Sadly, shaking off the excess lard you accumulated over the brutally cold winter can be a tad more difficult than watching the winter snow melt in rising temperatures. Will power is necessary to lose weight – merely wishing it away won’t do you any good. There is no substitute for healthy eating and a disciplined exercise routine.

Fitness trainers say that it is normal for people to put on about 5 pounds over winter. The challenge is to get rid of the extra weight before the summer and then maintain the weight-loss throughout the rest of the year.

The glorious days of early summer are the best excuse to head out for some fresh air and outdoor activity. Taking up an outdoor sport, running or cycling can help increase your metabolism too. Swimming and aerobics,in particular, are excellent ways of getting in shape.

Eating healthily is an important part of your weight-loss programme. Exercising yields the best results when combined with a healthy diet. Increasing your daily protein intake, while minimising the amount of carbohydrates you consume, helps fight fat accumulation. Most dieticians recommend smaller meals at regular intervals rather than eating two large meals a day. Increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables in your daily diet can help fill your stomach while keeping the unwanted calories away.

You can also easily incorporate exercises into your daily chores. Take the stairs instead of the escalator for a mini cardio workout and choose to walk to and from work instead of taking the bus. Gardening can also be a pleasant way to exercise – you could rake the yard or mow the lawn to keep your body active throughout the summer.

For those who love working up a good sweat, the best solution is to head straight to the nearest gym. While you’re at it, hiring a personal trainer is a good investment. Following a tailor-made workout regime can mean faster progress and more focused exercising, for example on problem areas such as the arms, hips, thighs and stomach. Most fitness centres also recommend spa treatments to complement an exercise routine, to restore valuable vitamins and minerals as well as to keep muscles relaxed. A couple of spa days every month can work in tandem with your weekly workouts to help you get in shape and stay healthy. If it’s your partner trying to get in shape, experience gifts can be a good way of spending some time together at a health spa, and you’ll leave feeling recharged. Whichever method you choose to stay fit, always remember to set yourself targets. Getting fit in time to wear that bikini with confidence is as good a thing as any to aim towards when planning your summer health routine.

 Enjoy!

A quick shower and some jeans get me out of the door and to the super market. While musing about the veggies I wanted to put in my omelette, it occurred to me that the majority of these things in my grocery trolley were covered in the same things, labels. From sticky barcode labels to my nutritional information, my food was covered in electronic information.

As I gingerly ran my finger across the barcode of an unsuspecting carton of a dozen eggs, I tried to imagine what it would be like without technology.

It seemed to me, in that moment, that the modern world was composed of layers. The topmost layer was occupied by consumers like myself who ran out for breakfast items, and underneath me was the barcode labels whose series of black-dashed lines not only made it easier for the cashier to ring up my bill, but were also involved in keeping track of inventory in stores and monitoring the movement of goods across the country.

The very label I held in my hand after reaching for a carton of orange juice contained all of the nutritional information I needed, told me where my juice was from, who made it, how long before it goes bad, and even the percentage of pulp I would find when I tipped the fruity beverage into my mouth.

How many people were involved in the making of my brunch? Clearly, this was no farmer-consumer relationship. There were scientists figuring out the calories in all of my food, marketers designing the attractive coffee grinder graphics for the bag of coffee grounds next to my purse, barcodes printers creating the closely-lined barcode that tells the clerk, ?Two quid for these free-range eggs? on my dozen eggs.

Without these innovations, not only would businesses not be able to connect with the consumer so easily, but it would also means that I might find myself going to the shop only to realise that the grapefruits I wanted were out of stock. A mistake in a ledger without the automatic tracking of barcodes could mean that my food doesn’t get ordered and shipped to the store.

I also might find that my allergy to peanuts flares up because I don’t have labels that tell me which foods were processed in factories with nuts.

While it may seem silly to consider all of this, standing in the aisle 9 among bags of flour, sugar and baking chocolate, I am not bothered. Shopping without labels would be a nightmare! I am far too used to the conveniences of today.

That being said, perhaps it is better to get back to my breakfast.

Enjoy !

What people neglect to tell you is that completely cutting out fats and sugars from your diet can be counterproductive. Consuming small amounts of the foods that may have contributed to your increased waistline can keep you from binge eating those foods later when tempted.

To help you indulge but keep your diet on track here is a list of ‘good’ fats and sugars.

