People are becoming more and more health conscientious everyday - not surprisingly, low fat foods are gaining in popularity. Everywhere people are looking for new ways to cook low fat foods, and experimenting with new low fat and healthy diets.
Did you know: Many types of seafood and fish contain less than 1gram of fat per 100g (4oz)! They are excellent low fat foods to use for cooking healthy meals.
Chicken is another great low fat food. Depending on how you cook it, and what part you cook, chicken meat can have as little as 1 to 2 grams of fat. So if you're looking for that 'ultimate' low fat food(meats), chicken's gotta be it. For example, roasted skinless chicken breast (100g or 4oz) has only about 2 grams of fat. Whereas a lean beef tenderloin of the same serving size contains about 10grams of fat.
How to choose low-fat food
Source: The Swiss Association for Nutrition (SAN)
May 12, 2000
Funny as it may sound, fat reduction actually starts in the head! Anyone who for health reasons wants to reduce the amount of fat in his or her daily diet needs to know what low-fat alternatives there are to high-fat food and to be able to make the right choices. This not only applies to planning one's menus at home, but is also important for those who often eat out - of the the many dishes on offer, you can only make a healthy choice if you know what the low-fat options are. Some suggestions are provided in the following list.
|
Type of food |
Replace high-fat foods... |
... with lower-fat alternatives |
|
Soups |
high-fat broths, cream soups |
low-fat vegetable and meat soups, most ready-to-eat soups (provided that no cream is added during preparation) |
|
Sauces |
cream sauce, butter sauce, béarnaise sauce, hollandaise sauce, mayonnaise (incl. light mayonnaise), pesto, certain ready-to-eat sauces, sauce cubes or pastes (read the nutritional information on the pack) |
tomato sauce, ketchup, tomato purée, low-fat cooking sauce, many ready-to-eat sauces (read the nutritional data; up to 5 g fat/dl is low fat), home-made sauces from meat stock without any supplementary fat, sauces from yogurt, light quark, soya sauce |
|
Fish and Seafood, Tinned products |
Tinned fish preserved in oil, such as tuna, anchovies or sardines |
Sardines and tuna in water, without oil. |
|
Meat, Meat Products and Sausage. Where possible, always cut off any visible fat |
Breaded meat or fatty meat e.g. minced meat, marinated beef, salted or pickled pork products, mutton, duck, goose, sausage meat, bacon, meat loaf, preserved meat, sausage and sausage products, salami |
Lean beef, veal, horsemeat, roast beef, lean boiling beef, turkey ham, ham, dried beef. |
|
Milk and Dairy Products |
Single cream (25% fat), full-fat cream (or whipping cream), sour double cream (crème fraiche), sauce cream, Mascapone, double cream. |
Light cream, sour single cream (15% fat) |
|
Cheese |
Cream quark |
Low-fat or light quark, cottage cheese, blanc battu without the fat, semi- or low-fat cheese (max. 30% fat) |
|
Bread and Dough |
Croissants, wholemeal croissants, butter-enriched bread. |
Breads of all kinds, rusks, rolls, crispbreads. |
|
Grains and Cereal Products |
Some muesli and cornflake brands (read the data on the pack) |
Wheat, barley, rye, oats, maize, rice, spelt, millet, buckwheat, amaranth and quinoa and their products, such as flour, semolina, flakes, pasta, egg noodles etc. |
|
Potatoes |
Chips (french fries), fried potatoes, roast potatoes, croquettes, potato gratin with cream. |
Salted potatoes, potatoes boiled in their skins, mashed potato, potato stock (with only a little cream or butter), baked potatoes, potato gratin (without cream, a little cheese) Savoyard potatoes |
|
Pulses |
Soya beans, soya flour |
Lentils of all kinds (red, green etc.), peas of all kinds (green, yellow, chickpeas), beans of all kinds (green beans, dried beans, red kidney beans, borlotti beans, soisson beans etc.), tofu |
|
Vegetables and Mushrooms |
Ready-to-eat products such as cream spinach, vegetables in high-fat sauces, ready-to-eat salads with mayonnaise or cream sauces, vegetables either baked or preserved in oil |
Any fresh, deep-frozen, dried or tinned vegetables |
|
Fruit |
Avocado, olives |
Any fresh, deep-frozen, dried fruit, compôte, fruit juice etc. |
|
Nuts and Seeds |
Although nuts, almonds, sesame and poppy seeds, linseed etc. are healthy, they are rich in fats and should be eaten in moderation. |
Chestnuts, coconut milk |
|
Snacks and Nibbles |
Salted nuts and almonds |
Low-fat crisps (potato chips) and crackers |
|
Sugar, Sweets |
Ice cream, cream desserts, chocolate mousse, cream quark, Mascapone, tiramisu, chocolate, pralines, chocolate bars |
Low-fat desserts (without cream) such as water ice, sorbet, light quark and yogurt, yogurt desserts, mousses and similar desserts without cream, fruit salad or compôte |
|
Drinks |
All alcoholic beverages such as beer, alcopops, champagne, wine, liqueurs, aperitifs, spirits etc. |
Any other drinks (excluding milk drinks) |
Understanding food label claims
The FDA provides guidelines about the claims and descriptions manufacturers may use in food labeling to promote their products:
|
Claim |
Requirements that must be met before using the claim in food labeling |
|
Fat-Free |
Less than 0.5 grams of fat per serving, with no added fat or oil |
|
Low fat |
3 grams or less of fat per serving |
|
Less fat |
25% or less fat than the comparison food |
|
Saturated Fat Free |
Less than 0.5 grams of saturated fat and 0.5 grams of trans-fatty acids per serving |
|
Cholesterol-Free |
Less than 2 mg cholesterol per serving, and 2 grams or less saturated fat per serving |
|
Low Cholesterol |
20 mg or less cholesterol per serving and 2 grams or less saturated fat per serving |
|
Reduced Calorie |
At least 25% fewer calories per serving than the comparison food |
|
Low Calorie |
40 calories or less per serving |
|
Extra Lean |
Less than 5 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, and 95 mg of cholesterol per (100 gram) serving of meat, poultry or seafood |
|
Lean |
Less than 10 grams of fat, 4.5 g of saturated fat, and 95 mg of cholesterol per (100 gram) serving of meat, poultry or seafood |
|
Light (fat) |
50% or less of the fat than in the comparison food (ex: 50% less fat than our regular cheese) |
|
Light (calories) |
1/3 fewer calories than the comparison food |
|
High-Fiber |
5 grams or more fiber per serving |
|
Sugar-Free |
Less than 0.5 grams of sugar per serving |
|
Sodium-Free or Salt-Free |
Less than 5 mg of sodium per serving |
|
Low Sodium |
140 mg or less per serving |
|
Very Low Sodium |
35 mg or less per serving |
|
Healthy |
A food low in fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium, and contains at least 10% of the Daily Values for vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, calcium, protein or fiber. |
|
"High", "Rich in" or "Excellent Source" |
20% or more of the Daily Value for a given nutrient per serving |
|
"Less", "Fewer" or |
At least 25% less of a given nutrient or calories than the comparison food |
|
"Low", "Little", "Few", or "Low Source of" |
An amount that would allow frequent consumption of the food without exceeding the Daily Value for the nutrient - but can only make the claim as it applies to all similar foods |
|
"Good Source Of", "More", or "Added" |
The food provides 10% more of the Daily Value for a given nutrient than the comparison food |
Detailed information about food label can be found at:
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/backgrounders/foodlabel/newlabel.html