Low Fat Vegetarian Cooking
Low fat vegetarian cooking tips and techniques can help vegans, vegetarians and meat eaters easily transform their diets into heart-healthy, cholesterol-free eating plans for improved health and longevity.
High fat foods, particularly foods with saturated fats or trans fats have been shown to be detrimental to our health, and high fat diets increase the risk of hypertension, obesity, heart disease, stroke and certain cancers.
However, low fat vegetarian cooking can lower those risks and provide proper nutrition that will improve overall health and wellness.
A cornerstone of low fat vegetarian cooking is using healthy vegetable oils for food preparation. Tropical oils, such as palm oil, palm kernel oil and coconut oil should be avoided and replaced with healthy vegetable oils such as corn oil, olive oil, safflower oil, grapeseed oil, sunflower oil and soybean oil.
Because vegetarian diets often include dairy and eggs, care should be taken to avoid high amounts of dairy fat and cholesterol. Low fat versions of milk, cheese and yogurt are widely available, as well as non-dairy alternatives such as soy milk or rice cheese. Egg yolks are high in fat and cholesterol and should be avoided; however healthy low fat vegetarian cooking does allow for using the egg whites for a good protein source.
Low fat vegetarian cooking should focus on incorporating whole grains, fruits, vegetables and lean, low fat protein sources such as beans, peas, grains, tempeh or textured vegetable protein (also known as TVP). It is quite simple to replace higher fat animal meats with low fat, heart-healthy meat alternatives that are made from beans, nuts, seeds, grains and vegetables.
By using small amounts of healthy cooking oils, low fat meat alternatives, low fat dairy and only the whites of eggs, low fat vegetarian cooking offers proper nutrition that will improve your health and wellness.