Dark Chocolate – It has been argued that this sugar can lower blood pressure when consumed in moderation.

Nuts – this high-calorie, high-fat snack is considered by some to be a dieting no-no. BUT in actuality nuts are full of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. So try a handful of these a day, to take advantage of their health benefits without feeling the hurt of their calories.

3. Olive Oil – Cooking with a small amount of this instead of canola oil can makes all the difference in terms of getting a nutritional bang for your fatty budget. AND to boot, it tastes better in many of the cooking recipes we regularly use.

In addition to these substitutes, the continued quest for healthy food has meant that more cooks are looking for healthier versions of those sinful pleasures that we all enjoy.

My personal favourite baking substitute for all those chocolate cake and lemon drizzle delights?

This cook book: Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache.

This book uses vegetables as substitutes for a lot of the fats that normally go into baking, but the amazing thing is that you can’t tell the difference. I had the best chocolate cake made with aubergines, which tasted like a really rich German chocolate cake! The best part: my slice of cake was under 200 kcals. Absolutely brilliant!

So remember, a little indulgence when dieting can keep you from craving what you can’t have. Just don’t get derailed with eating too much of these sugery and fatty substances, and always look for ways to make your indulgences healthier.

Enjoy !

The most basic way to lose weight is to slash calories. That’s Diet 101. But how many do you really have to cut or burn to see results? It’s simple: You can drop a pound a week by trimming 500 calories each day. (Calories burned are based on a 150-pound woman.)

In fact, do a couple of swaps a day and you can drop 10 pounds in five weeks! So try these 50 easy tweaks—and get the slim body you want in no time.

1. Shake your groove thing. Dance for just two hours and torch 500 calories. (A little air guitar will burn a few extra calories, too.)

2. Get enough sleep. A lack of shut-eye can make you snack, new research from the University of Chicago shows. People who got only 5 1/2 hours of sleep noshed more during the day. Snooze more and save about 1,087 calories.

3. Don’t eat in front of the TV. You’ll eat up to 288 calories more, according to research from the University of Massachusetts. Instead, eat at the table, and trade one hour of TV for a casual walk. Together, that’s 527 calories burned.

4. Get in tune with your tummy. Pay attention to how full you feel, and put down your fork when you’re satisfied. Listen to your body’s cues—instead of looking at whether the plate is clean—and save up to 500 calories a day.

5. Limit dinner guests. Eating with seven or more other guests can make you eat 96 percent more food, says Brian Wansink, Ph.D., author of Mindless Eating. That’s like doubling your dinner! Dine with fewer guests to save 500 or more calories.

6. Simple tricks to fill up (with less!). For breakfast, eat two boiled or poached eggs. (You’ll feel fuller and eat about 416 fewer calories the rest of the day.) Before lunch and dinner, enjoy 1 cup low-cal soup. (You’ll eat about 134 calories less at each meal.) And save a total of 684 calories for the day.

7. Limit salad toppings. A big salad might seem healthy, but all those goodies on top can make it more calorie-laden than lasagna or fettuccine Alfredo. Cheese crumbles, caramelized nuts, bacon, avocado, dried fruit, croutons and vinaigrettes can add lots of calories. Save 500 or more calories by having just one topping, adding flavorful but lower-cal veggies (roasted bell peppers, grilled onions, or mushrooms) and using half the dressing.

8. Don’t clean your plate. Leave 25 percent of your food on the plate at every meal, says weight-loss expert James O. Hill, Ph.D., author of The Step Diet. If you normally eat 2,000 calories or more each day, you’ll cut 500 calories.

9. Use smaller plates. Swap your 12-inch plate for a 10-inch one. You’ll eat 20 to 25 percent less—and save up to 500 calories. You won’t feel any less full, either, researchers say.

10. Serve and sit. Family-style meals, with platters and bowls of food on the table, invite people to go back for seconds and thirds. Cut hundreds of calories by filling plates before bringing them to the table; leave serving dishes in the kitchen, too.

11. Make a swap. Use 1 cup plain fat-free yogurt instead of 1 cup heavy cream in a favorite baking recipe. Save 684 calories.

12. Make mine a mini. Check out menus for small versions of great desserts, so you can dodge calo­ries and end your meal on a sweet note. P.F. Chang’s Great Wall of Chocolate (designed for one diner!) is 1,440 calories. The Mini Great Wall? A chocolatey yet svelte 150 calories. You’ll save 1,290-calories.

