Low Fat Dietary Guide To Aid In The Management Of Skin Cancer

Step Three: How To Select And Prepare Foods That Are Low In Fat - Shopping Or Eating Out

The following guidelines provide the basis of a low-fat eating plan:

Emphasize foods such as grains, fruits, and vegetables. These foods contain little or no fat unless fat is added during processing, preparation, or at the table.
Choose the leanest cuts of red meat, poultry without skin, and seafood.
Select non-fat or low-fat dairy products.
Use modest amounts of oils, salad dressings, mayonnaise, and margarine.
Select moderate amounts of fat-free or low-fat desserts and snacks.

Let’s look at some specifics with regard to food selection.

Meat, Fish, and Poultry

A reasonable guideline is to limit lean meat, poultry, and fish to 5 to 6 ounces (cooked) per day. A 3-ounce serving is about the size of a deck of cards. Choose “Choice” or “Select” grade beef. Cuts with “round” or “loin” in the name are leaner cuts. Select cuts with little marbling and trim visible fat before cooking. Select the leanest ground meat. Select processed meats with no more than 3 grams of fat per ounce. Examples include turkey breast, lean ham, and low-fat hot dogs.
Remove skin from poultry before cooking. Look for turkeys that are not self basting.
Use fat-free ingredients like wine, tomato juice, lemon juice, or defatted beef or chicken broth to baste meats and poultry.
Bake, broil, poach, or roast instead of frying. However, if you pan fry, use a non-stick pan and nonstick cooking spray.

Dairy Products

Buy skim, ½ % or 1% milk rather than 2% or whole milk.
Select low-fat (no more than 3 grams of fat per ounce) or fat-free cheeses.
Select cottage cheese with no more than 2% fat.

Eggs

Egg white contains no fat.
Most egg substitutes are mainly egg whites; select egg substitutes with no more than 3 grams of fat per serving.

Fats and Oils

Use cooking oils sparingly.
Select fat-free and low-fat salad dressings, mayonnaise, and margarine.
Nuts, peanut butter, olives, and avocado are high in fat.

Breads, Cereal, Pasta, Rice, and Other Grains, Dry Beans and Peas

Most breads and rolls are low in fat. These include English muffins, bagels, sandwich buns, and pita bread. Exceptions are egg and cheese breads.
Cornbread, biscuits, croissants, muffins, fruit or nut breads, waffles, and pancakes contain more fat. Select crackers with no more than 3 grams of fat per serving.
Most ready-to-eat and cooked cereals are low in fat. Granola, unless labeled low-fat, contains more fat.
Dry pasta, except for egg noodles, contains very little fat other than that added in preparation. Fresh pasta made with egg yolk is higher in fat.
Plain rice contains negligible fat.

Dry beans and peas, such as kidney, pinto, lima, black beans, split peas, and lentils are low in fat.

Vegetables

Vegetables contain negligible fat unless fried or fat is added.

Fruits

Fruits and fruit juices contain negligible fat unless fat is added.

Reading Food Labels

Selecting foods for a low-fat eating plan can be made much easier by taking a few moments to read the information on food labels. The grams of fat per serving are included in the list of nutrients in the “nutrition facts”. An example from a low-fat ice cream follows:

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size	1/2 Cup	(71 g)
Servings Per Container	4
Amount Per Serving
Calories	110
Calories From Fat	20
		% Daily Values
Total Fat	2 g	3 %
Saturated Fat	1 g	5%
Cholesterol	5 mg	2%
Sodium	55 mg	2%
Total Carbohydrates	19 g	6%
Dietary Fibers < 1 g		2%
Sugars	19 g
Protein	3 g

The Nutrition Facts Table provides further information, such as the percent of the Daily Values for minerals and vitamins that may be present. The % Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet with less than 65 grams of fat (30% of calories from fat). Requirements for your low-fat diet will be different! Thus, the information that is important to you will be the Total Fat value, i.e., 2 grams in the example. This value would be applied to your Fat Gram Goal. For example, in our 5’9” man requiring 2300 calories per day and with a fat gram goal of 51g of fat per day, one serving would have contributed 2 of those 51 grams. One word of advice when reading a Nutrition Facts Table is that you should be careful to distinguish between the total fat per container and the fat per serving.

Nutrient content claims indicate foods that are fat-free, low-fat, or reduced in fat. Foods labeled fat-free or low-fat must contain no more than a specified amount of fat per serving or, in some instances, per 100 grams. Reduced fat simply means that a particular food is lower in fat than a reference food. Check the label for grams of fat per serving in foods labeled “reduced fat”. Some foods labeled “reduced fat” may be relatively high in fat although lower than comparable products. Nutrient content claims for fat in food products are provided in Appendix IV.

Eating Out

Recent studies indicate that Americans are eating more healthful meals at home, but nearly one-half of all Americans eat out at least once a week. In fact, nearly 30% of all meals are eaten away from home. Food prepared outside the home usually contains more fat. Currently, fat makes up nearly 38% of the calories of food eaten away from home, although an increasing number of restaurants have low-fat selections on their menus.

