Low Fat Substitutes for Cooking with Vegetable Oil

Low Fat Substitutes for Cooking with Vegetable Oil
Hi my name is Kirsten Herbes, I’m a registered dietitian and health educator. Let’s talk about some basic substitutions for vegetable oil which most of us are use to in regular cooking on a daily bases. Vegetable oil as you know it, canola oil – vegetable oil pretty much the same thing, they all come from a vegetable source, it’s just the kernel of the oil ground into a liquid for, an oil form. Obviously there are a lot of calories in this, a lot of fat and very little nutritional benefit. Instead what you may want to consider using is an oil that is a monounsaturated oil such as olive oil comes in two varieties, extra virgin is the main variety that you want to look for and extra virgin comes in light and regular. It has nothing to do with the color it has more to do with the flavor of the oil. If you’re a little sensitive to the flavor of olives, you may want to consider the extra light, extra virgin olive oil. The benefit of extra virgin olive oil is that it is a monounsaturated fatty acid which has actually been shown in trials to actually reduce your cholesterol. Another item that you want to have in your pantry is a nonfat cooking spray. Any type will do, these are readily available at your grocery store, they now come in different flavors, they come in different varieties, or they just come in the regular vegetable oil flavor that will not effect the normal cooking process of your food. Obviously you’re reducing the calories and the fat content juristically in using this. another variety of oil that you want to consider using is safflower oil or sesame oil or flaxseed oil. These are not quite as readily available in your grocery store, but most specialty food grocers will carry these. Flaxseed oil is very important with omega 3 fatty acids and will help you reduce you cholesterol profile. Another alternative if you want to avoid oil all together is to use a substitute such as a fruit puree, you can either use prunes for this or you can use an applesauce puree, this comes with regular applesauce that you get at the grocery store, unsweetened is the best variety. It will pretty much do the same trick as the oil that you’re using in your recipe but obviously with a lot less calories and no fat.