13. Ditch that buttered movie popcorn. Yes, the large popcorn at the concession stand weighs in at a whopping 1,005 calories. Smuggle in your own (microwave-popped, 94 percent fat-free, of course) and save more than 700 calories.

14. Count your chips (and crackers). No, you can’t eat your snacks from a large bag or box because it’s waaaay too tempting to eat until the bag is empty. (Remember Oprah’s blue corn–tortilla chip confession?) A chip-bender to the bottom of a 9-ounce bag is 1,260 calories sans the dip. So stick to one serving, about 15 chips—that’s 140 calories—or pick up some 100-calorie snack packs and save 1,120 calories.

15. Step away from the nuts, especially if they’re in a big bowl. The bigger the serving bowl, the more you’ll eat, Cornell University researchers say. Nuts have heart-healthy fats, but they’re also high in calories: One handful (about 1 ounce) of oil-roasted mixed nuts has 175 calories; three handfuls have 525. Cut out nuts altogether and save more than 500 calories. Can’t resist ’em? Eat pistachios: Two handfuls are just 159 calories, and the shelling will slow down your munching.

16. Skip the whip—or at least size it down. Dessert-like coffee creations can contain as many as 670 calories, with large sizes and options like whipped cream, whole milk and syrups. Craving whipped cream? Try it on a shot of espresso for a total of just 30 calories. You save 640 calories!

17. Kick the soda habit. A 12-ounce soft drink has about 150 to 180 calories. If you down two or three a day, you’re getting lots of extra calories. Quench your thirst with water and save as many as 540 calories.

18. Drink sugar-free. A 20-ounce tea with added fruit juices can have 400-plus calories. And Southern-style sweet tea isn’t much better than soda: a 16-ounce bottle of syrupy sweet tea has 180 calories; three of those are 540 calories. Choose sugar-free sips and save more than 400 calories.

19. Skinny up cocktails. Syrups, sour mix, sugary fruit juices and creamy additions turn drinks into desserts: an indulgent Mudslide can have more than 800 calories. Order drinks mixed with club soda, tonic water, cranberry juice or a squeeze of citrus; or try distilled liquors on the rocks. You’ll save up to 800 calories.

20. Eat less pasta. One cup of pasta is just 220 calories. But typical dinner portions at restaurants can be as much as 480 percent larger than that 1 cup, according to New York University research. That’s 1,056 calories. Even if you eat 2 whole cups of noodles, you’ll still save 616 calories.

21. Get out your knitting needles. An afternoon of knitting can burn more than 500 calories (at a rate of about 100 an hour).

22. Clean house. Tidy up for 2 1/2 hours and burn 510 calories.

23. Check the number of servings in a dish. The calorie count on the menu for shrimp fried rice may say 350 calories per serving, but what’s set in front of you may actually contain four servings. Split it with three friends, and save 1,050 calories.

24. Beware the healthy-food trap. People let their guard down when the menu is full of healthy fare, underestimating calories by as much as 35 perecnt, research by the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab shows. You’re also more likely to order drinks, sides and desserts with up to 131 percent more calories when you have a healthy entrée. Skip caloric sides—a cookie, chips—to save 500-plus calories.

25. Build a lean burrito—and you’ll save 630 calories. Here’s how:

• Instead of a flour tortilla, order lettuce.
• Instead of cheese, order guacamole.
• Instead of ground beef, shredded pork.
• Instead of black beans, order pinto beans.
• Instead of rice, order corn salsa
• Instead of salsa, order pico de gallo

The reduced calorie options add up to 490 calories—down from 1,120.

26. Think small at the ice cream shop. Even if you indulge in your favorite full-fat flavor, you’ll save as many as 550 calories with a 5-ounce size instead of a 12-ounce.

27. Think thin when it comes to pizza. Eat two slices of a medium thin-crust veggie pizza (360 calories) instead of two slices of a large, meaty deep-dish pizza (940 calories) and save 580 calories.

28. Beware hidden oils. Ask to have your food cooked with a little stock instead of oil, or order steamed or poached entrées: you’ll save 124 calories per tablespoon of oil. Also, have the kitchen skip oils added at the last minute like basil oil or chive oil, and save another 40 calories per teaspoon.

