6 ways eating healthy fats can contribute to weight loss

Here are some ways to cut back on fats altogether and prioritize good fats over bad ones.

We've come a long way from the days when all fat was bad. Today, researchers have identified "good" fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) and "bad" fats (saturated and trans fats).

So we can now eat certain fats and still be perfectly healthy. There's an easy way to work it out: basically, if a fat is solid at room temperature – animal fats, butter, lard – chances are it's a bad fat.

• One typically thinks that a spread will be tasty only if it is of the full-fat variety. But there are many low-fat options that are bursting with flavour, and as is always the case when one changes one food for another, it sometimes takes a few tries before one grows accustomed to the slightly different taste.
• Tasty options include low-fat cream cheese or hummus.

• The goal is to stop eating great slabs of steak.
• Instead, slice the raw beef and sauté it with peppers and onions, fajita-style.
• Or cook strips of steak in a wok with plenty of vegetables. Or top a crunchy, large salad with steak slices. Or make shish kebab with steak cubes and chunks of vegetable.
• Why? Because you almost always eat less meat when you've prepared it as part of a nicely integrated dish.
• Keep the whole steak just for very special occasions.

• Sausage and pepperoni are very high in fats, as is full-fat mozzarella.
• The answer? As mentioned, soak up the excess grease on the top of the pizza, order vegetables on top, ask for low-fat cheese and sometimes order a cheeseless tomato pizza.
• Never tried one? You are in for a surprise. A vegetable pizza can have 25 per cent fewer calories and about 50 per cent less fat and saturated fat than a meat pizza.

• There's a reason these green fruits are called butterfruit in Mexico – they mash up into the same creamy texture as butter.
• Try them in soups as a thickening agent, and in mashed potatoes to provide a creamier texture.
• Interestingly, avocados and olives are the only two fruits high in fat – yet both are rich in heart-healthy monounsaturated fat.

• Fibre fills you up and seems to reduce your interest in fatty foods.
• American researchers found that men who ate two daily servings of cereal, each containing seven grams of fibre, reduced their average total fat intake from 91 to 82 grams a day, and their saturated fat intake to less than 10 per cent of calories.

• The amount of fat in a fast-food meal can be stunning. The fries, the burgers, the "special sauces," even the salads swimming in dressings may be your worst dietary enemy.
• Go to the website of each fast-food chain you frequent, and look at the nutritional information on the foods you prefer. After the shock wears off, make a commitment to healthier choices.