Fitness Tips: Lowfat living in the kitchen

by David Garred,
Club Manager Dusit Resort Sports Club.

Ciao, welcome back. In fitness corner last week we took a look at positive thinking which I hope benefited most, if not all of you. This week I want to cover a question that we all should know the answer to.
This week I am going to go over quite a few different ideas for preparation of food. Some, even many, or maybe all of these ideas will be old to you but please read the whole article as possibly you may come across one different idea that you will benefit from. Doesn’t that one idea justify the time spent reminding yourself of some healthy tips?
Does lowfat eating mean I have to give up all my favorite recipes and spend my life in the kitchen preparing healthy meals?
Simply put, NO. Living a healthy lifestyle (healthy eating) doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice time or taste. Although it can be helpful if you have “pre-fabricated” lowfat recipes to base your meal plan on, you should expect to make a few minor changes to the old recipes for an overall fat reduction.
The following tips can help you reduce the fat in your family’s favorites without losing all the taste. Yes, it will taste different, it should taste BETTER.
Choose recipes that call for baking, roasting, broiling or grilling. Cut right back on frying and deep frying especially. Sauté and stir fry in wine, soy sauce, broth or cooking sherry. Use vegetable cooking sprays instead of oil or butter to prevent sticking.
Buy the leanest cuts of meat you can find. They may cost more, remember you aren’t paying for the fat that you are with the less expensive cuts. Also, its like anything, you pay for quality. If you want a Rolls Royce you don’t go out and buy that 20 year old Datsun 120Y, and your car does not go into your body. Wouldn’t you want the best for your family and your own diet?
Get out your favorite fish and poultry recipes (the quality of both in Thailand is outstanding, put them to good use) so now you are already starting to reduce the overall percentage of fat in your diet. NOW remove all the skin from poultry before cooking it, trim all visible fats from meats before they are prepared.
Here’s a good one - Use one-third to one-half the amount of oil called for in recipes. For texture, replace it with apple juice, low fat milk or yoghurt.
When making hamburgers with ground beef, defrost the beef in a microwave and just watch how much fat is soaked up by the absorbent paper you defrost it on. Then after cooking sit the burgers on some more absorbent paper for a minute to let the final bits of cooked fat run out. Or simply replace the ground beef with ground turkey. An egg white or bread crumbs helps hold the turkey together for turkey burgers or meatloaf. The texture is virtually the same with much less fat.
Cooking techniques can also influence the amount of fat in a finished entrée. High quality stainless steel pans on non stick surfaces eliminate the need for butter and/or oil to prevent sticking. Crock pots are ideal for lowfat broth based soups and stews. Pan tipping roasting racks and broiler pans allow fat to drain instead of cooking into foods. Woks are great for a stir-fry meal which requires little in any oil at all.
Substitute the flavour of herbs and spices for margarine or high fat sauces or gravies. Fresh herbs have the most flavour, however, you will need to use more than the powdered variety. If you are cooking or serving foods hot, add the herbs in the last thirty minutes of preparation. If the food is prepared and served cold, add them early.
If your sweet tooth is calling, have a piece of angel food cake with fresh fruit or a fat-free packaged dessert. Eat graham or animal crackers, or lowfat/non-fat cookies, and buy lowfat/non-fat ice cream and frozen yoghurt. Once again they will be more expensive but isn’t the best what you deserve and for the best we all know that you have to pay more.
I would like to continue this next week - Don’t let that discourage you from implementing some of the suggestions that you have just consumed, start it with your next meal, start it now. Have a good week.
Seize the day.

Fitness Tips