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HOW TO MAKE THE LOW FAT SWITCH TO ONLY EATING ORGANIC FOODS
By Trevor Dalley
Some fat in the diet is needed to provide the fat-soluble vitamins A, D and E, and to make food palatable
However, the total amount in our diet coming from a variety of foods has risen to a high level-about 40 per cent of our calories consumed. Most of these fats are hard, saturated animal fats, the type of fat linked to the development of coronary heart disease.
Animal fats are always highly saturated and some vegetable fats may be saturated, e.g. hard margarine. Doctors believe that people who eat high saturated fat diets increase their risk of developing life-threatening cholesterol deposits in the lining of their arteries.
Recently, evidence has accumulated to show that habitual, high fat diets may also contribute to the formation of certain cancers. We are recommended to halve our saturated fat intakes, and cut our total fat by a third over the next 15 years.
To cut down on your fat intake, you must be aware of not only the visible forms of fat, but also fat hidden in foods. Visible fat is the fat you can see marbling and surrounding meat, or as butter, margarine, shortening or oil.
Invisible fat is hidden, but very much present in milk and cheese, baked goods such as pastry or cakes, and meat products such as sausages and pies.
Reduce total fat by;
Choosing lean meat, fish and poultry; limiting meat products such as sausages to occasional meals only.
Choosing skimmed, semi-skimmed or fat reduced milk, yoghurt and cheese.
Add fat during cooking only where necessary. Grill, braise, roast or casserole rather than fry. Drain any fat that collects during cooking.
Choose fresh fruit for puddings rather than baked desserts such as flans or cakes (you will also reduce your sugar by doing this!) use less fat in cooking and at the table.
Here is a great cholesterol busting vegetable, (if cooked properly).
Cooking Asparagus.
A well-known and successful exhibitor of fine vegetables who lives near our farm in Herefordshire, mentioned to me the other day that Asparagus was rarely properly cooked when sent to the table at home and in restaurants, because of the practice of submerging the whole of the stems in water, thus treating green tops and blanched bases alike.
The proper way is to cook it erect, covering the blanched stem with water, and leaving the green tender tips to be cooked by the steam. In that way it was found that the entire stem was completely done at the same time.
How commonly it is the case that, whilst the tops are boiled to death, the bases of the stems are hard and woody. It seems to be all a question of cooking.
Here is a wholesome Potato Recipe.
First bake a large baking potato, remove the insides, and rub through a wire sieve. Mix in beaten yolks of three eggs, a few drops of lemon -juice, pinch of salt and pepper; last thing, stir in lightly the whipped whites of eggs. Heat one-and-a-half ounces of soft butter or half margarine in your omelet pan Fry gently till the bottom is a pale brown, then place under a grill and brown the tops very quickly. Turn on to grease proof paper, sprinkle with chopped parsley, turn over half, and serve very hot.
Trevor Dalley has been growing and preserving his own fruit for 40 year, most of the preserves are sold in his Organic Farm Shops in Herefordshire England. Did you find those tips on Organic Food a way of Life useful?
