If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then fat - - our most beloved and emulated food - should feel proud indeed. (You never hear of anyone replicating lima beans, do you?) Still, fat has done us wrong, padding our hips and clogging our arteries.
In a frenzy to limit it (and its frequent attendants, calories and cholesterol's), Americans have fallen for a less dangerous, if less delectable, mistress: fat-free foods.
Is the new love affair in vain? Not entirely. While many fat-free foods are drab versions of their former fatty selves, others manage quite nicely without any fat at all, namely those whose character doesn't rely on it.
Most baked goods, for instance, fair surprisingly well without fat; fruit purees make up the difference in taste and texture, which means you can often have your cake and eat it, too. (And your cookies: Fat Free Fig Newtons are every bit as dense and chewy as the original.)
On the downside, there are very few tasty nonfat dairy products. Since butter gets 100 percent of its calories and flavor from milk fat, it simply has no equal. Taking the fat out zaps most cheeses of their creaminess and leaves them tasting chalky.
Another big loser is salad dressing. Unfortunately, the skinny ones don't come to matching the flavor and consistency of their fatty cousins. In fact, many fat-free dressings leave a sharp stinging sensation on the tongue.
For those with discrimination palates, finding great-tasting fat-free foods can be difficult. To save you the time (and calories) it takes to eat your way through the nonfat food aisle at the local supermarket, we've tasted them all for you. Here are five we think you'll like just as their full-fat relations.
Baked Goods:
When Entenmann’s came out with a line of fat-free baked goods several years ago, new stories circulated about women ransacking stores in search of them, mistakenly thinking fat-free meant they could eat all they wanted and never gain an ounce.
While fat-free definitely does not mean calorie-free, Entenmann’s has worked a minor miracle with a majority of these baked goods, leaving in all the flavor found in the originals. Best of the bunch is the Entenmann’s Light Raspberry Twist. These treats are sweet, gooey and low-cal (only 140 instead of the 230 calories and 12 grams of fat in the original), so you can eat a slice without guilt.
Cheese:
Of the few fat-free cheeses worth eating the best is Kraft Free Singles American Flavor. At only 30 calories per slice, it tastes and looks exactly like full-fat American cheese (which weights in at 4.5 grams of fat and 60 calories) and melts beautifully. Healthy Choice Fat Free Mozzarella is also a good option. It tastes and behaves like a low-fat mozzarella.
Cold Cuts:
Because turkey has only 1.5 grams of fat per three-ounce serving, it’s not really necessary to go to a fat-free variety. If you must save that extra bit of fat, however, try Louis Rich Free No Fat Oven Roasted Turkey Breast. You’ll find it identical to the original in flavor.
What about bologna? The more mention of it causes some people to check their cholesterol. Oscar Mayer has a fat-free bologna that tastes like, well, bologna. Incorporating some turkey into the beef keeps this bologna at just 25 calories per one-ounce slice (as compared to eight grams of fat and 90 calories per one-ounce slice of Oscar Mayer beef bologna). The fat-free bologna also happens to be higher in protein (4 grams as compared
to 3) and lower in cholesterol (5 milligrams to full-fat’s 15 milligrams).
Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt:
Is there any point in eating fat-free ice cream? A resounding yes, if it’s Dreyer’s Fat Free Vanilla. While most fat-free ice cream lacks body and flavor, Dreyer’s has both in abundance. At just 100 calories per half-cup serving (a savings of up to 18 grams of fat and 170 calories for premium vanilla), it’s one of the few fat-free foods with enough taste to bump the full-fat version off the map for good.
One of the best fat-free frozen yogurts on the market is made by Häagen-Dazs. It’s rich-tasting and full-bodied while setting you back just 180 calories per half-cup.
Chips and Snacks:
For a true chip connoisseur, there are simply no great-tasting fat-free potato or corn chips on the market. There are, however, plenty of terrific no-fat pretzels. Try Nabisco’s Pretzel Air Crisps, cracker-shaped pretzels that can be dunked (into a healthy dip, of course) and munched without guilt.
When you crave a sweet nibble, try Louise’s Fat-Free Caramel Corn. Toasty-rich and brown sugar sweet, it’s got only 100 calories per one-cup serving. |
How to cut fat THE SENSIBLE WAY
While testing dozens of fat free products, I found one chemical-lasting margarine substitute I would sooner have put in my carburetor than on a potato. That consumers would be willing to subject themselves to this sour, rancid tasting paste is testament to how desperate we’ve become in our quest to banish fat.
This same zeal leads to our willingness to accept products like olestra, the fat-substitute used to fry potato chips, that by law must be accompanied by a warning to consumers about the abdominal cramping and loose stools it may cause.
Still, with 74 percent of Americans overweight, according to a recent Harris Poll, it’s obvious we’re going about cutting fat the wrong way. The right way, according to Linda Omichinski, RD, co-author of Tailoring Your Tastes (TAMOS Books, 1996), is not to dismiss fat but to slowly ease some of it out of our lives.
“It’s important that you don’t move too quickly,” she warns, because “we prefer the old flavors, textures, and tastes too much to sacrifice them.” In other words, don’t think you can fool your palate by abruptly replacing butter with a squirt of lemon. Instead, acclimate slowly using one tablespoon of sour cream instead of two, replacing some of the oil or butter in a recipe with an equal
amount of wine, toasting foods to bring out their full flavor. It’s not about deprivation, says Omichinski, but about tasting food in a new way.
Here are some of Omichinski’s fat-thinning tips:
- Replace some of the fat in baked goods with yogurt, if a recipe calls for ½ cup of oil, try adding ¼ cup oil and ¼ cup plain nonfat yogurt. Also, slightly under-baked low-fat goodies help them keep moist.
- Sauté vegetables in dry white wine for a delicious alternative to butter or oil.
- Marinate meats and vegetables in fruit juice, wine, beer, seasoned vinegar or yogurt instead of oil.
- "Brown" ground beef in the microwave by placing it in a plastic sieve that rests in a bowl to catch fat drippings. Microwave on high for two to three minutes. Stir once, then continue procedure until meat is cooked.
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