[YOUR HEALTH] 5 Easy Steps To Heart Healthy Cooking

Via OfferingHope.Org

by Melissa Hawthorne, MS, RD, LD

St. Hope Foundation

It’s National Heart Month. All month long we’ll be discussing ways to help you to become more heart healthy. Melissa Hawthorne shares her “5 Easy Steps To Heart Healthy Cooking.”

5 Easy Steps To Heart Healthy Cooking:

1. Eliminate fried foods from your diet and reduce the amount of oil and butter you cook with. Choose foods that are baked, broiled, char-coaled, boiled, poached or steamed.
2. Choose red meat or pork that is lean or round cuts and trim off any visible fat. Remove skin from poultry before cooking or if served at a restaurant remove the skin before eating it.
3. Avoid foods made with sauces that are made with cream or butter. Try substituting evaporated skim milk for cream and use trans-fat free margarine instead of butter.
4. Try to use a low calorie base for sauces and dressings, such as flavored vinegars, mustard, wine, tomato juice, fat free bouillon. These will save you lots of calories and fat by skipping the creams, fats, oils, and mayonnaise.
5. Spice up your vegetables! Vegetables don’t have to boring. Try steaming, seasoned, marinated, stir-fried, wrapped in foil, microwave, stuffed (into a baked potato) and mixed into just about anything.