Shopping and eating tips for
lower fat eating

• Vegetable oils, lard, shortening and table fats like butter, margarine, mayonnaise, and salad dressing are high fat items. Buy less and use less. Choose fat-reduced brands whenever you can. When you cook and bake, reduce the amount of fat called for in recipes. Look for lower-fat recipes and ideas to reduce the fat in traditional recipes.
• Buy milk, cottage cheese, and yogurt that contains no more than 2% butterfat. The lower the fat, the better. Read more about Yogurt here.
• Buy lower fat cheese (15% B.F or less) for regular use and keep the richer cheese (30% or more) for special occasions.
• Buy the leanest cuts of meat and eat only the recommended portion sizes (~3oz per meal). Trim all visible fat from meat before cooking. Include more fish and legumes in your diet.
• When you cook meats, avoid adding extra fat. Use non-stick pans for stir-frying and use a little broth or juice to prevent sticking at the start of cooking.
• Reduce the amount of baked goodies and snack items that you buy. Choose lower fat cookie choices like: arrowroot biscuits; social tea biscuits; ginger snaps; sultana and newton-type cookies. Pretzels and popcorn are lower fat alternatives to chips, cheese flavored snacks or corn chips.
• Choose carefully in restaurants. Most restaurant chains have lower calorie, lower fat options from which to choose.

The value for total fat is a key piece of fat information on the label Although there is a lot of publicity given to the pros and cons of the various types of fat, it is becoming clear that the effects of the various types of fat aren't as simple and predictable as once thought. For this reason, total fat remains the most useful fat information. When comparing brands choose the lower fat product.

Info adapted from Healthy Eating by the Canadian Cancer Society