150 WAYS To Slim Down Your Meals

HEALTHY EATING

1 Plan your food shopping in advance, keeping in mind what you are going to need in your quest for fat and calorie-control. Then stick to that list.

2 Avoid impulse buying which is more likely if you have the wherewithal to pay for those impulse purchases/if you shop for food when you are hungry/if you shop when you are too tired to think smart on your feet. Impulse buying is likely to load your shopping basket with foods you never intended to buy, and many of them are likely to be poor choices nutritionally.

3 Read food labels and choose those foods that are lower in fat and saturated fat. You need to be aware of the sources of saturated fats in foods.

4 Buy low-fat versions of dairy products such as skin milk.

5 Be wary of health food traps. Tofu, for instance, is high in fat: soybeans, after all, contain oil.

6 Watch out for labels that say Reduced fat or Lower fat (rather than Low fat). Reduced or lower fat does not automatically means low-fat. These terms only tell you that the shelf product contains less fat than the original one-and that does not tell you much. The fat calories may have been reduced from 88% to 85% -but the food is still high-fat!

7 Consider fish and poultry as alternative to red meat; they are someone lower in saturated fat.

8 Most store-stocked salad dressings are primarily fat, with most of it coming from oil. Some also contain eggs, cream and cheese. A fat-free dressing will usually list water as its first ingredient, followed by vinegar, sugar in one of its forms (eg. corn syrup), spices, and sometimes lemon juice or tomato paste.