by Caroline St Clare

Created on: September 28, 2008   Last Updated: October 06, 2008

Generally we all eat too much fat. Overloading on unhealthy fats can lead to weight and heart problems, so what should we do?

Eat less fat is the obvious answer. Unfortunately, reducing our fat intake is often easier said than done. Not only do hidden fats lurk in much of our food, our taste buds are accustomed to prefer richer foods. Butter or oil is often used to improve the taste and texture of food, but there are alternative methods we can use without compromising on taste.

We need some fat in our diet for many vital functions, but try not to eat more than 15-30g of fat per day.

~~~ Spreading Butter~~~

When we're making sandwiches, we automatically reach for the butter or margarine. However, butter is easily replaceable with cream cheese, pickle, mustard or fat-free salad cream. As long as you always use fresh bread, you'll hardly notice the difference. If you're spreading peanut butter, do away with butter completely.

Toast is rather dry on its own. But hot toast soaks up butter like a sponge. Try letting toast cool down before spreading with butter. This way a small amount will spread much further. Switching to a low fat butter will save even more fat grams.

~~~ Frying ~~~

Most fried foods can be steamed, poached or grilled without butter or oil.

Vegetables can be dry fried in a non-stick pan without added oil as they release their own juices once they're heated. Adding stock provides more even more flavor if you're boiling or steaming them.

Meat can be dry fried in a non-stick frying pan and the fat drained off. Once you begin cooking, the meat releases the natural fat and juices which prevent it burning, as long as the pan isn't too hot!

Experiment with cooking food in small amounts of liquid such as wine, water, soy or chili sauce or wine vinegar for extra flavor.

~~~Baking~~~

Many cakes can be made using only low fat ingredients. Try replacing butter with yogurt, quark or egg. Adding dried fruit provides extra moisture as well as sweetness.

If you must use butter in a recipe, try replacing it with a low fat version. Many half-fat butters are suitable for baking and you won't notice any difference.

~~~ Oily Salad Dressings and Creamy Sauces~~~

You don't need to smother your lettuce leaves in creamy or oily dressings to make them palatable.

Soy or chili sauce is delicious on vegetables and virtually fat free. For salad dressings, mix balsamic vinegar with mustard, black pepper and a small amount of sugar or add your favorite herbs and leave to infuse for a few days. White wine vinegar mixed with honey, orange, mustard and pepper makes another tasty dressing.

Try making make your own alternative to fat-free mayonnaise by using fat-free fromage-frais mixed with turmeric, cider vinegar and lemon juice with a tiny amount of sugar.

~~~ Cream and Cheese~~~

There's no getting away from the fact that cream and cheese are high in fat. But there are great alternatives to the full fat varieties.

Wherever you use cream, try replacing it with low fat plain yogurt, fromage frais or 0% Greek yogurt which is very creamy.

Most hard cheese contain 30% fat. If you're trying to lose weight, replace hard cheese with reduced fat cottage cheese in recipes or quark which is a fantastically low fat replacement for cream cheese.

Overall, much of the fat we consume is easily avoidable. By making small changes to your everyday uses of butter and oil, you'll save calories, lose fat and improve your health.

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