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To keep calories derived from fat under 30 percent of
your daily calorie total (and saturated fats and polyunsaturated fats
each under 10 percent) may require changes in how you eat, shop, and
cook. You can follow these tips for reducing the fat content of your
diet:
Eat lean meats and poultry and low-fat dairy products.
Don't fry foods in fat; use a nonstick pan with broth
or try baking, broiling, poaching, roasting, or steaming instead.
If you do cook or season foods with oil, choose among
those oils that are lowest in saturated fat. Avoid palm and coconut
oils, which are highly saturated.
Cook meat, fish, or poultry on a rack so that fat
drips away; baste with fat-free wine, fruit juices, or broth. Don't
serve drippings.
Trim fat from meat and trim skin and fat from poultry
before cooking.
Cook stews and soups ahead of time and chill. Remove
the congealed fat and reheat.
Cut down on peanut butter, avocados, coconut meat, and
olives.
Read food labels carefully; avoid foods with high
levels of fat, particularly saturated or hydrogenated fats.
Cut down on high-fat snacks such as buttered popcorn,
chips, cookies,
pastries, chocolate candy, and cakes. If you must nibble, try raw
vegetables, air-popped popcorn, or fresh fruit.
Try low-fat or fat-free versions of normally high-fat
foods like salad dressings, sour cream, mayonnaise, and whipped cream.
Substitute fruit ices, which have no fat, for ice
creams, which have a great deal of fat. Calculating your daily fat
quotas and interpreting the fat-content information found on food labels
can be difficult. Here are two useful formulas
To figure the maximum number of calories you should
derive from fat per day, multiply your total daily calorie intake by 30
percent (0.3); divide the result by 9 (calories per gram of fat) for
your maximum daily quota of fat in grams. A third of this figure is your
limit for saturated fats and for polyunsaturated fats. An active man who
consumes 2,800 calories a day should restrict his daily fat intake to
under 840 fat calories (2,800 x 0.3), or 93 grams of fat (840 -;- 9).
His intake of saturated fat and of polyunsaturated fat should not exceed
280 calories (31 grams) each.
To figure the percentage of fat calories in a food,
multiply the grams of fat in a serving by 9, then divide the result by
the total calories per serving. For example, a cup of whole milk
contains 8 grams of fat and 150 calories, 48 percent of which come from
fat (8 x 9 -;- 150 = 0.48).
Source: Reader's Digest: The Good Health Fact Book
Disclaimer: All the information on this page is strictly
provided for informational purposes to better educate yourself only. It is
not meant to substitute for the advice of your own physician or other
medical professional. Do not use the information contained herein for
diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any
medication.
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