Editorial

Find the answers to the low-fat question

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Retired boxer George Foreman has been telling us to "Knock Out the Fat" for years, while trying to sell us his electric grill.

According to a poll by the All Recipes Web site, this was the year many of us began to listen.

According to the poll, 24 percent listed cutting back on trans fats as the biggest trend of 2005, with eating fresh, locally grown foods and the increasing availability of organic foods combining for 31 percent.

The low-carb trend may be over, or it may be growing, depending on who you listen to, but the poll indicated that there is a trend distinguishing "good" and "bad" carbs.

Thirty-four percent of the respondents said they were moving away from the three-meal diet toward smaller, more frequent meals.

About 25 percent said they were eating breakfast again, and more were practicing portion control while cutting things like "bad" carbs, trans fats, preservatives, processed foods and sugars out of their diets.

Many hoped that restaurants would cut back on their enormous portions, but give us more garlic, olive oil and real butter, please.

According to the responses, freshly prepared, healthy takeout food would be a hot trend for 2006, along with easy recipes.

Finally, adult and childhood obesity led the food worries, followed by over processed, genetically modified foods, mad cow and other food safety issues.

So those may be the worries, but what can we do about it?

Perhaps you can find the answer at the Taste of Home Cooking School, sponsored by Knowlen & Yates and the McCook Daily Gazette on Saturday afternoon.

Yes, fat makes foot taste better, but it also contributes to heart disease and certain cancers.

Home economist Kristi Larson will present eleven tasty dishes, as well as offering suggestions for healthy eating. For instance, if a recipe calls for two tablespoons of butter, you probably won't notice any difference in using just one. Use non-stick pans for cooking food. Add chicken stock and a little mustard instead of milk or cream when mashing potatoes. Steam vegetables and add fresh herbs instead of adding butter. Combine mint with green peas, parsley with potatoes or chervil with string beans for no-guilt flavor.

There will be a few tickets available at the door for $7.45 each including tax -- and expect to get much more than that back in recipes, gifts and maybe even prizes. Doors open at 1:30 and the program beings at 3 p.m. at the City Auditorium.

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