I have been instructed by my kidney specialist to start following a low fat diet to try to get my cholesterol down. High cholesterol is one of the side effects of the kidney disease I have.

I have been told to eat between 20-36 grams of fat per day, not to count calories, to try to eat whole grains and restrict sugars. I was interested to hear from others following a low fat diet as to how many grams they usually consume per day, any problems they have encountered.

I have also been told to only eat beef or pork for one or two meals per week. This may be one of my toughest challenges.

Also, I love Mexican food and know that it is high fat. Anyone with good recipes for low fat?

Thanks

Elaine

Hi Elaine...

I just happen to be preparing Mexican (style) food for dinner! I am going to make tacos, using ground turkey, everything else the same. Will add plenty of lettuce, tomatoes, onions for garnish. An easy side dish is Fat free refried beans, add some salsa, heat it up in a saucepan, top with low fat grated cheddar. I'm making a pot of brown rice now, will add salsa and kidney beans to the cooked rice...I keep this on hand for quick lunches or something easy to grab and eat.

I don't count fat grams, just try to cut back by using the following methods:
*"I Can't Believe it's Not Butter Spray" in place of butter on bread, potatoes, etc.
*Non stick cooking spray and about 1/2 T olive oil to saute with.
*Most recipes can be trimmed of fat by 1/3 and not lose much in way of flavor/texture.
*Be careful using Low fat or fat free products...they usually compensate by adding sugar!
*Replace oil in baking with applesauce (unsweetened). Or CUT the amount of oil in half and replace with applesauce.
*Use Egg Beaters for baking or mixing in place of eggs OR use egg whites. (2 egg whites=1 egg)

That's all I can think of right now...check out some of the recipe links on the homepage...there's tons of stuff there!

Good luck!

Hello! I'm sorry to hear about your kidney problem. My husband is a skinny minny but only has one kidney (removed years ago for a large stone) and he has high cholesterol too.

I restrict almost all saturated fat for him (and me) but it's very important to get Omega 3 EFAs and some Omega 6 too. We like salmon once a week, and then maybe tuna or mackeral, and supplement with Udo's Choice (a flax seed oil blend) on non-fish days. Bodybuilders use this, especially the Body For Life people.

This practice has stopped my hair from falling out (and it's thick and shiny too) when I was on Physician's Weight Loss System IV diet with barely any fat in it. System IV is like a starvation diet with only 700 calories. I'm happy to say my LDL cholesterol and blood pressure are down and I've lost 50 pounds. Losing weight alone will lower LDL cholesterol too, and regular aerobic exercise will increase your HDL number. They found that jogging or running 35-50 miles a week is optimum (in men anyway).

Height 5'10"
220/168/160