When you are watching your fat intake, many convenience foods are off-limits. Processed foods, meal kits and frozen dinners often contain added saturated and trans fats that wreak havoc on your waistline and your health. Following a low-fat diet does not require a lot of cooking and complicated substitutions, however. Loading up your pantry with low-fat ingredients, and using quick cooking methods that require little added fat, support a low-fat lifestyle without a lot of time or effort.
Types of Foods
Low fat meats, such as thinly sliced filets of chicken breast, flank steak and single servings of white fish fillets, cook in less than 10 minutes under the broiler or on an indoor grill. Buy a few spice rubs to sprinkle on the meats before cooking to add flavor without having to wait for them to marinate. Frozen vegetables in microwavable packages steam in around five minutes. Simply squeeze lemon on top or sprinkle with Parmesan cheese for flavor without the fat. Prewashed lettuce and precut vegetables from the produce section toss into a quick salad. Purchase boil-in-the-bag rice, couscous and whole-grain angel hair pasta for quick, low-fat side dishes. Other quick-cooking staples are canned beans, frozen shrimp, instant oatmeal and chicken broth.
Considerations
Too much saturated and trans fats may cause weight gain and increase your risk of heart disease, but healthy, unsaturated fats should be part of your diet to support hormone production, healthy skin and hair, and vitamin absorption. The Institute of Medicine advises you consume a minimum of 20 percent of daily calories in the form of fat to maintain proper health. Include small amounts of olive oil, nuts, avocados and seeds with your low-fat meals to make sure you get at least a minimum amount of fat for health.
Breakfast Ideas
A quick low-fat breakfast might consist of scrambled egg whites with a whole-wheat English muffin and a glass of orange juice. If you do not have time to cook anything, grab a container of nonfat plain yogurt with pint of raspberries or pour a bowl of flaked cereal with low-fat milk and blueberries. Packets of instant, unflavored oatmeal with skim milk and dried fruit or whole-grain waffles with single-serving containers of applesauce also make a quick, low-fat morning meal.
Lunches and Dinners
For a quick lunch, make a sandwich on whole-wheat bread with turkey, mustard, spinach leaves and tomato and have with a bowl of canned minestrone soup. Prewashed lettuce mixed with drained and rinsed canned garbanzo beans, chopped red pepper and cherry tomatoes dressed with lemon juice and 1 tsp. of olive oil with a side of woven wheat crackers is also low in fat and quick to make. A pouch of water-packed tuna with an apple and rice crackers, does not require any preparation and you can throw it into a bag for a super fast, low-fat option lunch away from home.
For quick, low-fat dinners, thaw frozen shrimp and serve over whole-grain pasta tossed with canned diced tomatoes and Italian seasoning. Sprinkle thin fillets of tilapia with cumin and chili powder and broil for two to three minutes per side. Serve in corn tortillas with a slaw made from a package of shredded cabbage, shredded carrot, chopped cilantro and lime juice.
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