1. Pizza
It's not exactly a
low-fat food, Beck said, but it does have considerably less fat, sodium
and calories than a cheeseburger with fries. And there are some
nutritional benefits.
"The cheese gives you some calcium, although
you're getting a bit of saturated fat and sodium. Tomato sauce gives
you vitamins A and C and the cancer-fighting chemical lycopene. Top it
with vegetables and you're getting extra fibre."
According to Beck, the best way to order your
pizza
is: thin crust, whole wheat if you can, half the cheese, either chicken
breast or ham, lots of vegetables and order a salad to go along with
it.
"Don't have a pizza-only meal because you'll end up eating too much," she said.
2. French Fries
"If
you go into a fast-food joint, usually a large order of fries is going
to cost you 550 calories, 25 grams of fat and anywhere up to 850
milligrams of sodium," Beck explained. "And they're deep-fried often in
hydrogenated vegetable oil so you're getting up to six grams of trans
fat, that unhealthy fat that increases your LDL cholesterol."
The
solution? Make your own fries at home. Bake them in the oven or look for
frozen brands that are low in fat - many don't have
trans fat
as well - at your local grocery store or supermarket. Remember to read
the nutritional labels! If you want to try something a little different
at home and you're looking for a boost of beta carotene and fibre, take a
sweet potato, cut it into slices, brush with canola oil and bake in the
oven.
3. Baked potato chips
Those crafty food
scientists at Frito-Lay figured out that deep-frying chips adds a lot of
fat and calories. Their solution? Bake those chips in a nice, hot oven.
They’ll come out crispy, but they won’t drip grease like a leaky oil
tanker. Baked! Lays KC Masterpiece barbecue-flavored chips contain about
120 calories and 3 grams of fat per serving (about 11 chips). Fried
barbecue Lays harbor about 150 calories and 10 grams of fat. It’s a big
difference and it makes a previously off-limits food available for light
snacking. And the baked Lays actually taste quite good. If you’re
looking for something a bit fancier, check out Kettle Brand Bakes Potato
Chips. The gourmet baked chips are good enough to be served in your
favorite fancy restaurant.
4. Low-fat cheese puffs
The
cheese puff represents a major breakthrough in snack science (and
particle physics, but that’s another article). Nobody really knows what a
cheese puff actually is, but we all love to gobble them down during
halftime. Once again, the smarty-pants over at Frito-Lay devised a way
of making low-fat, low-calorie Cheetos. They shaved about 40 calories
(from 160 to 120) and about 6 grams of fat (from 10 to 4) off a serving.
If
Cheetos are too scientific for you, you may want to check out Annie’s
Homegrown Cheddar Bunnies. They’re not quite low-calorie and low-fat,
but they’re a lot more satisfying than Cheetos. Each serving of the
savory bunny-shaped crackers contains 150 calories and 7 grams of fat.
5. Low-cal, low- sodium pretzels
Pretzels
seem healthy because they’re relatively sedate snacks. Because of this,
it’s easy to gobble up too many of the tasty knots. If you’re going to
snack on pretzels, look for healthy ones. Legendary actor-turned-natural
food mogul Paul Newman makes (or has other people make) some
delightfully healthy and tasty pretzel snacks. The Salt ‘N Pepper flavor
is especially delicious, adding a much-needed zing. One serving only
has 100 calories and 1 gram of fat. Or try the orgasmically delicious
Snyder’s of Hanover Honey Mustard & Onion Nibblers, which have 130
calories and 3 grams of fat.
Fat and calories are a big deal, but the sodium in most pretzels can
be your kryptonite, especially if you’re on a low-sodium diet. Regular
salted pretzels (including Newman’s) contain about 400 mg of sodium.
Unsalted pretzels are much better, as they only have about 110 mg of
sodium. Of course, salt makes pretzels tasty and just a little goes a
long way. Low-sodium versions -- like Penn Dutch Extra Dark Reduced
Sodium pretzels -- taste great, but they only have about 190 mg of
sodium.
6. Better chocolate bars
Unfortunately, the massive
food-engineering
firms haven’t really figured out how to concoct a good, low-calorie
chocolate bar. They’ve made a few breakthroughs, but diluted or modified
chocolate is about as appealing as eating fresh potting soil.
If
you must have a chocolate bar, eat only half. There are a few
mass-produced bars that are better than others when it comes to fat and
calories. Snickers, for instance, contains 280 calories and 14 grams of
fat. Kit Kat is a little better, with 218 calories and 11 grams of fat.
Plus, you can eat just one of the bars in a Kit Kat pack and halve that
calorie count.
7. Low-fat cookies
Your regular, no-frills
chocolate chip cookie contains 59 calories and 3 grams of fat. Others,
like Archway’s apple-filled oatmeal cookie, hold about 98 calories each.
Taken in small quantities, cookies aren’t all that bad. When swallowed
by the dozen, however, cookies can
clog arteries
and cause you to swell like a balloon. If you must indulge in cookies,
reach for the smaller ones or try Newman’s Fig Newmans cookies, an
all-natural alternative to overprocessed and chemically enhanced sweets.
The no-fat versions have about 60 calories per cookie, and of course,
no fat. They’re also super-tasty and figs contain tons of calcium -- an
added benefit.
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