Cooking Tips
The cooking technique that you use is as important as the actual content of the food in keeping to a low cholesterol diet plan. Besides directly adding to the cholesterol content of your food (e.g. the oil used in frying), good and innovative cooking also helps you in keeping to your diet.
Low-Fat Techniques
Avoid frying your food. The oil used in frying directly adds to the cholesterol content to you food or indirectly causes your liver to create more cholesterol to cater for the increase in digested fat in your body. If you do not want to avoid frying, use non-stick cooking utensil to reduce the amount of oil needed.
Instead, choose grilling, baking or microwaving without adding fat. These techniques almost always produce food in lower fat and cholesterol content as compared to deep frying or stir-frying.
Choosing Smart Substitutes
Instead of throwing away your favorite recipes because they require ingredients which are high in fat or cholesterol, you can choose to substitute the unhealthy ingredients with substitutes that are low in fat and cholesterol.
Examples include:
- Using vegetable oil instead of animal oil
- Using margarine instead of butter
- Using 2 egg whites instead of using a whole egg.
Use Creative Methods
Experiment with your cooking to find ways of overcoming the shortfalls in not using the original ingredients. Use seasoning creatively to improve the taste of your cooking. For example, experiment with different herbs and spices. With a little creativity, you may not even realize that you're missing the fat!