Cooking Tips

Eating a healthy diet may mean learning to use different foods, or learning to cook in a new way. Consider it a challenge – a journey that will result in improved cholesterol goals and an overall healthier you!

Recipes are not set in stone! You can modify most recipes to minimize the fat and cholesterol and keep the flavours you love. The table below lists items that are bad news for your cholesterol health and suggests great alternatives.

Have fun reinventing your favourite recipes – it’s easier than you might think!

If the recipe calls for:	Use this instead:	Here’s why:
Sour cream	Fat-free plain yogurt or fat-free sour cream	Fat-free yogurt or fat-free sour cream gives you the flavour without the fat
Heavy cream	Evaporated skim milk	Similar texture without the fat and calories
An egg	Two egg whites	Yolks are loaded with cholesterol, but there’s no cholesterol in egg whites
One cup of butter or oil for baking	Three-quarters of a cup of applesauce	A good substitute with little fat. Choose no-sugar-added applesauce to cut the calories even more. With this substitution, you might need to ‘play’ with the recipe to get the right texture
Frosting	Mix 1tbsp icing sugar with 1tbsp water to make a glaze	A glaze adds the sweetness without the fat and calories from frosting
Butter for greasing pans	Non-stick spray	A non-fat spray is easy to use and prevents food from sticking to pans
Bacon	Turkey bacon	Bacon made from pork is loaded with fat. Turkey bacon is made entirely from turkey meat and contains very little fat
Cheese	Low-fat cheese	Avoid fat-free cheese when cooking, it doesn’t melt well. Low-fat cheese such as part-skim mozzarella, is a good choice
Seasoning or salt	Fresh or dried herbs, garlic, vinegar, lemon or orange juice in dressing, or low-sodium bouillon cubes	These alternatives can spice up your dishes without adding too many calories, fat or sodium. A wide variety of flavoured vinegars that can spark your tastebuds are available – check the shelves at your local grocery store