Cutting down on fat and alcohol

You don't need to cut out fat entirely from your diet (this would be almost impossible to achieve anyway), some fat is necessary for health as it supplies essential fats and vitamins, and helps to make food taste good. Because it is the most energy dense of the nutrients, it makes sense to reduce your fat intake, so you reduce your energy intake. Alcohol is also energy dense and doesn't provide any other essential nutrients so it is a good idea to reduce your intake.

Click here for ways of reducing fat and alcohol intake from your daily diet.

Focusing on Fat

To stay healthy we need some fat in our diets. What is important is the kind of fat we are eating. There are two main types of fat:

• saturated fat - having too much can increase the amount of cholesterol in the blood, which increases the chance of developing heart disease
• unsaturated fat - having unsaturated fat instead of saturated fat lowers blood cholesterol

Cut down on foods that are high in saturated fat and have foods that are rich in unsaturated fat instead, such as vegetable oils (including sunflower, rapeseed and olive oil), oily fish, avocados, nuts and seeds.

For a healthy choice, use just a small amount of vegetable oil or a reduced-fat spread instead of butter, lard or ghee. And when you are having meat, choose lean cuts and cut off any visible fat.

What about trans fats?

Trans fats are a particularly harmful type of fat that have a similar effect on blood cholesterol as saturated fats - they raise the LDL (bad) cholesterol and lower HDL (good) cholesterol in the blood and have been linked to increased risk of diabetes.

Trans fats can be formed when liquid vegetable oils are turned into solid fats through the process of hydrogenation. Foods containing hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil are likely to contain trans fats, so look for these terms in ingredients list on food labels and avoid as much as possible.

Currently trans fats don't need to be labelled separately under European law, however, this may change in the near future.

Where are trans fats found?

Biscuits and cakes, fast food, pastry and some margarines are the predominant source of trans fats in the UK diet.

These sorts of food are usually high in saturated fat, sugar and salt so if you are trying to eat a healthy diet, you should try to keep these to a minimum.

Trans fats are also found naturally at very low levels in dairy products, beef and lamb.

Unsaturated fats

Unsaturated fats can be a healthy choice. These types of fats can actually reduce cholesterol levels and provide us with the essential fatty acids that the body needs. They include the unsaturated fats found in oily fish, which may help prevent heart disease.

Omega 3 fatty acids

Oily fish is the best source of omega 3 fatty acids. These fatty acids have been shown to help protect against coronary heart disease.

Some omega 3 fatty acids are found in certain vegetable oils, such as linseed, flaxseed, walnut and rapeseed, but these aren't the same type of fatty acids as those found in fish.

Recent evidence suggests that the type of fatty acids found in vegetable sources may not have the same benefits as those in fish.

Cut out the fat Choose lean cuts of meat and trim off any visible fat. Grill, bake, poach or steam rather than frying and roasting so you don't need to add any extra fat. If you do choose something high in fat such as a meat pie, pick something low fat to go with it to make the meal lower in fat – for example you could have a baked potato instead of chips. When you're choosing a ready meal or buying another food product, compare the labels so you can pick those with less total fat or less saturated fat. Put some extra vegetables, beans or lentils in your casseroles and stews and a bit less meat. Measure oil for cooking with tablespoons rather than pouring it straight from a container. Have pies with only one crust rather than two – either a lid or a base – because pastry is very high in fat. When you're making sandwiches, try not using any butter or spread if the filling is moist enough. When you do use fat spread, go for a reduced-fat variety and choose one that is soft straight from the fridge so it's easier to spread thinly. Choose lower fat versions of dairy foods whenever you can. This means semi-skimmed or skimmed milk, reduced fat yoghurt, lower fat cheeses or very strong tasting cheese so you don't need to use as much. Instead of cream or soured cream try using yoghurt or fromage frais in recipes.	Swap saturated for unsaturated oily fish instead of sausages or a meat pie use unsaturated oils such as olive, sunflower or rapeseed oils instead of butter, lard and ghee in cooking snack on some unsalted nuts instead of a biscuit make your mashed potato with olive oil and garlic instead of butter and milk for a change choose a fat spread that is high in unsaturates instead of butter
	Foods high in saturated fat meat pies, sausages, meat with visible white fat hard cheese butter and lard pastry cakes and biscuits cream, soured cream and crème fraîche coconut oil, coconut cream or palm oil