29. Order spaghetti with meat sauce instead of spaghetti with Italian sausage and save 560 calories. Even better: Order mushroom ravioli (670 calories) or pasta marinara (430 calories).

30. Nix that smoothie a day. A large 32-ounce smoothie can have 800 or more calories. That really adds up if you’re having on-the-go breakfast several times a week. Instead, try a filling lower-calorie starter of oatmeal with brown sugar and banana slices, and a cup of black coffee. You’ll save 518 calories.

31. Help a friend move. You’ll burn more than 600 calories in one hour of carrying boxes and furniture up and down the stairs.

32. Shovel snow. Clearing the driveway and sidewalks for one hour and 15 minutes will torch 510 calories.

33. Ice-skate for one hour and five minutes and burn 516 calories. (Or go inline skating and slash 562.)

34. Tap your foot. Your skinnier friends are probably fidgeters, who burn up to 350 calories a day just by tapping their feet or being restless. Try it for a few days. Walk around while you’re on the phone, or tap out a tune with your hands or feet (in the privacy of your own office, of course).

35. Be the hostess with the mostest. Go grocery shopping for one hour, put away your groceries, spend two hours cooking a fabulous holiday feast, set the table and serve. Then toast yourself for the awesome 640 calorie-burn. (A glass of champagne is only about 106 calories, so you’re still ahead.)

36. Go window-shopping. Whether you buy anything or not, an afternoon of walking around and trying on clothes can torch 548 calories.

37. Hit the pool. Do one hour of laps or 55 minutes of jogging in the water to burn 500 calories.

38. Stroll your way slim. Spend an afternoon pushing junior from the giraffes to the sea lions at the zoo (or around the aquarium or museum) and burn 523 calories.

39. Head to a county fair or amusement park. You’ll slash 612 calories in three hours from the casual walking and standing in lines. (Subtract 105 calories if you have cotton candy.)

40. Play a game of touch football or basketball with your kids for one hour and burn 500 calories.

41. Head for the nearest hill. Go sledding with the kiddos for one hour and five minutes. You’ll burn 500-plus calories.

42. Do an hour of circuit training and you’ll burn 544 calories.

43. Tackle the garage. Clearing out junk for 1 hour and 30 minutes will burn 510 calories.

44. Rake the leaves. Do yard work for 1 hour and 45 minutes and burn 512 calories. (Jumping in the leaf pile won’t hurt, either.)

45. Kickbox. Sign up for kickboxing and burn 510 calories in a 45-minute class.

46. Go cross-country skiing for one hour and five minutes and sizzle off 516 calories.

47. Exercise at home. Pop in a one-hour aerobics DVD, and finish with 20 minutes of yoga—500 calories, gone.

48. Walk or run a 10K and you’ll burn up to 680 calories.

49. Go hiking. Just one hour and 15 minutes will burn 510 calories.

50. Cut down your own Christmas tree. Hike out, find the perfect tree, cut it, and take it home. Put it up and decorate it for 1 hour to burn 519 calories.

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Do you like your job and love raising a family, but wish you have time to take up a new sport — or enjoy your old favorites? Feel frustrated because there never seems to be enough time to get out there and get your mojo moving? Here’s a novel concept: Take the fam with you on your quest for exercise.

Incorporating your partner and children into an active lifestyle can be one of the biggest favors you’ll do for any of you. As the American Medical Association points out, “Fitness that begins in childhood is a lifelong investment.” In addition, studies show that children who are more involved in fitness at a young age tend to pursue healthier lifestyles throughout their lives.

One caution with any physically strenuous activity: Youngsters often tire, dehydrate, overheat and drop core temperature more quickly than expected. Keeping an eye to these vital signs while enjoying your conditioning time together will ensure safe and fun exercising.

With that in mind, consider one (or all) of the possible activities here as options in your pursuit of a healthier, happier family:

Let it snow, let it snow. If you have fond memories of snowball fights, sledding down crazy hills, building snowmen and igloos, then it’s high time to turn your kids on to your fun of yesteryear. Hauling a sled uphill is great cardio, and building with snow can be excellent resistance training.

Children as young as six can enjoy snowshoeing and cross-country skiing, and you can bundle up a wee one in your baby backpack or tow him or her behind in a special sled so all can savor a winter wonderland.

