Tips - Tricks to Cook Leaner

Sometimes a cheeseburger and fries is not good for you

Meats are one source of excess fat in our diets. Consider substituting lower fat ingredients, such as ground chicken (6 grams fat/4 ounce serving) or turkey for higher fat ground beef (11-17 gm fat/4 oz) in recipes from meatloaves to tacos. You might also see if your taste buds will accept turkey bacon (28 grams fat per 100 grams cooked) or lean prosciutto (5 gm fat/100 gm serving) instead of pork bacon (42 gm fat/100 gm cooked).

Full-fat dairy products are another source of dietary fats. If you typically use sour cream (48.2 gm fat/cup), try fat-free plain yogurt (0.4 gm fat/ cup) instead.

Cooking oils are another common source of fat in our foods. Did you know that you can substitute applesauce (.2 grams fat/ cup) for half of the butter (184 gm fat/ cup) or canola oil (218 gm fat/ cup) in recipes for quick breads and cakes?

These simple switches can aid your campaign against excess dietary cholesterol and other fats. To check out fat content of foods and ingredients, and even find out how much exercise you would need to do to burn off the calories, check out the CalorieKing website.