Thus, it is helpful to inquire about menu selections when making plans to eat out. Many of the previous tips for food selection apply when selecting from the menu, but may be simply rephrased. For example:

Which items can be prepared without fat?
Are low-fat salad dressings available?
Is skin removed from poultry when cooked?
Is fat trimmed from beef, pork or lamb before cooking?
Can the beef or poultry selection be grilled or broiled without fat?
Can the sauce or gravy be served on the side rather than on the entrée?

These common sense suggestions for low-fat dining out can be applied to specific types of foods. For example:

American Cuisine

Breakfast
Order toast, English muffins, or bagels “dry” with butter, margarine or cream cheese left off or served on the side. Use jam or jelly instead of butter or margarine. Request that butter or margarine not be added to cooked cereals. Select ready-to-eat cereal other than granola, which is often high in fat. Request skim or low-fat milk. Order pancakes and waffles with butter or margarine left off or served on the side. Request that egg dishes be prepared with egg whites or egg substitutes and without cheese, bacon, or sausage. Select lean ham or Canadian bacon instead of bacon or sausage.

Lunch
Order sandwiches made with sliced turkey, grilled chicken breast, or lean ham or roast beef instead of higher-fat fillings such as chicken, tuna, ham, or egg salad. Request that vegetarian sandwiches be made without high-fat ingredients such as cheese, avocado, and mayonnaise.

Dinner - Entrees:
Select lean meats.

Beef - sirloin, tenderloin, and filet mignon (cooked without bacon).
Pork - tenderloin, loin pork chops, center-cut baked ham, and ham steak.
Lamb - leg of lamb with fat trimmed off. High-fat cuts include rib-eye and T-bone steaks, all prime cuts of meat, ribs, and brisket.
Request that skin be removed from chicken before cooking.
Select meat, fish, or poultry that is roasted, baked, broiled, or grilled without basting with fat.
Request that little or no oil be used in preparing entrees that are sautéed or stir-fried. Trim visible fat from meat.
Ask that gravies and rich sauces be served on the side or left off.
Casseroles are usually high in fat.

Salads:

Ask if fat-free or low-fat dressings are available. Request that dressing be served on the side.
Request that cheese, bacon, and avocado be left off.

Vegetables and Starches:

Select plain or grilled vegetables that are not seasoned with butter, margarine, or olive oil, in a cream sauce, or fried.
Choose low-fat toppings for baked potatoes, such as salsa, chives, green onions, or fat-free or low-fat salad dressings or use small amounts of cheese, sour cream, butter, or margarine. Potatoes that are creamed, scalloped, au gratin, stuffed, or twice-baked are generally high in fat.

Breads:

Choose low-fat breads, such as hard rolls, hard breadsticks, or sliced bread. Some soft rolls are higher in fat and may be brushed with fat. Use butter, margarine, or olive oil sparingly, if at all.

Desserts:

Select sorbet, sherbet, low-fat or fat-free frozen yogurt, fresh fruit, or angel food cake.
Eat only the filling in fruit pie (most of the fat is in the crust).

Asian - Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese

Select steamed dumplings as a low-fat appetizer instead of fried egg rolls.
Order fresh (soft) spring rolls as an appetizer rather than fried spring rolls.
Request that very little oil be used to stir-fry entrees or select steamed entrees.
Breaded and fried entrees, such as sweet and sour dishes and lemon chicken, are high in fat.
Curry dishes, made with coconut milk or cream, are high in fat.
Dishes prepared with peanut sauce or with nuts are high in fat.
Choose steamed rice instead of fried rice. Fortune cookies are low in fat.

Italian

Look for dishes that are not prepared ahead of time such as pasta with vegetables, seafood, poultry, or meat and ask that they be prepared with little or no fat.
Select red sauces, such as marinara and pomodoro, rather than cream sauces such as Alfredo sauce. Ask that red sauce be substituted for cream sauce when pasta is served as a side dish.

Lasagna, ravioli, manicotti, and other foods that are prepared ahead of time usually contain high-fat ingredients such as butter, cheese, cream, ground meat, and/or sausage.

Pizza

Begin with a large salad to take the edge off your appetite.
Choose a thin-crust pizza with vegetable toppings.
Canadian bacon is a lean alternative to pepperoni, sausage, and ground meat.
Request that less cheese be added.

Mexican

Request steamed or baked corn tortillas (with salsa) as an alternative to chips.
Order chicken fajitas and request that little or no fat be used in cooking; substitute corn tortillas for flour tortillas.
Use salsa as a dressing on a chicken fajita salad.
Request that cheese and sour cream be left off. View the taco shell as merely a bowl for the salad.
Guacamole is high in fat.
Pinto beans or black beans prepared with less fat than refried beans are available in some Mexican restaurants.