High Fat Intake
      
   Fat is an essential nutrient. Because our body cannot synthesize complete fat molecules, fat has to be supplied by food intake. It provides energy and is needed to cushion vital organs. Fat is also necessary to absorb fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, and E).
So far, so good. But many Americans consume too much fat. High fat intake and obesity are risk factors for cancer of the breast, colon, prostate, pancreas, and lung, even in non-smokers. A meat-based diet, which is high in fat and low in fiber content, particularly increases the risk of developing colon cancer.   Egon Schiele, 1917
   By cutting down your fat intake to no more than 30% of total calorie intake and watching your weight, you can reduce your personal cancer risk.
      
Gustav Klimt, 1906   tip Buy skim milk, skim milk-based cheese, and low-fat dairy products such as yogurt, sour cream, cream cheese, and cottage cheese.
Select low-fat versions of margarine, salad dressings, and mayonnaise.
   tip Chill soups and stews and skim off the fat that collects on the surface.
Instead of oil for sauteing, use wine, bouillon or tomato juice.
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Saturated fats are usually solid at room temperature. They are mainly of animal origin (fat in meat, poultry skin, and seafood, beef tallow, lard, butter, and egg yolks), but solid plant fats (e.g., coconut fat) are also high in saturated fat.
Saturated fat is responsible for raising cholesterol levels.

  
tip When buying lean cuts of meat, look for the words "loin" or "round" in the name, such as pork tenderloin or beef eye of round.
The leanest part of the chicken is the skinless breast.
      


tip Use fat-free sour cream with fresh herbs on a baked potato for a satisfying fat-free, low-calorie meal.		   tip It is easy to decrease the fat content of meat because excessive fat is visible. Trimming visible fat prior to cooking, e.g., from a sirloin steak, reduces total fat per serving by nearly 50%.   Marc Chagall, 1887
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Vincent van Gogh, 1888   Poly- and monounsaturated fats are of plant origin. They usually are liquid at room temperature. Vegetable oils such as safflower, sunflower, corn, soybean, canola, peanut, and olive oil belong in this category.
   Margarine consists of vegetable oil which has been made more solid by the process of hydrogenation. Nuts, including almonds, pecans, walnuts, and hazelnuts as well as avocados are also a good source of unsaturated fat.
   When part of a healthy diet, these unsaturated oils can help to decrease high blood cholesterol levels.
      


Even though no connection has yet been found between high blood cholesterol levels and cancer, a diet low in saturated fat is mandatory for the prevention of coronary heart disease.
   Recent scientific findings suggest that certain types of unsaturated fat might play an active role in cancer prevention.

   tip Enhance the natural flavors of vegetables, meats, poultry, and fish with fresh herbs, spices or seasoning blends, lemon juice or wine vinegar, rather than adding rich sauces. Use flavored mustard instead of a creamy sauce.
When you reduce the amount of fat in a savory recipe, increase the seasoning by about one-half.
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Gustav Klimt, 1907   The correlation between eating habits and incidence rates of certain cancers was first suspected from the findings of an epidemiologic investigation of Chinese and Japanese immigrants to the USA. With the adoption of more Western eating habits in the second generation, which involved increased fat consumption, the originally low rates of breast and colon cancer increased to American levels.
   Simultaneously, there was a decrease in the incidence of stomach cancer in culturally assimilated Japanese immigrants as compared to the high rates observed in the native Japanese population. The risk of developing stomach cancer is enhanced by frequent consumption of nitrite-cured or smoked food.
      
tip When baking a cake, use vegetable oil in place of melted shortening, butter or lard in order to replace saturated by unsaturated fat. For reduction of total fat, replace some of the stick margarine or butter stated in the recipe by a reduced-fat spread. In this case, you may need to adjust the amount of fluid in the recipe to compensate for additional water contained in the spread.  


caution Parents should not limit fat intake for infants and toddlers. Small children need fat and calories to fuel their rapid growth. Toddlers up to two years need whole cow's milk. Lower-fat milk may be gradually introduced after the age of two.

  


tip Reduce total fat by using egg whites instead of whole eggs, and by replacing pastry dough crusts in pie recipes by graham cracker crumb crusts.
   Rich chocolate flavor with less fat comes from unsweetened cocoa, with just one gram of fat per tablespoon, as a substitute for baking chocolate.
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tip For moisture, flavor, and tender texture of low-fat cookies, cakes, quick breads, and muffins, replace some of the shortening in the recipe with applesauce, prune or banana puree, shredded carrots or low-fat sour cream.
   Naturally occurring substances in prunes enhance other flavors in the recipe such as chocolate or cinnamon.		   tip When you modify a recipe using fruit purees, substitute 1/2 as much of the chosen substitute, such as prune or banana puree, for fat. For example, use 1/2 cup of pureed prunes in place of one cup of butter.   Claude Monet, 1865
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