Tip #6) Know Your Fats
Fat provides flavor and makes you feel full. It also provides energy, and essential fatty acids for healthy skin, and helps the body absorb the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. But fat also has nine calories per gram, compared to four calories per gram in carbohydrates and protein. If you eat too much fat every day, you may get more calories than your body needs, and too many calories can contribute to weight gain.
Too much saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol in the diet increases the risk of unhealthy blood cholesterol levels, which may increase the risk of heart disease. People should lower all three, not just one or the other.
Saturated fat is found mainly in foods from animals. Major sources of saturated fats are:
- cheese
- beef
- milk
Trans fat results when manufacturers add hydrogen to vegetable oil to increase the food's shelf life and flavor. Trans fat can be found in:
- vegetable shortenings
- some margarines
- crackers
- cookies
- other snack foods
Cholesterol is a fat-like substance in foods from animal sources such as:
- meat
- poultry
- egg yolks
- milk and milk products
Most of your fats should come from polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, such as those that occur in:
- fish
- nuts
- soybeans
- corn oil
- canola oil
- olive oil
- other vegetable oils
This type of fat does not raise the risk of heart disease and may be beneficial when consumed in moderation.
Tip #7) Make Choices That Are Lean, Low-fat, or Fat-free
When buying meat, poultry, milk, or milk products, choose versions that are lean, low-fat, or fat-free. Choose lean meats like chicken without the skin and lean beef or pork with the fat trimmed off.
If you frequently drink whole milk, switch to 1 percent milk or skim milk. Many people don't taste a difference. Some mix whole milk with lower-fat milk for a while so the taste buds can adjust. This doesn't mean you can never eat or drink the full-fat versions. Remember, that's where the discretionary calories come in.
Other tips to reduce saturated fat include:
- Cooking with non-stick sprays and using olive, safflower, or canola oils instead of lard or butter.
- Eating more fish, which is usually lower in saturated fat than meat.
- Bake, grill, and broil food instead of frying it because more fat is absorbed into the food when frying.
- You could also try more meatless entrees like veggie burgers and add flavor to food with low-fat beans instead of butter.
Look at these differences in calorie content of commonly consumed foods from, ARS Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 17
Tip #8) Focus on Fruit
The Dietary Guidelines recommend two cups of fruit per day at the 2,000-calorie reference diet. Fruit intake and recommended amounts of other food groups vary at different calorie levels. An example of two cups of fruit includes:
- one small banana
- one large orange
- one-fourth cup of dried apricots or peaches
Eat a variety of fruits--whether fresh, frozen, canned, or dried--rather than fruit juice for most of your fruit choices. The whole fruit has more fiber, it's more filling, and it's naturally sweet. Some juices, such as orange and prune, are a good source of potassium.
Ways to incorporate fruit in your diet include:
- adding it to your cereal
- eating it as a snack with low-fat yogurt or a low-fat dip
- making a fruit smoothie for dessert by mixing low-fat milk with fresh or frozen fruit such as strawberries or peaches.
Also, your family is more likely to eat fruit if you put it out on the kitchen table.
Tip #9) Make Half Your Grains Whole
Like fruits and vegetables, whole grains are a good source of vitamins, minerals, and fiber.
In general, at least half the grains you consume should come from whole grains. For many, but not all, whole grain products, the words "whole" or "whole grain" will appear before the grain ingredient's name. The whole grain must be the first ingredient listed in the ingredients list on the food package. The following are some whole grains:
- whole wheat
- whole oats
- oatmeal
- whole-grain corn
- popcorn
- wild rice
- brown rice
- buckwheat
- whole rye
- bulgur
- cracked wheat
- whole-grain barley
- millet
Whole-grain foods cannot necessarily be identified by their color or by names such as brown bread, nine-grain bread, hearty grains bread, or mixed grain bread.