Reach for the stars. One of the newest sports to sweep America is rock climbing and, conveniently enough, you don’t even need a real rock to experience it. Many gyms have added climbing walls and newer gyms may be built specifically around this feature. Definitely more challenging than a Sunday stroll, climbing is a total body workout that utilizes many of the major muscle groups. Most gyms accommodate a wide range of ages; some even offer family packages and host special family days.

Flippers ‘n’ fins. Just because it’s cold outside doesn’t mean you can’t swim to your heart’s content. Indoor pools abound at local recreation centers and gyms; so call around to find good family-use packages. Swimming builds stamina, general strength and cardio fitness and is very low impact for those who have had former sports injuries. Whether you’re working on water ballet with your baby or brushing up on the butterfly stroke with your teen, your body will thank you for the regular workout.

Park it. Weather permitting, camping, hiking and simple scenic walks in local parks are fantastic and inexpensive ways to exercise with your kids and to teach them to appreciate Mother Nature up close and personal. Why not take adavantage of some great outdoor escapes in your neck of the woods? If you want to hit the trails together on a larger scale, many of the National parks have family programs, as do local and state park systems.

Remember, family time doesn’t always have to center around the remote control. Get outside and get your blood pumping together — you may create some lasting memories as well as a lifelong habit of staying in shape.

Obesity

At the present there’s actual evidence which outrages weight makes a pressure upon the brain of aged people, making them to become possibly more vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease, weak-mindedness and mental decline.

“The crucial factor lies in the thing that good vascular health is identical to good mental health,”announced Cyrus Raji, lead author of a new research, «Cerebrum Structure and Obesity,” was published online in «The bad things for the heart are also is bad for the cerebrum.”

The research focused on 94 subjects, 70 and more aged, who were weighing more than is usual obese.

Subjects did not have any clinical signs of Alzheimer’s or weak-mindedness and mental decline when their brains passed scanning, with a clinical follow – up research 5 years later. The idea was only to show influences on brain volume imputative to portliness and weight gain, not Alzheimer’s or brain illness.

It is often occurring that one certainly needs a special health program to lose his weight and live a healthy live. Thus choosing a “weightloss elixir” is quite a responsible factor which should be based upon such parameters as: safety, secureness, absence of aftereffects and other.

What does obesity means in its general sense? Obesity refers to having too much body fat. It is quite various from being overweight, which means weighing too much. Thus if we feel certain discomfort about weight it becomes less important which term we prefer to use.

Obesity appears and continues to disturb you over time when you engross more calories than you use. The balance between calories intaken and calories burnt are various for each person separately. There are usually a dozen more factors which should in a general meaning slope the balance involving your genetic makeup, consuming too much food, engrossing high-fat foods and not keeping up the physical shape.

Having overweight makes serious impacts on your health first of all making high your risk of diabetes, heart failures, rheumatoid arthritis and some categories of cancers. In case you are obese, you should understand that losing even up to ten percent of your weight may be the postponing or even preventing factor for the above-mentioned diseases.

If you are extremely stressed about engrossing too many calories, making a panic is not obviously the best way to treat the problem. Phentermine diet pills helps you to think and act more positive and you enjoy your food.

All you have to do is to prepare a negative answer to even small quantity of added “extras”.

You should necessarily consider such tips as cutting calories, e.g. ice cream taken on top of a slice of pie, half-cup of this saves: 145 calories, layer of crust engrossed on fruit pie, one slice of which saves 75 calories.

            There is certain evidence from decades of studies into weight loss; phentermine without exception significantly performs better than the control group. That generally means, even when people have the assistance of phentermine, it is in reality quite hard to maintain a diet. With the assistant of such an appetite suppressant, people are able to retain their motivation to diet for a more longer which provides them with the best possible opportunity weight loss. If try to give this another coverage, the effect shown by weight loss is not immediately related to any other alike medicine. People really should undertake a very important mission to have the mittimus for the change of their lifestyles.

These researchers are proving that what we have said for years and years is factual. To be able to realize the full benefits of vitamin A you must beable to convert betaCarotene to A, and a high percentage of folks cannot.

This is particularly important now with the flu cases in process as vitamin A will boost your immunity and protect your lungs.

We have always preferred a betaCarotene and fish oil blend with food extracts high in A and the A components.

In a presentation at the 2nd Hohenheim Nutrition Conference this month in Stuttgart, Germany, Dr Georg Lietz of England’s Newcastle University reported that many women in the UK could be at risk of vitamin A deficiency due to genetic variation.

