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Nutrition

You've heard it all before. For as long as you can remember, your parents, perhaps even your doctor, have all told you to eat your vegetables, limit sweets, drink your milk. Now, in your adult years, this advice takes on new meaning for a lot of very different reasons: How can you maintain a healthy weight instead of putting on fat? What's a healthy weight for you? How can you squeeze in a good, quick meal after work and before bed? All good questions, and because of the many changes that are going on in your body, the way you decide to deal with your nutrition needs now can make a big difference not only in how you feel today, but also in your well-being in years to come. So what is the right approach to healthy eating? A good start is to eat a variety of foods, as suggested in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, published by the U.S. departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services. Get the many nutrients your body needs by choosing a variety of foods from each of these groups:
• vegetables
•fruits
• breads, cereals, rice, and pasta
• milk, yogurt and cheese
• meat, poultry, fish, dried beans and peas, eggs, and nuts.

What's So Junky About "Junk" Food?
Today's pace is fast and only getting faster. Added to pressures from work this often means eating on the run. Stack that on top of the snack foods you eat, and the balance of your nutrients can get way out of kilter. Many snacks, such as potato chips, fast-food cheeseburgers, and fries, have high levels of fat, sugar or salt ingredients that are usually best limited to a small portion of your diet. Healthy eating does not mean that you can't have your favorite foods, but the Dietary Guidelines advise you to be selective and limit the total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium you eat. Our main source of saturated fat comes from animal products and hydrogenated vegetable oils, with tropical oils, coconut, and palm, providing smaller amounts. Only animal fat provides cholesterol. Sodium...