Recommendations for Low-Fat Diets

The American Heart Association recommends a diet low in saturated fats for everyone, especially those who are overweight or at risk for heart disease. It can be challenging to create a diet that is low in unhealthy fat while still maintaining the right amount of healthy fat. Knowing what foods contain healthy and unhealthy fats enables you to make smart food choices that improve your health and help you lose weight.

Good and Bad Fats

Unsaturated fat, sometimes referred to as good fat, includes both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated varieties. Monounsaturated fats lower bad -- or LDL -- cholesterol levels and increase good -- or HDL -- cholesterol levels. Polyunsaturated fat also lowers LDL cholesterol. The bad fats, responsible for raising LDL cholesterol, include saturated fats and trans-fats. Trans-fats are so unhealthy that they not only raise LDL cholesterol levels, they lower HDL cholesterol.

Meat, Poultry and Fish

A healthy low-fat diet includes no more than 6 ounces of lean meat, skinless poultry or seafood each day. Consume at least two servings a week of oily fish, such as salmon, herring, anchovies, mackerel and sardines. When switching to a low-fat diet, replace meat with peas, lentils, tofu or beans. Each provides protein and helps you reduce cravings when altering your diet. In addition to fish, healthy meat and poultry choices include chicken, turkey, sirloin, chuck or loin beef, lean veal and wild game.

The Mystery of Oil

Prepare food with the right kind of oil to enhance the healthy aspects of a dish. According to the American Heart Association, cooking oil should contain higher amounts of mono- or polyunsaturated fats, with little to no saturated or trans-fats. Try flax seed, canola, peanut, olive, safflower or sunflower oils. Cooking oils to avoid include palm, margarine and coconut.

Snacks

Trans-fat is created when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil. It is a process used to lengthen the shelf life of food and is found in most processed snack foods. Consumers have no way of knowing whether a product contains low levels of trans-fats because anything with less than half a gram can be labeled as being void of this unhealthy fat. To maintain a low-fat diet free of trans-fat, avoid all processed foods. Snack on fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts and seeds. These items are low in fat or, in the case of nuts, contain only healthy fat.

Strive for Balance

Try not to make fat your only focus. If a product's marketing boasts that it is low-fat, ask yourself how the company accomplished this and why it needs to brag about it. Chances are the product is filled with artificial flavors and preservatives. Instead of fixating on eating only low-fat foods, aim to add as many fruits and vegetables as possible to your daily menu. Prepare foods in a healthy way, such as steaming instead of frying. Your diet will automatically be low-fat if you focus on adding healthy options.