Vitamin A’s fat soluble property means that the vitamin can accumulate in the body. Concerns regarding potential toxicity have led to the suggestion that much of our vitamin A requirement could be met by consuming beta-carotene, which converts to vitamin A when needed.

Dr Lietz and his colleagues examined the gene that encodes an enzyme known as beta-carotene 15,15′-monoxygenase (BCMO1) in 62 female volunteers. The enzyme is responsible for the conversion of beta-carotene into vitamin A, a process that varies in up to 45 percent of healthy individuals. The team found that 47 percent of the women had a genetic variation that reduced their ability to convert beta-carotene.

“Vitamin A is incredibly important – particularly at this time of year when we are all trying to fight off the winter colds and flu,” noted Dr Lietz, who is affiliated with Newcastle University’s School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development. “It boosts our immune system and reduces the risk of inflammation such as that associated with chest infections. What our research shows is that many women are simply not getting enough of this vital nutrient because their bodies are not able to convert the beta-carotene.”

“Worryingly, younger women are at particular risk,” Dr Lietz added. “The older generations tend to eat more eggs, milk and liver which are naturally rich in vitamin A whereas the health-conscious youngsters on low-fat diets are relying heavily on the beta-carotene form of the nutrient.”

Dr Lietz and his associates’ research was described earlier this year in the Federated Association of Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Journal. The scientists plan to assess whether body composition also affects the ability to convert beta-carotene into vitamin A.

Not so fast, says Sonja Connor, M.S., R.D., L.D., because while food manufacturers have been reducing or removing trans fats from their products, they’ve replaced them with equally harmful but less vilified saturated fats. “The popular media have de-emphasized the roll of saturated fat and cholesterol as being important in coronary artery disease,” saysid Conner, a research associate professor in the School of Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.

The emphasis in the media and popular culture on the dangers of trans fats has directed attention away from the ill effects of saturated fats, which has allowed food manufacturers to quietly introduce them into formerly trans-fat-filled foods. And while saturated fats get little airtime, “100 years of scientific studies … provide the crucial evidence for implicating dietary saturated fat and cholesterol as the major cause of coronary disease,” said Connor in a presentation this week to the Washington State Dietetic Association.

While both types of fat are harmful, Americans eat about five times more saturated fat than trans fat. To manage your fat intake and safeguard your health, get in the habit of reading nutrition labels. The American Heart Association recommends that limiting the amount of saturated fats you eat to less than 7 percent of total daily calories. That means, for example, if you need about 2,000 calories a day, no more than 140 of them should come from saturated fats. That’s about 16 grams of saturated fats a day.

In addition, the Food and Drug Administration offers these tips you can use every day to keep your consumption of saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol low while consuming a nutritionally adequate diet:.

• Check the Nutrition Facts panel to compare foods because the serving sizes are generally consistent in similar types of foods. Choose foods lower in saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol. For saturated fat and cholesterol, keep in mind that 5 percent of the Daily Value (%DV) or less is low and 20 percent or more is high. (There is no %DV for trans fat.)

• Choose alternative fats. Replace saturated and trans fats in your diet with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. These fats do not raise LDL cholesterol levels and have health benefits when eaten in moderation. Sources of monounsaturated fats include olive and canola oils. Sources of polyunsaturated fats include soybean oil, corn oil, sunflower oil and foods like nuts.

• Choose vegetable oils (except coconut and palm kernel oils) and soft margarines (liquid, tub, or spray) more often because the combined amount of saturated fat and trans fat is lower than the amount in solid shortenings, hard margarines, and animal fats, including butter.

• Consider fish. Most fish are lower in saturated fat than meat. Some fish, such as mackerel, sardines and salmon, contain omega-3 fatty acids, which are being studied to determine if they offer protection against heart disease.

• Choose lean meats, such as poultry without the skin and not fried and lean beef and pork, not fried, with visible fat trimmed.

• Ask before you order when eating out. A good tip to remember is to ask which fats are being used in the preparation of your food when eating or ordering out.

• Limit foods high in cholesterol such as liver and other organ meats, egg yolks, and full-fat dairy products, like whole milk.

• Choose foods low in saturated fat such as fat- free or 1 percent dairy products, lean meats, fish, skinless poultry, whole grain foods and fruits and vegetables.