Heart Disease
Proper Eating
Cooking tips
You do not have to be a gourmet chef to make nutritious and tasty meals. Here are some practical and easy cooking ideas:
Preparing the main course
- Experiment with skinned poultry, fish, or pasta dishes as a substitute for red meat.
- Before cooking, try marinating lean cuts of meat in wine or water to maximize moistness.
- Try baking, broiling, boiling, roasting, or microwaving, instead of frying foods. Use a rack to allow fat to drip off the meat as it cooks.
- Try stir frying in a small amount of oil listed under CHOOSE.
Eggs
- Egg yolks are very high in cholesterol. Egg whites and oil-free egg substitutes have no cholesterol. Use them instead. Limit egg yolks to three per week (including those used in cooking).
Reducing fat
- Refrigerate drippings, then skim fat off top after it has solidified.
- Cool the drippings while still in the pan by placing the pan in cold water, or add a few ice cubes directly to the pan to harden the fat. Then, skim off the solidified fat.
- Use a gravy separator.
Try these methods of removing fat:
- Remove all visible fat from meats before cooking.
- Skim the fat from the broth or meat drippings during the preparation of soups, gravies, and casseroles.
Quick meals
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Prepare sandwiches with leftovers, like chicken, tuna, turkey, natural peanut butter, and low-fat processed meats. Beware of luncheon meats made from chicken or turkey, which can be high in sodium and saturated fat. Low-fat luncheon meats should have less than three grams of fat per ounce.
Adding spice to your cooking
- Combinations of herbs and spices, such as paprika, parsley, basil, ginger, and garlic are flavourful substitutes for salt.
- Fresh lemon or orange juice and vinegars make interesting and tasty variations for barbecue sauce, steak, soy, or Worcestershire sauces (all high in sodium).
- Be creative by substituting foods. For example, plain yogurt and chives taste good on a baked potato, instead of sour cream and butter. Or, try fresh, skinned chicken on the grill with boiled red-skin potatoes, instead of fried chicken and french fries.
Creative entrée serving
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Cut down on portion sizes. Decrease the size of your plate, rather than increasing the size of your servings.
Satisfying your sweet tooth
- Prepare delicious low-fat desserts with low-fat or fat-free yogurt and fresh fruits.
- Choose quick and easy snacks that are low in sodium and fat. For example:
- Fresh fruit
- Plain popcorn
- Vegetables with low-fat yogurt dip
- Fat-free frozen desserts
- Fat-free baked goods
