subject: Low Fat Substitutes For Recipes [print this page] Over the years, greasy and fatty foods have taken a number of forms. This made healthy meal preparation more challenging. In addition to butter, oils, and the visible fat of pork, beef and poultry, fat and grease has taken other names such as hydrogenated vegetable oils or trans fat, which often gives an impression of being 'healthy'.
Even to your simple cookie to your daily breads, these ingredients can be concealed behind hard-to-pronounce fat ingredients and have you fooled for believing that they are healthy. Hence, fatty ingredients as well as fat-laden cooking methods can easily ruin the progress of your exercise diet routine. By making low fat substitutes to your daily meal recipes, you can prepare healthier meals and effectively cut down your daily fat intake.
The key to effective food substitution is getting familiarized with the names of 'sneaky fats'. These forms of fats are usually listed in the ingredients list of your favorite crackers, muffins and snacks and included in your fast-food meal takeouts. As a rule of thumb, stay away from anything that contains hydrogenated oils or trans fat or ingredients that are difficult to pronounce. These ingredients are either unhealthy fat or chemical-based ingredients, which are bad to your diet.
Start your low fat substitution with the usual ingredients of your daily meals. If you are fond of fried foods, try baking, roasting, broiling, grilling, steaming or microwaving your fish, poultry or red meat to make a healthier change. Trim all visible fat before cooking.
Also, instead of lathering your red or white meat with butter or gravy, prepare it with herbs and spices, onion, garlic or wine to bring out their juicy goodness. Instead of sauteing or frying your food in oil, try using a non-stick cooking spray to minimize your oil usage and still make your food nicely cooked.
If you are fond of pastries and can't do away with hard shortening or lard, try using olive, sunflower, canola or soybean oil as they are healthier than solidified fat. With recipes that ask for whole eggs, try using egg substitutes or simply remove the egg yolk.
For your salads, drizzle it with olive oil, vinegar or lemon juice instead of creamy salad dressings. Sour cream and plain low-fat yogurt are great substitutes for mayonnaise. Be easy on your creamer. Use non-fat skimmed milk instead of whole milk or nondairy creamers. Another common food that is high in fat is cheese. Start using part-skim ricotta, low-fat cream cheese and cottage cheese instead of your usual hard full-fat cheeses.
Desert recipes are usually loaded with fat and sugar. Here's what you should do; instead of putting your berries and fruit slices in clouds of whipped or heavy cream, place them in your homemade low-fat whipped cream, which is done by vigorously beating a mixture of one part skim milk or evaporated skim milk and one part cream. Instead of downing full-fat ice cream, serve non-fat frozen yogurt, ice milk, fruit ices and fruit sherbets.
To easily remember and keep track of your low fat recipe substitutes, follow your exercise diet with a nutrition diary. This should keep a log of your healthier recipe substitutes and will help you effectively lower your fat consumption.
By listing every food item that you use in preparing your meals and following your daily recipes, you can easily optimize the weight loss and health benefits of your exercise diet routine. Now you can look forward to seeing the slimmer, lighter, more energetic and disease-free version of you.
