- Look for red meats with little or no marbling.
- Remove all skin and visible fat from meat before cooking. This is where all of the saturated fat and cholesterol are found.
- Soy products can be substituted for meat. Many of these products (e.g. slices, patties) are available in the refrigerated section of your grocery store.
- Cut back on the ground meat by substituting half the meat with one of the many soy-based meat alternatives such as soy “lean ground” (a replacement for lean ground beef) or soy “meatballs”. This also adds variety to your diet.
- Legumes include a wide variety of beans, peas and lentils. They are available dried, frozen and canned. They are also rich sources of carbohydrate and fibre and contain almost no fat.
- Eating more plant-based foods is affordable! In addition, plant-based foods like dried or canned beans and lentils have a long shelf-life so you can stock up during sales. Leftover cooked tofu or beans can also be frozen for up to 6 months!
- Experiment with plant-based proteins like tempeh, seitan, or firm tofu that can be cubed or crumbled into soup, stir-fries, tomato sauces, and salad.
- Use heart-healthy cooking methods: bake, stir-fry, broil, braise, roast, poach, microwave, barbeque, or air fry, but avoid frying (deep or pan).
- When finished cooking ground meat, drain it in a colander and rinse it with hot water before adding to other ingredients.
- Use heart-healthy oils, if needed, when cooking larger cuts of meat or when stir-frying.
- When roasting, place meat on a rack so that the fat can drip away (air fryers do this naturally!).
- Choose fresh and frozen fish more often than canned fish.
- Choose omega-3 eggs.
- When buying plant-based meat alternative products, look for those not make with oils high in saturated fat (for example coconut oil) and those high in sodium. Visit our fats and oils section for more info!
Use canned legumes such as black beans as a healthy fast food! Open the can, rinse the beans, and add them to soups, salads, stir-fries and casseroles to increase the soluble fibre (and add flavour too!).
Quick tip: When shopping for a plant-based beverage as an alternative to cows’ milk), only soy beverages provide a similar nutrient profile. Look at the nutrition facts table- specifically the protein amount. While fortified soy beverages contain a good source of protein, nut (e.g. almond milk) and cereal beverages (e.g. oat milk) do not.