When you are selecting foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner, make sure that you are making the best choices. If you have high cholesterol or want to prevent yourself from getting high cholesterol, a diet that is low in saturated fat is important. There are alternatives to common mealtime foods that would be better for your health and for your heart in the future.
Breakfast
You may be used to eating yogurt with granola for breakfast. Maybe you have milk and cereal with fruit. Eggs with bacon or sausage and toast might be your regular breakfast choice. If you are looking to decrease the fat in your breakfast, try having bran cereal instead of granola, which might be made with oil and be high in saturated fat. Instead of full-fat yogurt or milk, have nonfat milk or non-fat yogurt. Egg whites are a great alternative to a whole egg; they are even available already separated in the grocery store. Instead of bacon or sausage, have a fruit or vegetable which are low in fat, high in fiber and high in nutritional value.
Lunch
You might be used to having a salad with dressing for lunch with some meat or cheese. Soup is another common lunch option that you might opt for with a slice of bread and butter. Cutting back the fat during lunch is easy if you are conscious about making substitutions where you need to. For your salad, have vinegar as your dressing, or use nonfat dressing. Try low-fat cheese instead of full-fat cheese and skip the cold cuts. Instead, put some hearty chickpeas, beans or legumes on your salad. Make sure that if you have soup it is not cream based. A low-sodium, low-fat broth-based soup with lots of vegetables would be a healthier choice. Skip the butter on your bread and make sure that your bread is whole wheat or whole grain. Add a fruit to your lunch for taste, nutrition and fiber.
Dinner
Maybe you are used to having red meat for dinner. This might be meatloaf, steak or a burger. Your side dish might be a vegetable or potato. Stick with a lean protein choice rather than red meat. This might be chicken without the skin or fish. Make sure that it is baked or broiled and not fried in oil. Use herbs, garlic or onion to flavor your food rather than oil and salt. Other lean protein choices include tofu, beans or legumes. Vegetable side dishes are tasty and nutritious, but be sure they are cooked right. Steam, or boil them. Frying in oil adds fat that you don't need.
Tips
When you are looking for low-fat food, make sure you check the labels of the food you are buying first. Stay away from saturated fats and oils. As much as possible, do not fry food or order fried food from a restaurant. When you go out to eat, ask the waiter what low-fat choices they have on the menu and how the food is cooked. Remember that it is important to pay attention to portion sizes.
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