Do's and Don'ts: Fats

Back to fats.  Once more because they are that big a deal.  I fear I’m doing too much preaching and not enough teaching...I don’t want to forget my purpose here and that’s to show you how to break bad habits and add good ones for the single purpose of getting healthier.

Try this:

• Never, ever fry anything in butter anymore.  Boom.  Simple.  Use olive oil instead.  If you’re one of those FREAKS who doesn’t like the taste (ummm, I guess we can still be friends....) try the lightest of light colored versions.  You can’t taste the wang.  Me?  I go for the green colored stuff.  Yummm.
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• Make your own salad dressings.  It’s a bad, bad idea to put white, creamy stuff on top of your salad.  (I’ll not go into the fat free white creamy stuff here, but hold your horses.  It’s a’comin’...)  Experiment with spices and mustards and vinegars.  There are a jillion different flavor combinations you can explore.  Get you a whisk and after you’ve put your vinegar, mustard, spice combo in a small bowl, whisk a dribble of olive oil in and watch it emulsify.  It’s really cool to watch, by the way.
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• Anytime, ANYTIME, there’s a lower fat version of your grocery store list, buy it.  Stop whining and get used to it.  Isn’t it worth setting a new standard in the name of your health?  (I’ve got so many stories about my kids asking if I’d make “Shelly’s soup” or “Donna’s casserole,” but my gig at my house was low fat.  Period.  And you know what?  Nobody went hungry.)
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• Can you imagine a meatless meal?  No?  Get creative with soy crumbles then, which I will stack up against ANY ground beef or turkey casserole in front of Billy Bob or Bubba.  I PROMISE you he won’t be able to tell the difference.  Get sneaky if you have to.
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• Henceforth, any and all dairy should be FAT FREE.  (There’s always that dang exception though---I can’t find a FF cheese that is any good.  Reduced fat, yes.  FF, no.)  This means milk, sour cream, yogurt, cream cheese (unless you are counting it as a fat and you know who you are!) and cottage cheese.  
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• Stop buying a bunch of processed junky snack foods.  That should be repeated.  Stop buying crap.  Snacks for kids (because you’ve stopped eating in between meals, right?) should be healthy, for heaven’s sake.  Please no store-bought sweets for them...please? 
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• Fried stuff?  Wow.  Surely you don’t need me to tell you to lay off the fried chicken, fried pickles, fried oreos or fried potatoes.  Hear my voice in your head when you reach for your next fried catfish nugget.  For the LOVE OF GOD.  NO.

Is that enough or do you want more?