Those of us who aren't vegetarians know that when you're ready to embark on a diet, one of the things that you'll probably be told or get to read on your own anyway is that meat and poultry - despite being consistent sources of essential proteins - should only be consumed in very small amounts, due to the fact that they can also be high in saturated fat and cholesterol. However, there's one trick - or rather, series of tricks - that can help us keep meat on the menu and still achieve our healthy eating or diet goals. I'm talking about a few useful low-fat cooking techniques that could help you pick the right cuts of meat and eliminate any excess fat from your diets. Here are some suggestions.

1. Lean cuts are the best. When it comes to poultry, the leanest choice is the white meat from the chicken or turkey breast, without any of the skin. As far as beef goes, the round, chuck, sirloin or tenderloin parts are the leanest. Lean pork includes tenderloin and loin chops.

2. Look for visible fat. This is a valid tip when it comes to both buying and cooking the meat. Try to buy meat that's not obviously streaked with fat. Also, when you cook a whole chicken or turkey, leave the skin on while cooking but remove it before eating, along with the fat underneath. Remove any visible traces of fat from beef or pork after cooking as well.

3. Use low-fat cooking techniques. These include grilling, broiling, roasting, sautéing and baking.

4. Drain the fat during or after cooking. When you're cooking meat in an oven, use a rack within a baking pan and make sure that the fat drips away. An alternative to that is draining the fat from the pan once the meat is cooked and rinsing the meat with hot water.

5. Finally, reduce meat portion size. The food and nutrition section of the Mayo Clinic website recommends cutting your meat portions to around three ounces a serving in order to lower the fat and cholesterol intake. Three ounces of meat, they say, equal 1/2 of a boneless, skinless chicken breast, 1 skinless chicken leg with thigh and 2 thin slices of lean roast beef.