Try some of the following tips to avoid calories, fat, sodium and sugar.

1. To cut down on fat:

· Save any recipes calling for deep frying for special occasions;

· Remove and discard the skin from chicken and other poultry;

· Use a non‑ stick pan to cut down on the amount of oil used.

· Thicken your cream sauce with 1 percent milk and corn starch instead of a roux of butter and flour.

· Use 2 tablespoons of fat-free sour cream instead of regular sour cream (on baked potatoes or in stroganoff).

2. To cut down on the sodium in your diet, here are a few suggestions.

· Usehalf the added salt called for in recipes;

· Be aware that seasonings like onion salt, garlic salt, celery salt and seasoning salt is about 95% salt. You may want to use minced onions or onion flakes, chopped garlic or garlic powder and other fresh herbs and spices or ones with no added salt to flavour your foods;

· substitute low-sodium soy sauce for regular soy sauce;

· cut down or eliminate stock cubes in making soup; instead use natural ingredients such as chicken and beef bones, dried anchovies (ikan bilis), mushroom stalks, nuts & beans to make soup stocks;

· use only a small amount of salted meat, fish, poultry or pickled vegetables to give flavour to the food. Do not add additional salt as the food is highly salted already.

3. To reduce sugar in the diet

· cut down by 1/3 in most recipes. If a recipe says 1 cup, use 2/3 cup. This works best in making puddings, gelatine desserts, cakes, and kuihs.

· as you reduce the sugar in your baked goods, try adding spices like cinnamon, cardamom, coriander, nutmeg, ginger and mace to enhance the sweet flavour of foods. Spiced foods will taste sweeter if warmed.

· rather than snack on 1 cup of grapefruit canned in syrup, peel and section 1 small grapefruit.

· buy fresh fruits or fruits packed in water, juice, or light syrup rather than those in heavy syrup.

4. Increase fibre by:

· substituting brown rice for white rice (or use half and half initially until you get used to the taste of brown rice);

· using whole grain flour for refined flour in baking;

· cooking vegetables with its skin on.

(A) Do you know much about dieting? Have you ever been on a diet? Read some more facts about dieting and be ready for discussion.