We often wonder why we don't lose weight, despite the fact that we do not eat fatty food ... or do we? Here are a couple of tips that should help you to make low-fat choices.

Health products

Just because a product is labelled “healthy”, it doesn’t mean that it is low fat. Take for example the crunchy muesli or the seed bar in the table above. Nuts (major ingredients in these two examples), are packed with plant fat (and calories), so eat them in moderation.

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Many cereals contain minimal fat (bran flakes, corn flakes, weetbix, some porridges) and yet are delicious and nutritious, so when trying to lose weight, opt for these varieties.

Beware of salads!

Another common mistake is to assume that all salads are low-fat and excellent choices, yet if you look at the table above, you will see that this Greek salad contained 19.3g of fat (due to the feta cheese and French salad dressing), making it a really high fat option! Always ask for the salad dressing separately when eating out and use it sparingly.

Read labels

Learning to read food labels effectively, will help you to make informed and wise low-fat choices. You will be amazed at the fat content of many so-called low-fat or “slimming” foods.

Cut out butter and margarine

Does this sound harsh? It’s not actually that difficult and the fat savings you would achieve each day are enormous. For example, try chunky low-fat/fat-free cottage cheese with your baked potato and a low-fat cheese spread on your sandwich instead of butter/margarine and yellow cheese.

This could save you about 30g of saturated fat in your daily diet (and ultimately your hips) and possibly arteries! We are so conditioned to using butter or margarine and yet neither is really necessary.

Snack biscuits

When choosing biscuits or crackers for snacks, carefully read the labels. Whilst you might think that, for example, muesli rusks are such a good low-fat option, they actually contain as much fat as three chocolate biscuits! Many crackers are now being produced in low fat varieties.

Animal fat and junk food

Avoid these as much as possible! The easiest way to do this is to:

• Avoid junk food. Full stop!
• Choose low fat or fat free dairy products, but please don’t cut out dairy products. A glass of skimmed milk is packed with calcium, protein, carbohydrates and many other excellent nutrients.
• Buy lean cuts of meat and remove visible fat (including chicken skin).
• Prepare food as discussed below 

Research studies show that for several hours after consuming a high-fat meal (over 50g), your blood vessels are less elastic (not a good thing!) and your blood-clotting factors rise dramatically which adds to your risk of suffering from a stroke.

Food preparation

• Stay away from fried foods, and rather grill your food or cook in a microwave. When you need to use oil, opt for canola or olive oil.
• Use Bulgarian yoghurt in recipes requiring cream and use cottage cheese or yoghurt in dips rather than creamed cheese.
• The Lean Aubergine has some excellent tips regarding food preparation as well as many delicious low-fat recipes, which I can highly recommend.

When all is said and done, dietary fat does have several roles to play in the normal functioning of our bodies and therefore should not be avoided completely!

However, Western diets usually provide adequate fat and there are very few cases where a person consumes too little fat.
 

(If you would like to purchase a copy of The Lean Aubergine - A South African Guide to Low Fat Shopping, Cooking and Eating Out (written by dieticians Karen Protheroe and Moira van der Linde) send an email to karenrd@mweb.co.za)  

(The Lean Aubergine Dietetic Services, Health24, December 2010)

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