How to Turn a Regular Recipe Into a Low-Fat Recipe

Series Summary

With global obesity figures skyrocketing, people are taking a closer look at the factors that are affecting their weight and asking the question, “Why are we getting so fat?” While some people would say that it is, in large part, due to genetic predisposition, others are convinced that most of the answers are found in the foods that we choose to eat every day. And increasingly, many Americans choose the foods that are high in fat and sodium content, processed and refined, but devoid of any real nutrition. So, there's no wonder. It's just like that common saying, "You are what you eat." However, there is more at stake than simply gaining weight. Many nutritionists argue that this is the reason we are seeing a rise in cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Without the proper nutrients, the human body becomes susceptible to all kinds of illnesses and problems. In this free video series, learn some simple guidelines for healthy eating. Christine Marquette is a licensed dietitian that discusses how to improve health through nutrition. Find out how to lower triglycerides and blood pressure through diet. Also, discover how to improve hair and nails and potassium levels in the blood. Eating out is one of the hardest things to do on a diet. Finding healthy alternatives can be daunting. Let Marquette give suggestions about what to order at many chain restaurants. She discusses healthy menu options for Panera, Quizno's, Buffalo Wild Wings, The Melting Pot, Applebee's and more! So, take a moment, and do the body a favor. Improve nutrition today!

Video Transcript

"My name is Christine Marquette, and I'm a registered dietitian, with the Austin Regional Clinic, and I'm going to talk to you about how to turn a regular recipe, into a low fat recipe. Now, there's a lot of different ways to reduce the fat content of your foods. It kind of depends a little bit on the recipe. We'll start with baked goods. If you're trying to bake cookies or bake a cake or something like that, that calls for oil, a lot of the times you can cut the oil in half, and then add that missing portion of oil, with something like an applesauce, if it's a lighter colored baked good, or you can even use something called No Bake. It's basically a combination of applesauce, prunes, and a few other fruits, that will really give your baked good the moisture and the feel, missing from the oil, so that's one option for baked goods. Another option if you're actually preparing an entree that uses oil, you just want to avoid deep frying. You can use a very small amount of oil to coat the surface of the pan. If it's something for example,a meat that really doesn't need any additional oil, the little bit of fat that is in the meat, should be sufficient. If you feel like things are sticking a little bit, you can always add a little bit of vegetable broth, or chicken broth, or even a little bit of juice. That little bit of extra moisture will really help prevent sticking in the pan, if you're pan frying something, sauteing something, so that's a very easy way to reduce some fat, in regular recipes. Other options, if you're using something that calls for cream, heavy cream, regular butter. All of those things you can actually reduce the fat, by using a reduced fat version of that product, and you don't want to go fat free on the milk or the cream , but as long as you go with a reduced fat cream, or reduced fat milk, that will cut the fat content down significantly, and will still allow you to have the texture that you need, in that particular recipe. Other ways, if you have recipes that call for a lot of cheese, it's basically just reducing the amount of cheese that you're using. That will cut down on the fat as well, and there you can determine what you're willing to compromise. Some people can cut the cheese in half, other people will only cut it down, by say a quarter, so that's a little bit up to you on the actual taste, the flavor, the texture of the product that you're making, but very often you can decrease it by half. Another option is when you decrease, say for example it's cheddar cheese by half, you may want to also add just a little bit of Parmesan or Romano. That particular cheese is already pretty low in fat, and will reduce your fat content significantly, so just a few tips, for some of the different recipe options, cutting the fat in those."