbet. Finally, exercise portion control and only eat an appropriate serving size of the meal set before you.
Choose the Right Fats
Instead of always eschewing fat, occasionally include healthier fats in your diet. Include baked or grilled fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring and sardines in your meals at least twice a week, recommends the American Heart Association. Fish provides you with essential omega-3 fatty acids that can protect against heart disease. A handful of almonds, walnuts, cashews and pistachios make filling snacks that contain healthy fats. Avocados in your salads or sandwiches also provide healthy monounsaturated fats that can help lower levels of harmful cholesterol.
- MayoClinic.com: Dietary Fats: Know Which Types to Choose
- University of Hawaii at Manoa: Lowering the Fat
- University of Delaware: Avoiding Too Much Fat, Saturated Fat and Cholesterol
- Colorado State University: Cholesterol and Fats
- Cleveland Clinic: Reducing Fat Intake
- American Heart Association: Fish and Omega-3 Fatty Acids
- Columbia University: Go Ask Alice: Avaovados Are Fatty – Are They Healthy?
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