Low-Fat Lifestyle

I wouldn’t normally call a snack “cute,” but this is an exception. And clementines are definitely a great low-fat snack!

Raviolis are pretty fatty. I mean, a ravioli is pasta filled with cheese. How can you possibly make that any healthier?

I found a way. If you opt for vegetable raviolis, you’re guaranteeing that you’ll be eating less cheese and more veggies. And that translates into a lower-fat option! And they’re even healthier if you can find a whole wheat version.

These raviolis are by no means fat free since they still contain cheese, but replacing the cheese with something lower in fat makes them substantially healthier (and substantially easier on your gallbladder)!

I found my whole wheat vegetable raviolis from Calandra’s in NJ, but I would bet that a lot of speciality Italian stores sell something similar. 

Image via groovyvegetarian.com.

Your gallbladder will love you more for eating healthier raviolis!

Cheesy, yes, but it gets the point across: You can still eat the foods you love by making simple modifications that lower the fat content without sacrificing the flavor.

There are some foods that really make my diet a lot more manageable.  For once, however, there’s also a small appliance that also makes my life easier.

The George Foreman Grill.  This thing is intended to eliminate fat in cooking. It is such a huge help for me in following my diet.  I didn’t think I was able to eat steak again, but putting it on the grill makes it as lean as possible. 

Image via tvtopten.com.

Also, it’s super easy to clean and cooks things really fast, which is handy as a college student. Chicken in 5 minutes? That works for me. 

They can get a little pricy. I think I paid close to $60 for mine, but it was completely worth it.

If you have any issues with eating fat or just want to eat healthier, a George Foreman Grill is seriously a worthwhile investment. Grilling is one of the healthiest ways to cook, and this tool makes eating low fat so much easier.

There is one type of cake in this world that is naturally fat free: angel food cake. 

Angel food cake is amazing because it’s supposed to be made with egg whites. For dessert on Easter, I found this recipe for Rainbow Angel Food Cake on Tablespoon.com and made it using a Betty Crocker boxed angel food cake mix.

At first, I was a little skeptical about the idea of rainbow angel food cake. I assumed it would turn out muddy-looking and that all the layers of color would mix together in the cake pan. But it actually turned out just fine!  The difference between this recipe and a regular angel food cake recipe was in dividing the batter into separate bowls and adding food coloring.  Then, each color batter was spooned into the cake pan in layers. And, thankfully, the layers didn’t settle into one another. 

The only weird thing about this recipe is that, after you take the cake out of the oven, you have to stand the pan upside down on the neck of a glass bottle for an hour and a half. …Interesting way to make a cake, but it worked!!

And not only did the recipe work, but the cake tasted INCREDIBLE. 

I, like millions of other people, love Starbucks. But it’s so easy to wind up with a Starbucks drink that has tons of calories and tons of fat. 

There are some obvious drinks to avoid, like their Grande Iced Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha with 520 calories, 20g of fat, and 71g of sugar. If you drink that, you’ve just had a liquid meal, and a pretty unhealthy one at that. 

BAD

Or even one of my (old) favorite drinks, the Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte. Sounds relatively innocent enough, until you learn that a tall has 270 calories and 11g of fat. 

But there are some easy tricks to try at Starbucks that will significantly cut the fat content of your drinks.

Nix the whipped cream and ask for nonfat milk. 

That’s probably the easiest thing to do. If you skip the whip and ask for nonfat milk in that same pumpkin latte, you cut ALL the fat and 20 calories. So now your drink is fat free. 

My other favorite suggestions are their Caramel Light Frappuccinos (below) and Nonfat Chai Lattes.

Asking for nonfat milk and no whipped cream really will save you from drinking a day’s worth of fat.

Normally when people have veggies and dip, all the nutritional goodness of the vegetables is completely negated by the dip. I mean, the dip is basically fat. And let’s be real: the veggies basically become an excuse to eat the dip. 

In trying to find something healthy and low-fat to bring to my New York Women in Communications scholarship sleepover tonight at the Waldorf, I wanted to find a healthier dip that my gallbladder could handle.

So earlier today, I headed to Foodtown and found this:

Image via www.aisleate.com.

Since regular ranch is totally off-limits for me, this stuff seems like a lifesaver.  I’m just crossing my fingers that it actually tastes good!

A little while ago, I blogged about low-fat pizza without cheese. That pizza is fantastic, but I’ve been itching to find a pizza place that can accommodate my dietary needs and give me cheese.

So I decided, why not Google it? A search for “nj low fat pizza” gave me more useful search results than I expected. I found multiple places that offer low-fat pizza by using skim mozzarella instead of the full-fat kind.

Image via foodies.blogs.starnewsonline.com.

I went with the whole wheat fat-free pizza from Master Pizza in Livingston, NJ. Even if you’re not from Jersey, the point is that a simple Google search might turn up a lot more than you expect. I really didn’t think there was much of a demand for low-fat pizza, but I was very wrong.

And the pizza was actually pretty good! You can definitely tell that it’s whole wheat and low fat, but my logic is that it’s better to have this kind of pizza than no pizza at all!

I consider Oreos the pinnacle of chocolate sandwich cookies.  If you read a recipe that calls for “chocolate sandwhich cookies,” you pretty much know the recipe is asking for Oreos but that they just can’t print the brand name.

I thought it would be pretty hard to find a substitute for Oreos because, let’s face it, for all their artificial-ness, they’re good. Really good.

But I’ve found a cookie that tastes just as good - if not better than - Oreos and has WAY less fat.

If you’ve never heard of Kinnitoos cookies, get acquainted:

Image via pickygourmet.net.

Yeah, I know, the name is kinda strange. No clue where it comes from. Not important. The important part is that not only are these cookies gluten-free (bonus!), but they have less calories and way less fat than Oreos.

Let’s compare:

Oreos: 160 calories, 7g of fat in 3 cookies

Kinnitoos: 150 calories, 4.5g of fat in 3 cookies

Image via ehow.co.uk.

There’s definitely a clear winner here. And Kinnitoos cookies are sold in a lot of major grocery chains, so they’re not some obscure brand that you have to go hunting to find.

And if you’re REALLY looking to get crazy with your cookies, make Kinnitoos cookies into mini ice cream sandwiches. Just pull apart and put on a scoop of fat-free ice cream. Fast, easy, and definitely doesn’t taste diet.

If you’re like me, there’s nothing quite like something sweet to take the edge off a really stressful day (or week..). Normally, I reach for chocolate, but tonight I decided to try something different. I went with Simply Scrumptous’s fat-free carrot cake. That’s right, FAT-FREE CARROT CAKE.  

Here’s the label to prove it:

And, of course, here’s the carrot cake, complete with my laptop and homework in the background, just to indicate my stress level: 

Honestly, I needed something sweet, and this really fit the bill. And I got some fiber and whole grains with it, so I really don’t feel bad for how much sugar I just consumed. But really, it doesn’t taste fat free at all. All their products have been really great, especially considering how hard it is to find good, low-fat dessert. This carrot cake definitely didn’t disappoint!