• Look out for products with the Heart Mark. These foods will be lower in saturated fat, cholesterol, added sugars and sodium and will also be higher in fibre, where applicable.
• Don’t go shopping on an empty stomach! You are more likely to buy too much and to opt for the high fat foods when hungry.
• Make a list before you go to the shops and stick to the list as far as possible.
• Stock up on fresh fruit and vegetables. Don’t ignore the frozen vegetables though as they make a convenient alternative for fresh ones.
• Start to read labels. Look at the fat content. For a healthy low fat product, the fat content should be 3-5g/100g. When choosing oils and margarines, this does not apply.
• Choose a soft or tub margarine rather than a hard brick one. Choose an unsaturated oil or a spray oil.
• Where possible, buy unprocessed meat, chicken and fish products, unless they have the Heart Mark or are low in fat and salt.
• Choose high fibre breakfast cereals and put some beans and lentils into your trolley for a change.
• Look for low fat or fat-free milk and yoghurt when choosing milk products.
• Buy tinned fish in water or tomato rather than brine or oil.
• When stocking up on snacks, choose low fat yoghurts, vegetable sticks, raw nuts, dried fruit or whole-wheat biscuits.

Choosing recipes

To bring a bit of variety into your diet and spice up your ordinary meals, it is a good idea to try out new recipes occasionally. There are a large amount of recipe books available and you need to know which ones are the best to choose. The ‘low fat’, ‘diet’, ‘healthy’ or Heart and Stroke Foundation approved cookbooks are generally the better ones to buy. When evaluating a recipe to see whether it is healthy, you need to look at the source of fat i.e. it should be a sunflower, canola or olive oil, or similar vegetable oils. A healthy recipe normally has a nutritional breakdown at the end and then the fat content can be seen. Look at the cooking method that the recipe uses and try to choose those that grill, steam, bake, microwave, stir-fry or poach rather than fry.

Cutting back on fat

General Rules

• Cut off all visible fat before cooking.
• Use only lean cuts of mutton, beef and pork.
• Keep meat portions small.
• Use chicken (without skin), ostrich and fish regularly.
• Limit your use of foods with “hidden” fat, such as fried fish, sausage, polony, baked good and pastries.
• Use skim milk or low fat dairy products as a rule.
• Avoid coffee creamers and blends that contain coconut oils or palm kernel oil (high in saturated fats).
• Use polyunsaturated or monounsaturated margarines (in a tub) sparingly on bread.
• Use sunflower, canola or olive oil in food preparation, baking and in salad dressings. Use very little oil when frying foods.

• Skim fats off sauces, soups, canned soups and stews. Refrigerating after cooking will allow you to remove hardened saturated fats. Add vegetables later to prevent them from absorbing excess fat.
• Use monounsaturated or polyunsaturated oils instead of butter or animal fats in frying etc.
• Roast, bake or grill on a rack or grid to drain fats.
• Baste with unsaturated fats, tomato juice, fruit juice, lemon juice, wine or low-fat marinade.
• Don’t cook with discoloured oils.
• Make gravy from pan juices after fat has been removed.
• Use unsaturated oils and margarine when baking and frying.
• Use skim milk or low fat yoghurt in creamed soup and sauces.

You can reduce your fat intake by making a few sensible changes to the kinds of foods you choose, rather than the quantity.

Fat fighting tips

• Eat skinless poultry and fish in place of meat
• Choose lean meat and trim all visible fat before cooking
• Don’t fry your food. Avoid fatty take-always and commercially baked products
• Cut down on full cream dairy products. Use low fat cheese and yoghurt
• For every teaspoon of butter, margarine and oil you cut out, you save 4g fat
• One cup full cream milk has 10g fat. One cup skim milk has 1g fat