The American Heart Association strongly advises healthy Americans older than age 2 to limit their consumption of trans fat to less than 1 percent of total calories and saturated fat to 7 percent or less. Here are a few tips to achieve that goal:
- Choose a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and high-fiber foods (see also: The Prostate Diet).
- When choosing dairy foods, select those that are fat-free or low-fat
- Read labels. Avoid foods that contain trans fats—words like “hydrogenated” and “partially hydrogenated” are the give-aways. Food manufacturers are required to list trans fat levels on food labels. However, if a food contains less than 0.5 mg of trans fat per serving, the manufacturer is not required to list the amount. If you eat, say, four servings of a food that contains 0.4 mg per serving, then you have just consumed 2 mg, yet according to the packaging, the food does not contain any trans fat.
- Keep the majority of your fat intake from monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, such as fish, nuts, seeds, and vegetable oils (e.g., olive, macadamia, and hemp are good choices)
- Limit or eliminate your intake of fried foods, especially fried fast foods.
- When you need to grease a pan or baking sheet, use spray vegetable oil
- Flavor your foods with low-fat salsa, lemon juice, a few drops of olive oil, and herbs rather than butter or margarine
- Limit or eliminate consumption of foods typically high in trans fat, including crackers, cookies, doughnuts, muffins, and cakes.
- If you do eat meat or poultry, remove any excess fat and skin before you cook it
- Oven-bake potatoes, onions, and zucchini instead of deep frying them
