Healthy Eating: Choosing Healthier Fats
Eating too much saturated fat or trans fat can increase the risk of heart disease. Choosing foods lower in these fats and replacing them with unsaturated fats can help support your health. Foods like cheese, butter, sausage, and desserts may be high in saturated fat. Small amounts of trans fat occur naturally in some animal foods. Trans fat may also be found in small amounts in some processed foods.
To choose healtheir fats, start with small changes. Use oils high in unsaturated fat, such as olive or canola oil, instead of butter for cooking. Choose low-fat or nonfat milk or yogurt instead of full-fat versions. You can also include foods that provide unsaturated fats, such as nuts, seeds, nut butters, avocados, and fatty fish. Over time, adding more of these small changes can help improve your overall eating pattern.
How can you make healthier choices?
Replacing unhealthy fats
Some foods can have a lot of unhealthy saturated fat or trans fat. Here are some ways to replace unhealthy fats with healthier choices.
Options for replacing unhealthy fats
| Food group |
Instead of these foods that are high in unhealthy fats: |
Choose these healthier foods: |
| Meat, poultry, and fish |
Regular ground beef; Fatty or highly marbled cuts; Spare ribs; Organ meat; Poultry with skin, fried chicken; Fried fish, fried shellfish; Lunch meat, bologna, salami, hot dogs, sausage |
Extra-lean ground beef (97% lean); Ground turkey breast (without skin added); Meats with fat trimmed off before cooking; Skinless chicken; Baked, broiled, or poached fish |
| Dairy products |
Whole milk and 2% milk; Whole-milk yogurt and cottage cheese; Whole-milk cream cheese and sour cream; Most cheeses; Cream, half-and-half, nondairy creamer |
Low-fat (1%) or fat-free milk; Low-fat or nonfat yogurt and cottage cheese; Low-fat or nonfat cream cheese, sour cream; Low-fat or nonfat cheeses |
| Fats and oils |
Coconut oil, palm oil; Butter, stick margarine; Lard, shortening, bacon fat; Peanut butter that has been hydrogenated (the no-stir kind) |
Canola oil, olive oil, peanut oil; Soft margarines with no trans fats and no more than one-third of the total fat from saturated fat; Natural peanut butter that has not been hydrogenated |
| Breads and cereals |
Breads in which fat or butter is a major ingredient; Most granolas (unless fat-free or low-fat); High-fat crackers, store-bought pastries and muffins |
Regular breads, cereals, rice, corn tortillas, pasta, and low-fat crackers. Choose whole grains as much as possible. |
| Fruits and vegetables |
Fried vegetables; Vegetables cooked with butter, cheese, or cream sauce; Coconut |
Any fruits and vegetables that do not have added fat |
| Sweets and desserts |
Ice cream, whipping cream, whipped topping; Store-bought pies, cakes, doughnuts, and cookies made with coconut oil, palm oil, or hydrogenated oil; Chocolate candy |
Frozen yogurt; Low-fat or nonfat versions of treats such as ice cream; Cakes and cookies made with unsaturated fats and those made with cocoa powder; Fruit |
Reducing saturated fat
Try these ideas for lowering the amount of saturated fat in your diet.
- Choose plant proteins often. These include beans, lentils, tofu, nuts, and seeds.
- When eating animal protein, pick fish or skinless poultry more often than red meat.
- If you eat red meat, choose lean cuts and keep portions moderate.
- Limit processed meats like sausage, bacon, and deli meats.
- Choose lower-fat milk, yogurt, and cheese more often than full-fat.
- Trim visible fat from meat before cooking.
- Drain fat after browning ground meat.
- Grill, bake, broil, roast, or steam instead of frying.
- Cook with olive, canola, or other unsaturated oils instead of butter, shortening, or lard.
- Choose salsa, mustard, hummus, or vinaigrette instead of cream-based sauces or spreads.
- Try nuts, seeds, air-popped popcorn, fruit, or whole-grain crackers instead of chips or pastries.
Credits
Current as of: October 6, 2025
Current as of: October 6, 2025
